'Habit of defaming India...': Anurag Thakur slams Rahul Gandhi, Pegasus remark
Rahul Gandhi Cambridge speech: The Congress MP also spoke about his party's 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
Union minister Anurag Thakur tore into the Congress and Rahul Gandhi Friday - amid the row over his Cambridge University speech, in which he flagged the government's alleged use of Israeli spyware Pegasus - accusing him of 'a habit of lying and defaming India'.

He pointed to Italy leader Giorgia Meloni's praise for prime minister Narendra Modi and chided Gandhi for criticism when 'under PM's leadership, respect for India has increased across the world'.
"Rahul Gandhi is again doing this work of hue and cry on foreign soil. Pegasus is in his mind. Under PM Modi's leadership, respect for India has increased across the world. He should listen to what Italian PM said..." Thakur told ANI.
Girorgio Meloni, in India for a two-day visit, said Modi is 'most loved one of all (world leaders)... he has been a major leader and congratulations for that."
READ | 'PM Modi most loved among global leaders': Italy premier Meloni
Thakur also hit out over electoral defeats in Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya. The Congress won just eight seats in total, and could only watch as the BJP returned to power in the first two and formed a coalition in the third.
FULL COVERAGE | 2023 Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura Assembly elections
"Yesterday's result shows Congress has been wiped (out)... they are not able to accept people's mandate... people trust PM Modi," Thakur said.
"This (the defeats) maybe Rahul Gandhi and the Congress can't accept... one by one they are losing all states. This is Congress' habit... to defame India."
"This hate Rahul Gandhi can have for Modi but not for the country. It raises the question - what is Congress' agenda?" he said.
The comment has been seen as referring to both Gandhi's speech in the United Kingdom and his interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera last month, in which he spoke said 'fascism is already there (in India)...'
READ | 'Fascism already there... Parliament not working': Rahul to Italian daily
On Monday Rahul Gandhi spoke at Cambridge and said he believed democracy in India is under threat because oppositions leaders were being silenced.
He flagged the Pegasus issue - a major flashpoint between the ruling BJP and opposition parties in 2021. "I myself had Pegasus on my phone. I've been called by Intelligence officers who say, 'please be careful of what you say…'"
READ | Row over Rahul Gandhi's Pegasus claim; BJP calls him 'serial offender'
The remark triggered outrage in India and the BJP has rushed to attack; apart from Thakur, the party's Shehzad Poonawalla, said: "...entitled dynast is a serial offender - hatred for one person transcends into hatred for India..."
