Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday called Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi “a failed dynast”, after he claimed at an event in the United States that “most of India runs” on dynastic succession.

“A failed dynast today chose to speak about his failed political journey in the US,” Irani said at a press conference at the Bharatiya Janata Party office in New Delhi. “After failing to connect with the people of India, Mr Gandhi chooses a platform of convenience to berate his political opponents. He saying that dynasts and dynasties are the very fulcrum of India in itself is an anomaly.”

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Gandhi had made the statement at an event titled “India at 70: Reflections on the Path Forward” at the University of California in Berkeley, where he was invited to speak. “That is how India works,” he had said when asked about dynastic politics in the country.

At the event, he had also accused the Narendra Modi government of playing politics of polarisation and promoting violence.

Irani denounced Gandhi for “belittling” the prime minister at an international platform. She also criticised his statement on the Congress becoming arrogant in 2012. “Indian democracy gives opportunity to merit and is not beholden to dynasty,” the minister said. “It was a matter for the Opposition to delve into.”