Gen Naravane’s memoir: Army reviews former Chief’s book on Ladakh standoff details

The Ministry of Defence is also said to be involved in the exercise “at some level”.

The memoir provides insight into the military standoff with China in eastern Ladakh in 2020, including the Galwan Valley clashes, and the Agnipath scheme. The book was earlier scheduled to hit the stands this month.

Reached for comment by The Indian Express, General Naravane did not respond to specific questions on whether official clearance had been obtained before handing over the manuscript to the publishers or if the book release had been delayed on account of the review undertaken by the Army.

“I have done what I had to do and submitted the manuscript to the publishers many months ago. It is up to the publishers to tell whether there is a delay or not. They are the ones in touch and are not expected to tell me everything,” he said.

Responding to queries from The Indian Express, Milee Ashwarya, Publisher, Penguin Random House India, said, “We carefully review all our books, written by active or retired professionals, to ensure quality content. This process may impact publishing timelines based on the necessary work.”

She added, “As part of this editorial process, we are scheduled to publish Gen MM Naravane’s book in 2024 and we are diligently working towards meeting that timeline.”

Last month, the PTI quoted excerpts from General Naravane’s book which spoke of a communication between him and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on August 31, 2020 when the Chinese were moving tanks and men at Rechin La.

General Naravane, according to the report, recounts Singh’s direction as well as a flurry of phone calls between the Defence Minister, External Affairs Minister, the National Security Advisor and the Chief of Defence Staff that night on the sensitive situation.

After Singh’s call, General Naravane writes that a hundred different thoughts “flashed through” his mind. “I conveyed the criticality of the situation to the RM (Raksha Mantri), who said he would get back to me, which he did, by about 2230 hours.”

“He 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. All was quiet save for the ticking of the wall clock,” he writes in his memoir.

The book gives out some details about the deadly Galwan Valley clashes and stated that Chinese President Xi Jinping will not forget June 16 any time soon as PLA troops suffered “fatal casualties”, for the first time in over two decades, in the incident.

The book also talks about the Agnipath scheme for recruitment of soldiers, airmen and sailors into the Defence services and the discussions of various aspects of the scheme before it was finally announced.

Currently, serving officers of the armed forces and bureaucrats are governed by specific rules for publishing a book. However, for retired officers, the matter falls into a grey area.

For instance, Section 21 of The Army Rules, 1954, states that no person under the Act shall publish in any form whatever or communicate directly or indirectly to the press any matter in relation to a political question or on a service subject or containing any service information, “or publish or cause to be published any book or letter or article or other document on such question or matter or containing such information without the prior sanction of the Central Government,” or any officer specified by the Central Government in this regard.

But these, sources said, may not apply to an Armed Forces personnel writing a book unrelated to his work and or of literary or artistic nature.

While there are no specific rules for retired Army officers, a Defence source cited the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972, which were amended in June 2021 by the Department of Personnel and Training.

The amended rules had barred retired government servants, who have served in intelligence or security-related organisations, from publishing any information related to the organisation after retirement without prior permission. While the three Defence services are not covered under these rules, retired Armed Forces personnel should also adhere to such expectations, the source said.

“A top services officer is privy to a lot of confidential information. So, if they are documenting it in a book or article, it might need prior government sanction,” the source said.

Several serving and retired Army officers have written books on various military-related subjects in the past. Books written by former Army chiefs include one by General V P Malik (retd) titled ‘Kargil: From Surprise To Victory’ and ‘Courage and Conviction: An Autobiography’ by General V K Singh (retd), a Union minister.