Opposition, govt spar over Rahul Gandhi's China remark

New Delhi: The Opposition Congress and the government locked horns in the Lok Sabha on Monday over Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's insistence on quoting from an unpublished book on the India-China border stand-off. Gandhi was the first speaker from the Opposition on the discussion on the motion of thanks on the presidential address. Gandhi began his speech by saying that he wanted to speak about the India-China border skirmish where the Chinese troops had started marching towards Kailash Range with tanks. He started quoting from former chief of Army staff General Manoj Naravane's unpublished book, "Four Chinese tanks were entering Indian territory. They were taking a ridge in Doklam. And the Army chief writes the tanks were within a few hundred metres of the Kailash Range."

Defence minister Rajnath Singh objected and said, "The book he is talking about is unpublished. Had the facts been correct, it would have been published." Speaker Om Birla gave a ruling that the Leader of Opposition could not quote from the book. Gandhi was undeterred. He started citing a magazine piece which had quoted the book. Home minister Amit Shah questioned this and said, "What is in the magazine? It is the book. The book is unpublished. So, what is the basis of the Leader of Opposition's claims?"

Birla, once again, asked Gandhi to stick to facts. Gandhi asked, "If you do not want me to quote, can I describe it?" With this, he started describing, "Chinese tanks were rolling towards Kailash Range." The defence minister, again, appealed to the chair, "Please stop him." The Speaker said, "You cannot mislead the House like this." Gandhi said, "Ok, Speaker Sir, you tell me what to speak because you don't want to hear what I want to say. Can I say there was a border somewhere? There were forces of some country?" Birla answered, "I am not your adviser. So, I cannot advise you what to speak. But as the Speaker, it is my responsibility to ensure the House is run by rules." Gandhi refused to relent and resumed his speech. Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju stood up and said it was the responsibility of the LoP to follow the ruling.


It was obvious that neither the government nor Gandhi was willing to relent. Gandhi was almost daring the government to suspend him but the treasury benches were restrained in their conduct. Rahul again started and cited the article to insinuate that it spoke about "the character of the defence minister and the Prime Minister". The Speaker waded in and said, "Under Rule 353, if you are charging a minister of something, you have to give prior notice." Rahul shot back that when BJP MP Tejasvi Surya was talking about the Opposition's character, no rule was cited.

The House was adjourned at 2.10 pm till 3 pm. When it reassembled, both sides stuck to their positions. The House was once again adjourned at 3.10 pm till 4 pm. When the Lok Sabha met again at 4 pm, Gandhi said he was only raising an issue of "national security" and should be allowed to speak. Both sides sparred again and the chair adjourned the House for the day within 10 minutes.

Talking to media persons outside Parliament House, Gandhi said, "I am not being allowed to speak. I just have to speak 2-3 lines. It is a matter of national security. These are the words of the Army Chief (former), and it is a conversation that he has had with Rajnath Singhji and PM Modi. All I am saying is that I want to say in the House what the (former) Army Chief has written and what orders Rajnath Singh and PM Modi gave him. I just want to say these. Don't know why they are so scared". When media persons pointed out Nirvana's statement that no inch of Indian land was lost to China, Gandhi said: "That is not the point. The point here is exactly what the PM said and what Rajnath Singhji said. Whether the land was taken or not, that's a different question. We'll come to that. But the leader of the country is supposed to give direction. The leader of the country is not supposed to run away and leave decisions on other people's shoulders. That is what the PM has done..."

Rule 349(i) establishes a baseline where reading external material is forbidden in the House. According to government sources, to quote any text, the MP must successfully argue its "direct connection" to the business listed in the agenda.