Rahul Gandhi displays unpublished Naravane memoir

New Delhi, Feb 4: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday displayed what he said were excerpts from an unpublished memoir of former Army Chief General M.M. Naravane and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of failing to fulfil his responsibility during the 2020 India-China military confrontation in eastern Ladakh, The Times of India reported. Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi said the government was denying the very existence of the book. “The Speaker is saying this book does not exist, Rajnath ji has said this book does not exist. This is Naravane ji’s book, in which he has written the account of Ladakh. Narendra Modi ji did not fulfil his responsibility,” he said. Gandhi alleged that the former Army Chief was left to make decisions on his own. “He told the Army Chief to do whatever he thought was right. General Naravane has clearly written that he felt really alone. This is what they are scared of me saying,” Gandhi added, according to TOI. Referring to a passage he described as central to the memoir, Gandhi said the Prime Minister had told the Army Chief, “jo uchit samjho wo karo”. He claimed that when General Naravane informed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh that Chinese tanks had reached the Kailash Ridge, there was no response initially.

Gandhi also challenged Prime Minister Modi to face him in the House. “I don’t think the Prime Minister will have the guts to come to the Lok Sabha today. If he comes, I will physically go and hand him this book so he can read it and the country can know the truth,” he said. The Congress leader further claimed that the memoir had been published abroad but was not being allowed to be released in India. “It’s available abroad. The government is not allowing it to be published here,” he said, adding that the book he was carrying had been sourced privately. Gandhi’s remarks come days after he attempted to quote from the same unpublished memoir during Lok Sabha proceedings on Monday. He was repeatedly interrupted by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and later Home Minister Amit Shah, who objected to references from what they described as an unverified source. General Naravane was the Army Chief during the Ladakh standoff. Excerpts attributed to his memoir were recently published by an online portal. On Tuesday, Gandhi had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, registering his “strongest protest” against not being allowed to speak on the President’s address during the Budget session, calling it a “blot on our democracy” and alleging that the government was “scared” of what the book reveals, The Times of India reported.