Google News Preferred Source on Google News Indian Republic Logo

Lok Sabha Adjourned After Clash Over Rahul Gandhi Citing Unpublished Army Chief Memoir on India–China Standoff

Edited by IndianRepublic.in - Location: New Delhi, Delhi, India

The Budget Session of India’s Parliament descended into repeated disruptions on Monday after Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi attempted to quote from the unpublished memoir of former Army chief Manoj Mukund Naravane during the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. This triggered sharp objections from the treasury benches and forced multiple adjournments before the House was suspended for the day.

Lok Sabha Adjourned After Clash Over Rahul Gandhi Citing Unpublished Army Chief Memoir on India–China Standoff
Rahul Gandhi ups the ante on national security; via: Shaandelhite
The confrontation unfolded when Rahul Gandhi rose to respond to remarks made earlier by BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, who had criticised the Congress party’s record on nationalism. 

Rahul Gandhi said he wished to counter those allegations by referring to passages concerning India’s military standoff with China, which he attributed to Naravane’s memoir, titled Four Stars of Destiny, and to a magazine article that had cited the unpublished book. 

As he began to quote from the material, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh intervened, questioning whether the book had been formally published or authenticated and arguing that unpublished material could not be cited in parliamentary proceedings.

Home Minister Amit Shah joined the objection, maintaining that references to unpublished books, newspaper clippings or other extraneous material were not permitted under parliamentary rules. 

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla subsequently ruled that members could not read out from unpublished books or magazine articles not directly related to the business listed before the House, urging Rahul Gandhi to confine his remarks to the President’s Address.

Despite the ruling, Rahul Gandhi insisted that the excerpts he was citing were authentic and already in the public domain through a published magazine article. 

His continued attempts to refer to the material led to sustained protests from treasury bench members and counter-sloganeering from the opposition, paralysing proceedings. 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju later accused Rahul Gandhi of repeatedly defying the Speaker’s direction and violating House rules, saying the Leader of the Opposition had “wasted half an hour of the House” by persisting with the same point despite clear instructions.

Other ruling party members also criticised Rahul Gandhi’s conduct. Union Minister Giriraj Singh described his behaviour as undisciplined and said members were required to adhere to the agenda under discussion, while BJP MP Jagdambika Pal called the episode unprecedented and embarrassing, arguing that a member had continued speaking even after being repeatedly asked to stop.

The opposition, however, closed ranks around Rahul Gandhi, accusing the government of using procedure to shut down debate on issues of national security. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said Gandhi was not attempting to defame the armed forces but was referring to the perspective of a former Army chief. 

Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda described it as unfortunate that the Leader of the Opposition was not allowed to speak on what he called a matter of national importance, while senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said Rahul Gandhi had raised substantive issues related to Doklam, Ladakh and India–China relations that the government was avoiding answering.

Support also came from outside the Congress. Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee alleged that Parliament was losing its democratic character, while his party colleague Mahua Moitra accused the government of intimidating opposition voices inside and outside Parliament. 

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav urged the Speaker to allow Rahul Gandhi to speak, saying issues relating to China were sensitive and merited discussion.

Amid the uproar, the Lok Sabha was adjourned multiple times and eventually suspended for the remainder of the day, with proceedings scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. 

Speaking inside the House during the disorder, Rahul Gandhi said national security should not be curtailed in parliamentary debate and argued that his remarks had made the government uncomfortable. 

He said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was aware of the matter, claiming Singh had spoken to Naravane, and questioned why he was not being allowed to raise the issue.

After the adjournment, Rahul Gandhi reiterated his stance to reporters outside Parliament, saying he was not expressing personal views but quoting from the former Army chief’s account. He said the memoir had not yet been published and was awaiting approval, but argued that its contents had already appeared in a published article. 

Questioning the government’s objections, he asked why it was “so scared” of what the former Army chief had to say and maintained that discussion of the issue would shed light on how political leadership responded during the 2020 India–China standoff, including the Galwan clash.

The controversy has brought renewed attention to Naravane’s unpublished memoir, which, according to his own public comments cited in media reports, has been under review by the Ministry of Defence for more than a year through the publisher. 

The government has not publicly commented on the contents of the book. On Monday, however, Rajnath Singh told Parliament that if the former Army chief believed his memoir had been unjustly barred from publication, he could seek legal recourse.

Ruling party leaders dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s claims as misleading and shared past public remarks by Naravane in which he said India had not lost territory in the 2020 standoff and that the military had stood up to Chinese pressure. 

Those statements did not address Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that political leadership had avoided giving clear direction at critical moments. The day ended with the Lok Sabha paralysed by procedural conflict. 

This latest fiasco once again shows the sharp divide between the government and opposition over how issues of national security and civil–military decision-making should be debated in the Parliament.

Also Read:

When Memory Awaits Permission: Why Unpublished Books and Leaked Excerpts Still Belong in the Public Domain

Loading... Loading IST...
25 Years in the 21st Century
View →
🌍 MULTIPOLAR MOVEMENT TRACKER ON
Loading headlines...

Loading Top Trends...

Picture in Perspective

Scanning sources...

🔦 Newsroom Feed

    🔗 View Source
    Font Replacer Active
    ABOUT US CONTACT US PRIVACY POLICY TERMS & CONDITIONS INDIAN DIPLOMACY PARLIAMENT SESSION POTUS TRUMP KREMLIN ALERTS LOP RAHUL GANDHI PM NARENDRA MODI