Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday sharply criticised Rahul Gandhi, who is currently in the US, for allegedly supporting divisive forces and making harmful statements about India.

Shah contended that Gandhi's actions, both domestically and internationally, were detrimental to India's unity and security.

The Home Minister also defended the BJP's commitment to upholding reservation policies and national security.

“Standing with forces that conspire to divide the country and making anti-national statements have become a habit for Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. Whether it is supporting the JKNC's anti-national and anti-reservation agenda in J&K or making anti-India statements on foreign platforms, Rahul Gandhi has always threatened the nation's security and hurt sentiments,” Shah said in a post on X.

He further remarked, “Rahul Gandhi's statement lays bare the Congress's politics of causing rifts on the lines of regionalism, religion, and linguistic differences..”

Shah added, “By speaking about abolishing reservations in the country, Rahul Gandhi has once again brought the Congress's anti-reservation face to the forefront. The thoughts that were in his mind eventually found their way out as words. I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that as long as the BJP is there, neither can anyone abolish reservations nor can anyone mess with the nation's security.”

During an interaction with the students and the faculty of Georgetown University in Washington DC on Tuesday, a student asked him whether there were other better ways to strengthen institutions at the grassroots level than caste-based reservation. Rahul Gandhi in his reply said, "...We will think of scrapping reservations when India is a fair place and India is not a fair place ... that way it is a problem..."

Later he clarified that he was misquoted on the issue of reservation.

The Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha is on a three-day visit to the US.