Rahul Gandhi vs Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha over 'Hindu' remark; Amit Shah demands apology

Rahul Gandhi displayed a poster depicting Lord Shiva in the House.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Monday triggered an uproar in the Lok Sabha with his remark targeting the BJP, saying those who call themselves Hindus “only talk about violence, hatred and lies”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, interrupting Gandhi's speech, said painting the entire Hindu community as "violent" was a serious matter. After the exchange, union home minister Amit Shah demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi speaks in the House during the ongoing Parliament session.(ANI)

Earlier, Rahul Gandhi displayed a poster depicting Lord Shiva in the House.

"Abhayamudra is the symbol of the Congress...The Abhayamudra is the gesture of fearlessness, the gesture of reassurance and safety, which dispels fear and accords divine protection and bliss in Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and other Indian religions… All our great men have spoken about non-violence and finishing fear... But, those who call themselves Hindu only talk about violence, hatred, untruth…you are not Hindus,” Rahul Gandhi said in the House.

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"The PM says that (Mahatma) Gandhi is dead and Gandhi was revived by a movie. Can you understand the ignorance?... Another thing I noticed is that it is not just one religion that talks about courage. All religions talk about courage," he added.

Gandhi's remarks started a war of words between the Congress-led INDIA bloc and the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Amid the din, PM Modi stood up and objected to Gandhi's remark. "Calling the entire Hindu community violent is a very serious matter," he said.

Amit Shah later slammed Rahul Gandhi's remark and demanded an apology.

"The Leader of the Opposition has categorically said that those who call themselves Hindu talk of violence and do violence. He doesn’t know that crores of people proudly call themselves Hindu. Connecting violence with any religion is wrong. He should apologise," he said.

Continuing his speech after the ruckus subsided, Rahul Gandhi slammed the BJP government's Agnipath scheme, saying the Centre was using soldiers as “use-and-throw” labour.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh interjected Gandhi, asking him to not mislead the House.

"When our government comes, we will scrap the Agnipath scheme because we think it is against the armed forces and patriots," Gandhi added.

He also claimed the BJP government's politics and politics have pushed Manipur into a civil war.

With inputs from PTI, ANI