Brush up your history: Cong reminds PM that Indira Gandhi was India’s first defence minister

New Delhi, Mar 02: Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a rally in Kanyakumari on Friday that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was the first woman to hold the portfolio in the country, the Congress on Friday asked him to "brush up his history".

Urging the Prime Minister to brush up his history, the grand old party reminded the PM that Indira Gandhi was the first woman defence minister of the country and not Sitharaman.

Taking to Twitter, the party took potshots at the Prime Minister and also wondere if the PM had 'missed this chapter during his entire Political Science degree'.

"FYI, Smt Indira Gandhi was the first woman Defence Minister of India - you should brush up your history - in case you missed this chapter during your entire Political Science degree," the party tweeted.

The PM has reported finished his post-graduation in political science from the Gujarat University in 1983 as an external student.

Gujarat University vice-chancellor MN Patel had earlier claimed the Prime Minister had passed his post-graduation in political science with 62.3 per cent marks.

The reaction from the Opposition party came hours after Modi called Sitharaman the first woman's defence minister while hailing Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was then in Pakistan's captivity and is also a resident of the southern state.

At the Kanyakumari rally, PM Modi had said how proud he was of the fact that Sitharaman "India's first woman Defence Minister" was from Tamil Nadu.

Touring the country on the same day, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said the Prime Minister "can't leave aside his public relations exercise even for five minutes". He was obviously referring to PM Modi's claim that the Opposition was 'politicising' the pre-emptive operations carried out by the armed forces.