Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 2: The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on Monday after ruckus erupted when the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi sought to read excerpts from an unpublished memoirs of the former Indian Army chief General MM Naravane on Chinese aggression in Dokalam with the treasury benches seeking speaker’s intervention to stop the opposition leader from speaking from a magazine.
Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President for her address to the House, Mr Gandhi attempted to refer to a magazine report based on General Naravane’s manuscript to question the government’s handling of the 2020 China border clash. Mr Gandhi could only read four words, “Chinese tanks in Doklam” before the treasury benches interrupted and stopped him from speaking further and chaos followed in Parliament.
The defence minister Rajnath Singh was the first to raise objections against Rahul Gandhi making reference to an unpublished book excerpts of which had been published in a magazine. “He cannot claim to quote from it,” Singh said, “I can say with confidence, the book has not been published.” Amid the ruckus, the Lok Sabha was first adjourned till 3 pm, and then till 4 pm, and then for the day.
The home minister Amit Shah and other BJP members accused the Congress leader of “misleading” the House. Caravan magazine had published excerpts from the manuscript in its Issue dated January 31.
Singh and Shah argued the manuscript had not been published. “If it is not published, how can it be mentioned?” asked Shah.
For over 40 minutes, Gandhi was adamant about reading from the report, amid objections on technical grounds. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla cited Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha (349 and 353) and ruled that Gandhi cannot read from the magazine article.
Gandhi argued that the President’s speech was about the current situation, policies, foreign policies, China, Pakistan, and the global situation. “I did not want to refer to this article, but your member Tejashwi Surya questioned our nationalism and our character.”
As Birla ruled against any reference to the article, both sides referred to the rule book. BJP’s Nishikant Dubey, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, and Shah pulled out the rule book to argue that Gandhi cannot refer to the matter cited in a magazine. Venugopal repeatedly referred to the book and questioned whether the rules only applied to the opposition.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav backed Gandhi and said he must be allowed to raise the issue about China. “I think LoP must be allowed to speak in China. It is an important issue.” Venugopal and Gandhi also argued with the Speaker, who reminded the opposition that no questions could be raised on his ruling. The Speaker warned Gandhi that if he was not interested in participating in the debate, the next speaker, Yadav, would be invited to speak. Gandhi did not relent.
As Venugopal repeatedly stood up to defend Gandhi and tried to interpret the rules, the Speaker quipped about whether he was Gandhi’s advocate. Venugopal replied that the entire opposition is Gandhi’s advocate. Birla retorted that there is no role for advocates in the House. Birla cited a rule that says advance notices are required if anyone wants to cast aspersions on another lawmaker.
Gandhi claimed that Surya had cast aspersions on the Congress and called it anti-national. Shah defended Surya. “I have heard him carefully. Surya only mentioned that during the [Congress-led] UPA [United Progressive Alliance government] era, the President’s address never mentioned certain words. The subject of the debate is the President’s speech. If Gandhi wants to refute Surya, he should refer to the President’s speeches during the UPA era and show the House if those words were indeed there in the speeches.”
Gandhi hit back, saying the government says it fights against terror, but is afraid of a line in a magazine. “It is about our relationship with China. This is a fundamental explanation of our relationship with China.” As Gandhi repeatedly defied the Speaker’s rulings, Rijiju said, “We must decide what to do with a member who does not want to follow the ruling. You should be teaching other teachers. You are a five-time member of Parliament.” As the impasse continued, the Speaker adjourned the house.
Union Minister Giriraj Singh, unhappy over Gandhi’s remarks in the Parliament, said the LoP was “undermining the dignity of the House.”
“He was making such statements even after repeated requests from the Speaker. I would call this indiscipline…” he said.
However, the Opposition MP, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Manoj Kumar Jha, said the government has “in a way exposed itself” by objecting to Gandhi’s speech. “I have also read that portion of the book. In a healthy democracy, in a country like India, the concern shouldn’t be whether the truth will come out. The concern should be what will be done after the truth comes out,” he said.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram also attacked the government over not letting Gandhi speak and claimed that the government is “hell-bent on suppressing his voice because they don’t want the truth to come out.” “I have never seen a government so vehemently opposing a quote from a former army chief, a respected soldier who spent his entire life defending us, who has written an autobiography, and this government is hell-bent on suppressing his voice because they don’t want the truth to come out. So obviously there are some very, very deep truths in it, which are embarrassing to the leadership of this government, and that is why they are behaving in this way, hiding behind parliamentary procedure, quoting rules which are not really relevant to suppress the voice of the leader of the opposition…” Chidambaram said.
The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5 in 2020, following a violent clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Pangong Lake area. Former Army chief General Naravane, in his unpublished memoir titled ‘Four Stars Of Destiny’, has written about the clash, and an essay on the book was published by the magazine.
The repeated interjections led Rahul Gandhi to ask, “What does it contain which is scaring them so much? If they are not scared, I should be allowed to read on.” The Congress leader insisted that the article and the book he was quoting were “100% authentic.”
But the treasury benches disagreed. “Rahul Gandhi is reading whatever he feels on the floor of Parliament. This sets a very dangerous precedent, and this method can be used by anyone to slander others. He has trivialised the floor of Parliament,” government sources said. “Tomorrow, BJP leaders can also concoct facts and say it is in some unpublished book. Rahul Gandhi has become a fake news factory by reading fictitious things on the floor of Parliament,” sources added.
“He was not trying to defame the Army. He was reading an excerpt from the book of the Army Chief. They (BJP) always say this whenever something comes out that they want to hide,” said Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi, defending her brother.
Experts, however, point out that the Parliamentary rules did not prohibit members quoting from books, magazines, newspaper reports, or any other publication during a session but notice must be given and prior permission obtained from the Speaker.
