New Delhi: Union minister of parliamentary affairs came Kiren Rijiju came down heavily on Congress MP and Leader of Opposition (LoP) on Monday for causing adjournment of the Lok Sabha by repeatedly quoting from former Army chief General M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir.
Rijiju accused Rajiv of trying to “show a weak India”, by quoting an excerpt of the memoir – published by The Caravan – about Chinese tanks entering Indian territory.
As Rahul attempted to quote from the book, defence minister Rajnath Singh intervened, saying quoting an unpublished book was against the rules of the House. Speaker Om Birla initially adjourned the House till 3 pm.
After the Lok Sabha reconvened at 3 pm, Rahul persisted on speaking on the subject, despite being ask
ed by Birla not to do so. Finally, the Speaker adjourned the Lok Sabha for the day.
Rijiju, while speaking to CNN-News18, said the Congress leader “wasted 30 minutes to break a rule”. “Gandhi did not authenticate the book he was quoting from. The Speaker gave a ruling under 349. Without authenticating, you can’t quote. Even then he repeated the mistake, wasting 30 minutes to break a rule.”
“Aksai Chin, Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh…can the parts encroached under Congress rule be retrieved? Gandhi should first apologise for 1959 and 1962. He must apologise to the nation for the historical blunders of his party,” Rijiju said.
He called Rahul “entitled”, and said that he must follow rules and educate his MPs too. “The tank reference made by Gandhi was to show India in poor light. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not an inch of land will be conceded.”
Rahul was keen on repeated his charge of Chinese tanks entering Indian territory, drawing the ire of the government.
The parliamentary affairs minister repeated his appeal, saying: “Rahul Gandhi must not speak on issues that he doesn’t know about. Why are you trying to disrespect the Army?”