'It will expose reality of Modi': Rahul Gandhi on ex-Army chief Naravane's unpublished memoir

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the ruling BJP of not allowing him to quote from former Army Chief Gen MM Naravane's unpublished memoirs in the House, as it "exposed the reality" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh "letting down" the military during the conflict with China in 2020.

Rahul, whose remarks during the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address led to a face-off between the Opposition and Treasury benches and adjournment of the House, said he wanted to read out "2-3 lines" from the book 'Four Stars of Destiny’ in the House that would "make everything clear" and he would state it in the Lok Sabha.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the ideological foundation of the RSS-BJP itself "rests on concealing facts", which is precisely why this "cowardly" Modi government is "dodging answers" on serious questions of national security raised by Rahul in Parliament as if someone has "touched its most painful nerve".

"Naravane has written about the Prime Minister and Rajnath Singh 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 and Rajnath Singh will be revealed. What happened to the 56-inch chest when China was before us and advancing?" Rahul told reporters in Parliament House.

Insisting that it is a matter of national security that has been raised by "a serious leader of our forces", he said it refers to a conversation Gen Naravane had with Modi and Singh and their responses.

"All I want to say in the House is what the (former) Army Chief has written, what Modi told him, what Rajnath Singh told him, what order they gave. I don't know why they are so scared," he said, adding that the comments by Gen Naravane that not an inch of land had been lost to China is a separate issue. What mattered was what the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister said, Rahul claimed.

"The leader of the country is supposed to give direction. The leader of the country is not supposed to run away from decisions and leave decisions on other people's shoulders, that is what the Prime Minister has done," he said.

Rahul said the former Army chief's book is "not being allowed to be published, it is languishing". He said this is the army chief's perspective and why are they "so scared of what" he has to say.

"We will learn something from it. Of course, we will learn something about the PM, we will learn something about Rajnath Singh, but we will also learn something about the army and how they were let down by the political leadership of the country," he said.

Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal alleged that the ruling BJP "heckled" Rahul to stop him from speaking in the Lok Sabha on the India-China border conflict, as it was "scared that the truth of its incompetence" would be exposed.

"This faux nationalist government is so afraid of the truth of their incompetence coming out that they have deployed a bunch of senior-most Cabinet ministers to prevent LoP Rahul Gandhi from speaking. They moved heaven and earth to stall the publishing of ex-Army Chief Gen Manoj Naravane book, and now when excerpts are coming out which expose their so-called nationalist commitments, they are heckling and silencing the Leader of Opposition," he said.

He also claimed that by "blatantly misinterpreting the rules of procedure, the government is depriving the House and the people from knowing about their Himalayan blunders in the conflict against China". "It is a textbook case of 21st-century fascism, where first you stifle dissent in public, and then misuse rules to further silence your opponents," he alleged.