New Delhi: Union minister Smriti Irani hit back at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, saying that his comparisons of a Prime Minister to Adolf Hitler came 42 years too late.

Reacting sharply to the Gandhi scion’s remarks that BJP-led NDA government was attempting to "strangulate reality" like the Nazi regime, the newly-appointed Information and Broadcasting minister said there were “no prizes for guessing who was inspired by Hitler, imposed the Emergency and trampled over democracy,” in a not-so-veiled reference to former PM Indira Gandhi.

@OfficeOfRG u r 42 yrs late on this 1.No prizes for guessing who was inspired by Hitler, imposed the emergency & trampled over democracy. — Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 21, 2017

Rahul had on Friday warned the Narendra Modi government against distorting the Constitution and implementing the agenda of the RSS while speaking at an international conference in Bengaluru. He said that what is happening today is the "systematic capture of India's democratic institutions. By the PM, bureaucrats and the RSS".

He went on to say that Hitler once wrote: "Keep a very firm grasp on reality so you can strangulate it anytime." Today this is what is happening around us, Rahul said.

Rahul also targeted the demonetisation drive, saying the move was publicly proclaimed as a stroke of genius, but people privately called it insanity. Attacking Modi for not listening to sound advice, Gandhi said, "The emperor is completely naked, but nobody around him has the courage to tell it to him."

Despite Rahul’s sharp criticism of the government and PM Modi, Irani said she sincerely wants to thank the Congress vice-president for all that he does, as it has led to a bleak future for his party and allowed the BJP to flourish. “A bleak future awaits the Congress Party, not our nation!" she wrote in a tweet.

@OfficeOfRG a bleak future awaits the Congress Party, not our Nation! — Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 21, 2017

However, thank you @officeofRG for all that you do. Sincerely from the BJP!🙏🙏 — Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 21, 2017

This is not the first time that Irani has taken potshots at Gandhi. Last week, she called him “an immature mind who does not know the history of his own family” after he slammed Modi for aggravating the unrest in Kashmir for his own political gain. Irani had reminded him that the Kashmir issue was the legacy of the Nehru-Gandhi family.