Rahul Gandhi on Thursday responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s jibe at his mother Sonia Gandhi’s Italian origin saying that she was “more Indian than many”. Rahul Gandhi was speaking at a press conference in Bengaluru on the last day of campaigning for Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018. On being asked about the jibes and digs by PM Modi and him and his mother, Rahul Gandhi said that if he (Narendra Modi) likes to abuse his mother, “he may do so”.

“It shows the quality of the PM when he makes these comments. If he likes it, then let him,” he told reporters. “My mother is Italian. She also lived a larger part of her life in India. She is more Indian than many, many Indians. She has sacrificed for this country, she has suffered for this country,” Rahul Gandhi said at the press meet after winding up the Karnataka polls campaigning in Bengaluru.

On being asked about the scathing attacks at him and the “naamdaar” taunt, the Congress President took reference of Lord Buddha and said that he will not react to the abuses and taunts that are being thrown at him by the PM. “Modi has anger inside… he has anger for everybody, not just me …and sees a threat in me. So he is angry with me. His anger is his problem, not mine. He got me the gift of anger, I didn’t want it,” he said.

Gandhi also talked about the PM’s digs at him for his “prime ministerial ambitions” and said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is panicked and are trying to distract attention because “they know that the Congress has been doing things differently”. “I have now learnt to deal with the Prime Minister. When he can’t respond, he distracts,” he said.

“PM Modi likes to distract people. He has nothing to say to the people of Karnataka on their future. So he just distracts them. All these comments are made to distract the country from the important issues. This election is not about Rahul Gandhi. It’s about the future of Karnataka,” the Congress President said. The BJP, he said, gets “uncomfortable” when he visits a temple. “I don’t think BJP understands the term Hindu,” he said.