The Lok Sabha on Monday witnessed a stormy session after Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress MP and the Leader of Opposition (LoP), south to quote from the unpublished memoir of former Army chief General MM Naravane on India-China standoff in 2020. The government vehemently opposed Gandhi, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Home Minister Amit Shah saying that the Congress leader was 'misleading' the Lok Sabha and quoting the 'unpublished' book was against the rules of the House.
Several other senior leaders of the government, including Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs, protested against this, but Gandhi continued his efforts to start a debate over the memoir. This led to a massive chaos and the House was adjourned till Tuesday.
Here's everything you need to know about the big story:
- Initially, Gandhi was supposed to speak on the Motion of Thanks to President Droupadi Murmu's address, but the LoP began quoting from the ex-Army chief's memoir. Defence Minister Singh opposed this and said Gandhi cannot quote an unpublished book.
- The uproar continued in the Lok Sabha for around 50 minutes, with Speaker Om Birla saying that no book or newspaper clipping can be quoted on a matter not related to the proceedings of the House. However, Gandhi stressed he can quote the book. Following this, the House was adjourned.
- Later, Rijiju issued a statement and accused Gandhi of flouting rules of the House. He said an MP cannot challenge the Chair, but Gandhi has kept repeating the same mistake and wasted around 30 minutes of the House on Monday.
- "He started speaking on China border... Can Congress party bring back the landmass that was captured by China in 1959 and 1962?... Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the nation... If someone is born in a known family, are they above the Parliament? Are they above the rules?" the Parliamentary Affairs minister said.
- The proceedings of the House resumed in the afternoon again but were shortly abrupted after Gandhi tried to quote the memoir again. He later told reporters outside the House that he will try to speak in the Lok Sabha again.
- At 4 pm, the proceedings resumed again, with BJP MP Jagdambika Pal sitting on the Chair. Pal told Gandhi to speak on the Motion of Thanks to president's address; although the Congress MP insisted that he should be allowed to speak, causing another chaos in the House.
- This forced Pal to adjourned the House till 11 am on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters later in the day, Gandhi said he was not allowed to speak in the House and he was only trying to quote what the ex-Army chief said.
- "This is not me, this is what the Army Chief (former) has written in a book. The book is not being allowed to be published. It is languishing, and this is the Army Chief's perspective. Why are they so scared of the Army Chief's perspective? Why are they so scared of what the Army Chief has to say? We will learn something from it. Of course, we will learn something about a Prime Minister. We will learn something about Rajnath Singh ji. But we will also learn something about the Army and how it was let down by the political leadership of the country. I'm saying that Naravane ji has clearly written about the Prime Minister and Rajnath Singh ji in his book. It has appeared in an article. I am quoting the article," he said.
- Many INDIA bloc MPs have come out in support of Gandhi, with Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav saying that the LoP should be allowed to speak and the government should issue a clarification. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress MP and Rahul's sister, also attacked the government and asked if the Centre is scared.
- Meanwhile, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs have criticised the LoP and said the Gandhi family has only worked to sell the country. They even accused Gandhi of "behaving like children", saying the opposition is "being stubborn, and disregarding the law and parliamentary conduct".
