New Delhi, Feb 2: A major political row erupted on Monday as Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi sought to quote in the Lok Sabha from an unpublished “memoir” of former Army chief M M Naravane on the 2020 India-China conflict to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, evoking a backlash from BJP leaders who accused him of misleading the House and belittling the armed forces.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla disallowed Gandhi from raising the issue, but he did not relent and several opposition leaders also rallied behind him. The House was adjourned twice and later for the day amid uproar as heated exchanges took place between the treasury and opposition benches.
While Gandhi said the government is “afraid” of a line that he wants to quote from the book and asserted that he would state that line in the Lower House, the BJP alleged that the Congress leader undermined the dignity of Parliament and hurt the morale of the Indian soldiers with his false accusations, in defiance of Speaker Om Birla’s ruling.
The ruling party’s leaders, including ministers, asked Gandhi to stop “speaking the language of anti-India elements”.
Speaking with reporters, Gandhi claimed that he was not being allowed to quote from Naravane’s unpublished book in the Lok Sabha because it indicts Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for “letting down” the army during the 2020 conflict with China.
“Naravane ji has written about the prime minister and Rajnath Singh ji clearly in his book, which has appeared in an article, and I am quoting from that article. They are scared because if it comes out, the reality of Narendra Modi ji and Rajnath Singh ji will be revealed. What happened to the 56-inch chest when China was before us and advancing?” Gandhi said.
Congress and its leaders also shared on social media excerpts from an article in a magazine that quoted Naravane’s unpublished book.
Earlier, as Gandhi rose to speak on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, he said he would first like to respond to the charges made by the previous speaker, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, against the Congress on nationalism and began quoting from what he said was the “memoir” of Naravane talking about the India-China conflict of 2020.
However, Defence Minister Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah strongly protested and asked Gandhi to clarify whether the book had been published or not.
The uproar went on for about 50 minutes with Speaker Om Birla repeatedly saying that no book or newspaper clipping can be quoted on a matter not related to the proceedings of the House, and Gandhi insisting that the document was authenticated and he could quote from it.
Government sources said Gandhi was reading “concocted things” on China. They said there was ample material in the public domain on the decisions taken by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, on China, and alleged that he “surrendered thousands of acres of land just to further his own statesmanship”.
Rajnath Singh maintained that the book had not been published. Gandhi then said he was quoting from a magazine article to put forth his views.
Birla again disallowed it and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju called for the Speaker’s ruling to be adhered to.
Rijiju said if the Leader of Opposition repeatedly ignores the Speaker’s ruling and flouts rules, the House will have to discuss what action should be taken against such a member.
When Gandhi persisted, the Speaker repeatedly warned him against quoting the book.
Singh then got up and asked if the book was not allowed to be published as alleged, why didn’t Naravane go to court against it. The defence minister also accused Gandhi of “misleading” the House.
When the House reassembled at 4 pm, Gandhi said he was raising a matter of national security.
“It is uncomfortable for the defence minister and the prime minister, I understand. I consider national security the most important issue. If it was not uncomfortable, they would have let me speak, but the fact that they are not allowing me to speak shows that they are uncomfortable,” Gandhi said.
Several opposition leaders, including TMC’s Mahua Moitra and Kalyan Banerjee, RJD’s Manoj Jha and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, supported Gandhi on the issue.
Attacking the ruling BJP, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha has raised an extremely serious issue related to national security in the House but the government is evading the questions on it. (PTI)
