Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his "market of hate" remarks, saying his so-called "shop of love" was not needed.

Addressing a "Gauravshali Bharat" rally on the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, he said the country's stature rose under the leadership of the Prime Minister.

The defence minister said several schemes which could never be imagined earlier were introduced by the PM. "But what is happening with our Congress people? Their one leader and that neta ji — wherever he goes he says there is a 'nafrat ka bazaar' (market of hate) there and he has come there to open a 'mohabbat ki dukan' (shop of love)." Singh did not name Gandhi but was taking a dig at him over the phrase used by the opposition leader. Particularly during his "Bharat Jodo Yatra", Gandhi had accused the ruling BJP of spreading hatred.

He said he wanted to open a "shop of love" in the "market of hatred". "I want to ask you if there is any 'nafrat ka bazaar" in Haryana," he said, adding there no scope for the Congress leader's 'mohabbat ki dukan' (shop of love). "Where is the hate," Singh asked.

The minister said when India addressed international forums earlier people didn't take it seriously as they considered it a "weak" country and the land of the poor. "Today when India speaks anything on international platforms, people listen."

Whatever the BJP promised in its election manifestos, it delivered, he said, referring to the Ram temple in Ayodhya and the abrogation of Article 370 on special status for Jammu and Kashmir. Singh asked whether the prime minister thought about the caste or religion of the beneficiaries when toilets are built for them.

"Has there been any discrimination against anyone?" he said. He made a similar point about the distribution of money to farmers under the Kisan Samman Nidhi. "They are uttering nonsense out of frustration, to unnecessarily mislead people," he said, attacking the Congress.