Sharad Pawar backs Rahul Gandhi over Naravane memoir row in Lok Sabha

Baramati: NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi should have been allowed in the Lok Sabha to quote from an unpublished "memoir" of former Army chief MM Naravane.

The controversy on the memoir, 'Four Stars of Destiny', centres on the events of the Indo-China stand-off in 2020.

A row erupted in the Lok Sabha on Monday after Gandhi sought to quote from the unpublished "memoir" of former Army chief Naravane, but Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, along with other BJP members, strongly opposed it and accused the Congress leader of "misleading" the House.

Pawar said Gandhi "should have been allowed" to speak on the subject in Parliament during the Budget session.

"If the former Army chief has written something and if the leader of the opposition is saying something, then it is his (Gandhi's) right and he should have been given that opportunity," the Rajya Sabha member said at a press conference in Baramati.

He said that an atmosphere of suspicion should not prevail unnecessarily in the country.

"The former Army chief has written something in the book which shows there was some concerning situation. If a discussion had taken place in Parliament on the issue, people could have got a clear picture," Pawar said.

Though the book is unpublished, Gandhi held a copy of it and the Lok Sabha speaker asked to authenticate the copy, he noted. "Why was there opposition (to Gandhi) when the copy was authenticated?" Pawar asked.

Gandhi on Wednesday cited the unpublished "memoir" to claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not fulfil his responsibility during the India-China conflict in 2020 and passed the buck on to Naravane.

Addressing reporters in the premises of Parliament House complex, Gandhi held up Naravane's unpublished "memoir" and said he would like the youngsters in India to know that this 'book' exists despite the government claiming otherwise.

He said Naravane has written the full account of what happened in Ladakh.

Gandhi has also written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, lodging his strong protest over being disallowed from speaking in the House on a matter of national security and terming it a "blot on our democracy".

He has also said that it was for the first time in history that LoP was not allowed to speak on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address.