Chaos erupted in the Lok Sabha on Monday after Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah clashed over the Congress leader’s allegations of Chinese intrusion at the height of the 2020 India-China standoff. As soon as he rose to speak on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address to Parliament, Rahul attempted to quote portions from former Army Chief Gen MM Naravane’s unpublished book, claiming these had “national security implications”.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh firmly rebutted Rahul, saying the book’s publication had been halted “obviously on account of information inaccuracies and General Naravane never pursued the legal option of restoring his publication rights”.“The LoP cannot quote from an unpublished, unverified source,” said Rajnath, with Speaker Om Birla taking the point and ruling against the said quotation by Rahul.Rahul, however, persisted and flashed a copy of a magazine article based on the same book and began quoting from it, only to be warned by Birla, who adjourned the House twice and then finally for the day.Rahul said he had been compelled to bring up General Naravane’s remarks “after BJP’s Tejaswi Surya, who opened the debate on the President’s Address, questioned his and the Congress’ patriotism. At one point, he even asked the Chair: “You tell me what to speak.”To this, Birla said, “I am not your adviser but in the House, you have to follow the rules. Rules warrant a prior notice should you want to mention something about other members. You have not given a notice,” Birla told Rahul, who found support from Opposition leaders Akhilesh Yadav of the SP and Mahua Moitra and Kalyan Banerjee of the (TMC) among others.Facts questionableI don’t know if the facts in the book Rahul is talking about are correct or not. If it was not being allowed to be published, then Gen Naravane (retd) could have gotten orders from courts. Rajnath Singh, Defence MinisterRahul said treasury leaders had often questioned the nationalism of leaders of the Opposition and he was merely raising a matter concerning the India-China ties. “Under what possible rule can this be barred,” Rahul asked, leading to a strong interjection by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who said Surya had not said anything out of the line and Rahul could not quote from an unpublished work.Outside Parliament, Rahul told reporters that the government was afraid of a line he wanted to mention.“Naravane ji has written about the PM and Rajnath Singh ji 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 ji and Rajnath Singh ji will be revealed. What happened to the 56-inch chest when China was before us and advancing,” Rahul said.Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, however, attacked the LoP, saying that he had defied the Speaker’s ruling and wasted the time of the House.Made them uneasyI know it’s uncomfortable for the Defence Minister and PM. I consider national security the most important issue. The fact that they are not allowing me to speak shows they are uneasy. Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition“Books, periodicals and news clippings cannot be quoted during debates if they have no relevance to the proceedings,” said Rijiju, adding that defiance in such matters could lead to matters of privilege.Government sources said MPs could quote from books and magazines after giving a prior notice. The sources said Rahul was “reading concocted things” on China.“On the contrary, there is enough material in the public domain about what the late PM Jawaharlal Nehru did on China. He surrendered thousands of acres of land to further his statesmanship,” said a top government source.
