'Be a man': Rahul Gandhi tells PM Narendra Modi over Sitharaman's remark

New Delhi : Rahul Gandhi has sparked up a new political debate as he targeted Nirmala Sitharaman and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale deal. The National Commission of Women has issued a notice to the Congress president, calling his remarks as "pathetic, sexist and misogynistic".

Union Minister Sushma Swaraj claimed that the incident marks 'new low' in the political history. She tweeted using a hashtag #MisogynistRahul.

Adressing a rally in Rajasthan, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a "mahila (woman)" to defend him during the Rafale debate in parliament.

"The watchman with a 56-inch chest ran away and told a woman, Sitharamanji, defend me. I won't be able to defend myself, defend me. For two and a half hours, the woman could not defend him. I had asked a straight question - answer yes or no - but she couldn't answer," said Mr Gandhi.

PM Modi responded by accusing Rahul Gandhi of insulting "India's first woman defence minister".

"For the first time, a daughter of the country has become defence minister. Our defence minister silenced all the opposition parties in parliament (on Rafale) and exposed their lies. They were so stunned that now they are insulting a woman defence minister. They are insulting India's women power," the PM said at a rally in Agra.

Reacting sharply on this, Rahul Gandhi made a fresh tweet saying, "Stop shaking, Be a man."