Congress protest over ex Army chief’s unpublished book quote stalls Lok Sabha for third day

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha witnessed adjournments for the third consecutive day over the Congress' demand to allow the leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi to quote from an unpublished memoir on the 2020 India-China clashes.

The Lok Sabha adjourned twice during the first half of Wednesday amid continuing protest by Congress MPs, who alleged that Gandhi was not being allowed to speak by quoting from the unpublished book of former Army chief M M Naravane. In the middle of the protest, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal made a statement about the India-US trade deal. The minister completed his statement amid din without being confronted by the Opposition. While the Speaker adjourned the House right after 11 am till noon after a brief attempt to run the question hour, the second time the chair held on till the minister completed his statement before adjourning the House till 2 pm. Gandhi was seen holding Naravane's unpublished book, as he did before TV cameras later outside Parliament. Talking to reporters, Gandhi said, "I don't think the PM will have the guts to come to the Lok Sabha today (Wednesday). If the PM comes, I will go and hand him this book so he can read it and the country can get to know the truth." He further said, "I have been told that I cannot quote this book. The main line is what the PM said - 'jo uchit samjho wo karo' (do what you deem appropriate) when the (former) chief of army staff General Naravane called up Rajnath Singhji and said that Chinese tanks have reached the Kailash Ridge, so what should we do?"

"First, Rajnath Singh did not respond to him (Naravane). He asked Jaishankarji, NSA and Rajnath Singh but received no reply. He then called up Rajnath Singh once againwho told him that he would ask the 'top'. The standing order of the 'top' was that if Chinese forces come in, we should not fire without permission. Naravaneji and our army wanted to fire on those tanks because they had entered our territory. Modiji gave a message that 'jo uchit samjho wo karo'. It means that Modi did not fulfil his duties."


When the House met at 2 pm, the Congress members continued their sloganeering. Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the chair, adjourned the House at 2.09pm till 5pm.