The BJP on Tuesday accused Rahul Gandhi of shaming India during his UK visit and of asking America and Europe to “interfere” to restore democracy in the country, prompting the Congress to accuse the ruling party of lying. Rahul had, while discussing the crisis of democracy facing India, emphatically said that the “solution is going to come from inside” and “not going to come from outside”.

“Rahul Gandhi has tried to shame the country by saying that the US and Europe should intervene in the internal affairs of India,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. “Kya kaha Rahul Gandhi ne: Europe aur America ko Bharat mein loktantra bachane ke liye interfere karna chahiye. Ye unke shabd hain na (What did Rahul Gandhi say: Europe and America should interfere to save India’s democracy. Those were his words, right)?”

Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad is doing what he and his Supremo do best — distort, twist, defame and lie with a straight face.”

What Rahul had actually said was: “No, this is our problem, right. It is an internal problem. It’s an Indian problem. And the solution is going to come from inside. Not going to come from outside.

“However, the scale of Indian democracy — democracy in India is a global public good. It impacts way further than our boundaries. If Indian democracy collapses, in my view, democracy on the planet suffers a very serious, possibly fatal, blow.

“So, it’s important for you too. It’s not just important for us. We will deal with our problem. But you must be aware that this problem is going to play out at the global scale. It’s not going to play out only in India.

“And what you do about it is of course up to you. But you must be aware that the idea of a democratic model is being attacked and threatened.”

Congress leaders said that asking the world to be aware of what’s happening in India did not amount to seeking interference. Prasad, however, asked Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and his predecessor Sonia Gandhi whether they supported Rahul’s “irresponsible and shameful comments”.

“The BJP would like to emphatically state with great agony that Rahul Gandhi, in his speeches, has sought to shame India’s democracy, polity, Parliament, political system and judicial system,” Prasad said.

No matter which government was in power, India has always been opposed to outside intervention in its internal affairs, he added. “Mr Kharge, the BJP wants to know if you feel you are an elected president of the Congress — do you support the irresponsible and shameful comments of Rahul Gandhi that US and Europe must intervene in India to restore democracy? If you don’t, then disown them,” Prasad said.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate retorted: “Prasad lied shamelessly. Whenever Rahul Gandhi says something, jobless leaders, jobless ministers, ill-tempered spokespersons and others start creating a noise.

“They know their worth is nothing if they don’t defame Rahul. This is not the first time they have tried to defame Rahul with concocted stories, fake narratives and twisted facts.”

Shrinate added: “They started with the allegation of insulting India on foreign soil. When we showed them the mirror — what (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi has said (about past Indian governments) on his foreign tours — they fell silent.

“They started a controversy about (illegal surveillance through Israeli spyware) Pegasus, saying the Supreme Court had given (the government) a clean chit. When we pointed out that the Supreme Court had recorded that the government didn’t cooperate (with the Pegasus probe), they moved to China.

“Even that fell flat as Rahul described China as a coercive force while Modi called them a special friend. Now they have concocted this theory of external intervention while Rahul emphatically said we would deal with our internal problem.”

Prasad also criticised Rahul for condemning the RSS and claimed that the organisation had been serving society and the country since 1925. “We all here are proud to be swayamsevaks (RSS cadres),” he said, adding that the ideology and influence of the RSS had spread across countries while the Congress’s influence had been shrinking.