What Happened in Parliament During Rahul Gandhi’s Speech?

The Lok Sabha witnessed ruckus after the treasury benches interrupted Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi when he quoted an excerpt from the unpublished memoir of former Indian Army chief Manoj Mukund Naravane, stating that it is against the rules of the House.

Gandhi raised India-China standoff during a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. Union Defence Minister Rajnanth and Home Minister Amit Shah interrupted him stating that it was against the rules of the House.

Gandhi criticized BJP MP Tejasvi Surya for questioning the Congress party’s patriotism and quoted from Naravane’s book about the Ladakh standoff. He said that there was no need of a debate on who is patriotic and who is not. “Our patriotism is not buried.”

Soon as Gandhi raised the Ladakh issue, Rajnath Singh questioned if the book was published. If not published, then he cannot, Singh said and Speaker Om Birla also supported the Minister.

At this moment, Union Minister Amit Shah said that the quotes were not from the Army chief’s book but from a magazine, which can write anything. However, Gandhi said that he quoted from an authentic source and alleged that the government was trying to stop the publication of the book.

Gandhi said that magazine, while mentioning about the former Army chief’s book, made a mention of Rajnath Singh. The Opposition benches raised their voice in support of Gandhi, stating that the China issue is very sensitive which needs discussion.

In the memoir Four Stars of Destiny, the former Army chief wrote that on August 31, 2020, he had asked for orders from India’s political and military leadership seeking permission for the Army to respond to Chinese tanks heading towards Rechin La in Ladakh.

Following the protocol, Naravane wrote that he sought clear direction from Singh, External Affairs minister S Jaishankar, national security adviser Ajit Doval, and the then chief of defence staff Gen. Bipin Rawat. After waiting for hours for the orders, Naravane claimed that he was told that military was to do whatever its deems correct.

Naravane wrote that this implied that the Indian response was completely left to the military. Rahul Gandhi tried to point out to the Indian government pushing its responsibility to the military and criticized the BJP for it.