The Lok Sabha saw a big confrontation between the Opposition and the Treasury benches on Monday as the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, tried to read out an article based on a book by former Army chief General MM Naravane (Retd). The Congress leader pitched it as a matter of "national security", and the face-off led to the adjournment of the House.
Speaking to reporters after the Lok Sabha was adjourned on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi said he merely wanted to quote from a report in a magazine on the book by General Naravane.
The book referred to by the Congress leader is Naravane's memoir, Four Stars of Destiny. The Caravan has recently done a cover piece on Naravane's book, which was supposed to be published by Penguin.
It is reportedly awaiting the approval of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for around 1.5 years.
"This is what the army chief has written in a book. The book is not allowed to be published. It is languishing. This is the Army chief's perspective. Why is the government scared of the Army chief's perspective," Rahul Gandhi said outside Parliament.
WHY IS GEN NARAVANE'S BOOK CONSIDERED CONTROVERSIAL?
General Naravane was the head of the Army when Indian and Chinese troops clashed at Galwan in Eastern Ladakh. It was during his tenure that the government brought in the Agnipath recruitment scheme, which sparked a massive controversy.
Twenty Indian Army soldiers, including a Colonel, were killed in a face-off between Indian and Chinese troops at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh's Galwan Valley on the night of June 15-16, 2020. The casualties on the Chinese side were never officially revealed.
It is reportedly the content of Gen Naravane's book, which deals with military operations and government's policies, that has led to a review, and delayed its publication.
In the book, Naravane describes his interaction with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on August 31, 2020, amid escalating tensions with China on the LAC.
"He [Rajnath Singh] said that he had spoken to the PM and that it was purely a military decision. Jo ucchit samjho woh karo (Do whatever you deem is appropriate)... I had been handed a hot potato. With this carte blanche, the onus was now totally on me. I took a deep breath and sat silently for a few minutes," Naravane writes in the memoir, according to news agency PTI.
The book's back cover carries a blurb by former Army chief VP Malik, who led the Indian Army during the Kargil War, in 1999.
"An intimate and veritable insight into different roles, functioning, and ongoing debates, with India's military. His detailed and candid narration of the India-China confrontation in Eastern Ladakh before and after the Galwan Valley incident is very informative and exciting [and] will definitely raise the adrenaline level of every reader," wrote Gen Malik.
WHY GEN NARAVANE'S BOOK IS BACK IN DISCUSSION?
The unpublished book is the cover story of The Caravan magazine this month. Rahul Gandhi tried to read out from the report in Parliament but was disrupted, with the treasury benches claiming that it had nothing to do with the motion of thanks on the President's address.
"Going to wars can never be a purely military decision. It is taken by democratically elected political leadership..." The Caravan posted on X, sharing the link to the article.
Going by Rahul Gandhi's remarks and the Congress's posts, he was trying to use the book to show that the political leadership was indecisive during a crunch situation.
Lok Sabha proceedings were repeatedly disrupted after Speaker Om Birla pulled up Rahul Gandhi for attempting to cite references to the India-China standoffs at Doklam and Galwan from General Naravane's (retired) memoirs.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju objected to the Congress leader's remarks.
Rahul said he was responding to BJP MP Tejasvi Surya allegedly "questioning the patriotism" of the Congress. Seeking to quote observations from an article in The Caravan, that referred to General Naravane's memoirs, Gandhi faced opposition from the Treasury Benches, which argued that House rules did not permit such references.
"A young colleague over there (Surya) made an allegation against the Congress party; I was not going to raise this issue. But, because he has raised the issue about our patriotism, our understanding of Indian culture, I would like to start by reading something," Gandhi said.
"This is from the memoirs of Army Chief Naravane I'd like you to listen nicely; you will understand exactly who is patriotic, who is not. This is about when four Chinese tanks were entering Indian territory; they were taking a ridge in Doklam I quote from an article that is quoting his book," he added.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh interrupted him immediately.
The Defence Minister questioned whether the memoirs had been formally published. "Has that book where all these things have been written been published? If it has been published, quote them, if it has not been published it is not appropriate to refer to them," Singh said.
Speaker Birla noted that Gandhi, as LoP, was well-versed with parliamentary procedure.
Gandhi insisted that his reference was "100% authentic" and accused Singh of "getting exercised" because his name was about to be mentioned.
The defence minister, however, repeatedly pressed Gandhi to clarify whether the book had been published.
"He is trying to mislead the House," Rajnath Singh alleged. "Irrelevant things should not be mentioned here, Rahul Ji," he added.
Gandhi made another attempt to cite Naravane's memoirs, asking, "I am unable to understand; they say they fight terrorism, and they are afraid of one quote? What is there that they are so nervous about that I am not allowed to read it? Why are they scared?"
WHAT IS THE STATUS OF GEN NARAVANE'S BOOK?
In October 2025, Gen Naravane said that his memoir was "under review for more than a year".
"My job was to write the book and give it to the publishers. It was the publishers who were to get the permission from the MoD. They gave it [the book] to them. It is under review. It is still under review for more than a year now," Naravane said, according to a report in The Indian Express.
The former Army chief said that the publisher and the MoD were in "constant touch with each other".
"So it is not for me to follow up. The ball is in the publisher's and the MoD's court. But I enjoyed writing the book, for better or for worse. And that’s that. It is for the MoD to give permission as and when they deem fit," Naravane said, according to The Indian Express.
Though Gen Naravane's memoir, Four Stars Of Destiny, is in the approval process, it is a magazine article and Rahul Gandhi's bringing it up in Parliament to attack the government has brought it back in focus.
