New Delhi : A day after the Lok Sabha saw tempers flare over electoral reforms, Rahul Gandhi sharpened his attack on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, claiming the BJP leader looked “under pressure” during Wednesday’s confrontation.
“Amit Shah ji was very nervous in Parliament yesterday. His hands were trembling, he used the wrong language. Amit Shah ji is under a lot of mental pressure — which the whole country saw yesterday,” the Leader of the Opposition said on Thursday.
Gandhi said he directly challenged Shah to debate the allegations he made in his press conference on ‘vote chori’, but received no answer.
“The things I have said, he did not address, did not give any proof. I directly challenged Amit Shah ji to debate me on my press conference — and no response came to that either,” the Congress leader said. “What the truth is, you all know.”
His remarks came a day after the Lok Sabha witnessed a fierce face-off between the two leaders. What started as a debate on electoral reforms quickly devolved into a no-holds-barred verbal duel.
Shah defended the government’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, calling it necessary to weed out illegal immigrants. The Gandhi scion, on the other hand, pressed him to publicly confront the Opposition’s allegations that the BJP and the Election Commission colluded to commit large-scale voter fraud.
When Gandhi dared him to debate the charges he levelled during his vote theft press conferences, Shah snapped back, rejecting the idea that the Opposition could dictate the flow of his speech.
“I want to make something clear. I have been elected to legislative assemblies and the Parliament for 30 years. I have extensive experience,” Shah said. “The Leader of the Opposition says he wants me to answer this or that question first. Let me make this clear to him: The Parliament will not work based on your wishes. I will decide the order in which I say things. He should be patient and hear my reply, I will answer everything. He will not decide the order of my speech.”
The Home Minister then tore into the Gandhi-Nehru family, claiming the “first instance of vote chori” happened when India’s first Prime Minister was chosen. He also pointed to a court case alleging Sonia Gandhi cast a vote before becoming an Indian citizen.
Eventually, Gandhi and opposition MPs staged a walkout mid-speech.
Gandhi, refusing to back down, hit out later in the evening. He accused Shah of evading every question he raised — from transparent voter lists to EVM accountability to immunity for the Chief Election Commissioner.
In a post on X, Gandhi said the Home Minister’s response in Parliament was “panicked” and “completely defensive”.
