'Scared of one quote': Rahul, BJP lock horns over ex-Army chief's memoir in Lok Sabha

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi and top Union Ministers had a face-off in Lok Sabha on Monday as the Leader of Opposition attempted to quote from the unpublished 'memoir’ of former Army chief Gen MM Naravane that purportedly raised questions about the handling of China by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

Lok Sabha called it a day a little after 4 PM after frequent disruptions, as Rahul insisted on referring to Gen Naravane's claims during his speech on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address and said the Treasury Benches should allow him to "read" from the book if they are “not scared”. Singh accused Rahul of “misleading” the House and asked him whether the book was published.

The furore was over Rahul mentioning Four Stars of Destiny', whose publication was put on hold after Defence Ministry saying that it will review it and the former Army Chief saying that the issue is now between the publisher and the government, and an article in The Caravan referring to the remarks made by the retired General.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla disallowed Rahul from referring to Gen Naravane’s book but the Congress leader did not relent, prompting the former to accuse him of “repeatedly insulting the Chair by ignoring the ruling”, even as the Opposition MPs rallied behind him. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav urged the Speaker to allow Rahul to raise the issue.

“They (BJP) say they fight terrorism but are scared of one quote...If they are not scared, they should allow me to read it (from the book)...While speaking about the Presidential Address, you cannot speak about Pakistan, you cannot speak about China?" Rahul said in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul started his speech claiming that he was not planning to raise the issue but after BJP MP Tejasvi Surya questioned the Congress' “patriotism”, he was forced to refer to the memoirs. Singh asked Rahul to clarify whether the book had been published or not and why Gen Naravane did not go to the court if his book was not allowed to be published.

Claiming that there is no such book and a magazine can write anything, Home Minister Amit Shah said Surya has not questioned the patriotism of any party and he was referring to President's Addresses during UPA government having no mention of nationalism, culture and language among other things.

The Leader of Opposition, however, continued claiming that the government did not allow its publication and that he was quoting from 'Caravan', which has published the excerpts from the book, even as Birla ruled that MPs cannot quote from newspaper or magazine articles and books.

Rahul insisted that he was talking about the President’s speech and whenever he resumed his speech after disruption, Rahul referred to Gen Naravane. As the stalemate continued, Birla first adjourned the House till 3 PM.

Modi and Shah were not in the House when the House re-assembled while Singh took his seat.

Rahul said he was talking about national security and referred to China claiming that the Chinese tanks had reached Indian territory. Singh asked from where did Rahul collect the “imaginary” information while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju alleged Rahul crossed a line by repeatedly ignoring the ruling of the Speaker.

“The soldiers know what has happened. You cannot hide it anymore,” he claimed and as once again the House was adjourned till 4 PM.

When the House assembled again, senior BJP MP Jagadambika Pal was in the Chair and he urged Rahul to stick to the contents of the President's speech. Rahul then claimed that the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister were "not comfortable" to which Pal said, they were "not uncomfortable".

"If as you are saying the comments are not uncomfortable for the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister, then they would let me quote from the book. It is uncomfortable for them," he said. As both sides were unrelenting, Pal adjourned the House for the day.