2020-24: Defence Ministry cleared 35 books, General Naravane’s only one pending

In a response dated September 17, 2024, to a Right to Information application filed by The Indian Express in January that year, the Ministry of Defence’s Army unit said that 35 book titles had come before it for approval since 2020.

Of these, only three were listed as not yet cleared — one of them being General Naravane’s memoir. The Indian Express had first reported on the review of Gen Naravane’s book on January 5, 2024.

Neither the Ministry of Defence nor the publisher, Penguin Random House, responded to queries on the current status of the review.

LoP Rahul Gandhi speaks to media during the ongoing Budget session in Parliament, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI Photo)

According to the RTI reply, one title, Leadership Beyond Barracks by Brigadier Jeewan Rajpurohit (retd), was shown as being “under process”. Two other manuscripts had been “forwarded to the Ministry of Defence: General Naravane’s Four Stars of Destiny and Alone in the Ring by General N C Vij (retd), former Chief of Army Staff and Director General of Military Operations during the Kargil war.

General Vij’s book was released in May 2025, while Brigadier Rajpurohit’s book has also received clearance and, according to the author, is “awaiting publication”.

This leaves Naravane’s memoir alone in limbo.

Speaking to The Indian Express on Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Government had “a great deal of respect” for the former Chief of Army Staff, and that it was the Opposition that was attempting to “mock” him.

The RTI reply points to a sharp rise in requests for publication clearance from retired military personnel. Records show that just one manuscript was sent for review in 2020, none in 2021, and four in 2022. The number rose sharply in 2023, when 16 manuscripts — including Naravane’s — were submitted. In 2024, up to September, the figure stood at 14.

Among those whose books have been recently cleared are Lt General S A Hasnain; Lt General S K Gadeock; Lt General S R R Aiyengar; Major General (Dr) Ashok Kumar; Major General Sashikant Pitre; Major General R K Sharma; Major General G D Bakshi; and Lt General Yogesh Kumar Joshi.

General Naravane was the Army Chief from 2019 to 2022, when tensions escalated along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

In his memoir, excerpts of which were published in by Press Trust of India (PTI) in December 2023, he recalls the conversations he had with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on August 31, 2020. He writes about how he was handed a “hot potato” — a reference to the decision he had to take in response to the Chinese tanks advancing towards the Rechin La area in Eastern Ladakh. Over the next several months, tensions continued along the LAC, with diplomatic level talks taking place between August 2020 and January 2021.