Rahul Gandhi dares PM Modi with copy of Gen Naravane’s memoir: ‘I don’t think he has guts to come to Lok Sabha today’

Speaking in the Parliament Complex on Wednesday with a copy of the memoir in his hand, Rahul Gandhi said: “I don’t think the PM will have the guts to come to the Lok Sabha today because if he comes, I am going to give him this book. If the PM comes, I will go physically and hand him this book so he can read it and the country can get to know the truth.”

‘Entire account of Ladakh in this book’

Appealing to every youngster in the country to read the book, the Congress leader said: “This is Mr Naravane’s book. He has given an entire account of Ladakh in this book. 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 think is right)’.”

“When the (former) Chief of Army Staff General Naravane called up Rajnath Singh-ji and said that Chinese tanks have reached the Kailash Ridge, so what should we do? First, Rajnath Singh did not respond to him. He (Naravane) asked Jaishankar-ji, NSA and Rajnath Singh, but received no reply. He then called up Rajnath Singh once again. Rajnath Singh told him that he would ask the ‘top’,” said Gandhi.

‘Modi did not fulfil his responsibility’

He added, “The standing order of the ‘top’ was that if Chinese forces come in, we should not fire on them without permission. Naravane-ji and our Army wanted to fire on those tanks because they had entered our territory. Narendra Modi-ji gave a message that ‘jo uchit samjho wo karo’. It means that Narendra Modi did not fulfil his responsibility. He told the Army chief to do whatever he wants as ‘mere bas ki nahi hai’. Naravane-ji writes, ‘I felt really alone, I was abandoned by the entire establishment’.”

Gandhi’s challenge to PM Modi comes a day after the standoff between the Opposition and the government intensified

On Tuesday, Gandhi stepped up his attacks against PM Modi after he was not allowed to quote from or speak about General Naravane’s unpublished memoir. As the LoP repeatedly attempted to raise the issue of national security in the context of excerpts from the book, Four Stars of Destiny, published in a recent essay in The Caravan magazine, the Chair cut short his speech for ignoring its directions against doing so, and called on the next speaker. In protest, Opposition MPs entered the Well and threw papers at the Speaker’s podium, leading to their suspension.

The suspended members include seven Congress MPs — Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, Dean Kuriakose, Prasant Padole, Kiren Kumar Reddy, and Manickam Tagore — and CPI(M) leader S Venkatesan.