New Delhi: A major ruckus occurred in the Lok Sabha on Monday with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi insisting on quoting a magazine article carrying excerpts of former Indian Army chief General M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir.
The proceedings were finally adjourned till 3 pm by Speaker Om Birla after heated exchanges between the treasury bench and the Opposition.
Rahul Gandhi sought to counter the BJP’s charge of “Congress not being patriotic” by mentioning a phrase “Chinese tanks in Doklam” from the excerpts, at which defence minister Rajnath Singh got up to interject, as reported by Hindustan Times.
“He should tell us if the said book has been published or not. It has not been published. He cannot claim to quote from it.” Singh said, adding: “I can say with confidence, the book has not been published.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present in the Lok Sabha, but chose not to participate in the discussion.
Home minister Amit Shah intervened though. “When the book has not even been published, how can he (Rahul) quote from it,” he asked.
Birla agreed with the ministers and said: “Rules and conventions, too, say newspaper clippings, books, other such things that are not authentic cannot be cited in the House.” He then requested Rahul Gandhi to carry on with his speech without this part.
Rahul Gandhi, however, insisted that The Caravan magazine had “100% genuine” excerpts of the book.
“Rajnath ji is mentioned in it,” the LOP said, as his fellow Congress MPs urged the Speaker to let him quote from the article. “They (government) can respond thereafter,” Congress MP K C Venugopal told Birla.
The Speaker, however, refused to allow this. Objections were also raised by parliamentary affairs ministe
r Kiren Rijiju, who mentioned rules against such quoting of a book. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey also raised objections.
“Even if it’s published, quoting from any book unrelated to House proceedings is not allowed,” Birla said.
Rahul then asked: “You, Speaker Sir, do not want me to quote from this magazine; so can I at least describe it?”
“No, I have given my ruling,” Birla responded.
Rahul was adamant though and again started talking about “Chinese tanks” at which the defence minister rose yet again.
“This is an effort to mislead the House,” Singh said.
Rahul then chose not to mention China but said, “Some country’s tanks were approaching…”
This was when the Speaker stepped in yet again, stopping him from speaking, promoting a response: “You tell me, Sir, what I should speak!”
“I am not your adviser!” Birla replied. “You should follow the rules. You are Leader of the Opposition. The country can decide if you are maintaining the dignity of the position.”
There should be a discussion on “what to do with a member (Rahul) who refuses to follow rules”, Rijiju then said.
The Speaker then instructed Rahul to only speak on the President’s address: “There is no mention of India-China in that address, so please do not raise issues that negatively impact India’s international standing.”
International relations, be it with Pakistan, China or others, should be open to debate in Parliament, Rahul argued.
“Gen Naravane’s book speaks on the character of PM Modi and Rajnath Singh. You should let me raise it. It is not something about China; it is about PM…” Rahul said, even as Birla interjected mid-sentence to cite rules.
What followed was a ruckus involving members of the BJP-led NDA and the Opposition benches. This did not stop even as Birla sought to move to the next speaker in the list, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav. He finally adjourned the House till 3 pm.
Gen Naravane’s memoir were to be published in 2024, but it was apparently held up due to lack of permission from the government. Some extracts from the book were published by a news agency and several media outlets in December 2023.