‘Who laughs when India is insulted?’ Kiren Rijiju takes dig at Rahul Gandhi over Italian leader’s ‘vote chor’ slogan

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday took an indirect swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after Italian politician Giacomo Filibeck raised the opposition party’s “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod” slogan at the Bharat Summit 2026 in Hyderabad, triggering a political row over foreign involvement in India’s domestic affairs.

Rijiju questioned the reaction of Indian leaders when a foreign national makes remarks against the country, in an apparent reference to a video showing Rahul Gandhi and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy laughing and applauding as Filibeck raised the slogan at the Congress-led event.

“Have you ever seen anyone laughing when India is insulted by a foreigner? I’m not asking about which Indian goes abroad to insult India,” Rijiju wrote in a post on X, without naming Gandhi or the Italian politician.

The controversy erupted on the concluding day of the two-day Bharat Summit on Saturday, November 14, after Filibeck, Secretary General of the Party of European Socialists (PES), voiced support for Gandhi and repeated the Congress’s slogan targeting the BJP-led government.

Have you ever seen anyone laughing when India is insulted by a foreigner? I'm not asking about which Indian goes abroad to insult India.

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) November 15, 2026

BJP accuses Congress of allowing foreign interference

The BJP criticised Filibeck’s remarks, accusing the Congress of giving a foreign political representative a platform to comment on India’s internal affairs.

Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao had earlier condemned Rahul Gandhi’s remarks at the summit, questioning his claim that democracy had ceased to function in India after 2014. He also cited the Emergency imposed during Congress rule and the dismissal of several democratically elected state governments under the party’s tenure.

Referring to Filibeck’s “Vote Chor” slogan, Rao questioned the involvement of a foreign political leader in India’s domestic political discourse and demanded an apology from Gandhi.

“We condemn his statement that since 2014, democracy has not existed in India. Before 2014, when Congress was in power, Rahul Gandhi should remember that it was his party which imposed an Emergency in this country,” Rao told ANI.

BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari also accused Gandhi of seeking foreign support to challenge the Narendra Modi government. In a post on X, he alleged that the Congress leader had become a “puppet of foreign powers & George Soros wanting instability in India”.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain described the slogans raised at the summit as “completely unacceptable”, arguing that foreign nationals had no right to interfere in India’s internal affairs.

What did Giacomo Filibeck say at Bharat summit?

Filibeck, Secretary General of the Party of European Socialists, expressed concern over what he described as the erosion of democracy in India and backed Gandhi’s campaign against alleged irregularities in electoral rolls.

Speaking to IANS on Saturday, he said the international community was concerned about the alleged “hijacking” of Indian democracy.

“The reason why we are extremely concerned with the way the hijacking of the democracy is ongoing in India is that new facts have emerged, and Rahul Gandhi has explained them very clearly to the audience of this conference,” he said.

He added that the international community could not accept India, once regarded as the world’s largest democracy, becoming a “corrupted one”.

During his address at the summit, Filibeck also raised the “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chhod” slogan, referring to the Opposition’s campaign against alleged electoral irregularities and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Sanjay Raut defends Italian leader

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut came out in defence of Filibeck, questioning the BJP’s objection to an Italian politician commenting on Indian democracy.

“If Modi can offer Melody chocolates to the Italian Prime Minister, then an Italian politician can come here and speak about this country. Democracy is being murdered in the country; this is a UN and human rights issue, not a matter involving any foreign power,” Raut said.

The controversy has added to the political confrontation between the BJP and Congress following the two-day Bharat Summit, which brought together political leaders and delegates from around 70 countries in Hyderabad.