Former army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Thursday said he enjoyed writing his unpublished memoir Four Stars of Destiny, a book that triggered a political firestorm and disrupted Parliament in early February, and hoped the government would clear the book for publication “sooner or later.”
“I got immense satisfaction from writing the book. To quote from “Yes Minister,” it (the clearance) could happen in the fullness of time…sooner or later. But I would rather say I have moved on. If it happens, well and good; if it doesn’t, I have moved on. Let’s not dwell in the past,” he said, a day after the release of his new book The Curious and the Classified: Unearthing Military Myths and Mysteries.
Naravane was the army chief from December 31, 2019 to April 30, 2022—a period of heightened military activity in eastern Ladakh amid the standoff along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC). His claims in the unpublished book, regarding a delicate moment during the India-China military standoff that nearly led to a shooting war in August 2020, rocked Parliament in February.
His account of the developments that took place on the Kailash range on the southern side of Pangong Tso on August 31, 2020, and a purported lack of an immediate political directive on how the Indian Army should respond to the Chinese provocation were at the centre of the controversy.
{{/usCountry}}His account of the developments that took place on the Kailash range on the southern side of Pangong Tso on August 31, 2020, and a purported lack of an immediate political directive on how the Indian Army should respond to the Chinese provocation were at the centre of the controversy.
{{/usCountry}}“The row that took place in Parliament had nothing to do with me. I don’t know why people were dragging me into it. I was quietly sitting at home and was in no way affected or perturbed. I was busy writing my books,” he said.
The slugfest began on February 2 when Lok Sabha’s Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi attempted to refer to events detailed in the memoir in the lower house and the government vehemently objected because the book had not been published.
“You can raise any issue in Parliament quoting anything but that doesn’t mean that the persona or the incidents involved have to jump into the fray. I wrote the book purely on the basis of memory. It’s not official history. It was not my intention to write an autobiography after retirement. It was not like I was making notes throughout my service. I should not have been dragged into this controversy as the book remains unpublished,” Naravane said, adding that the government backed him in Parliament.
He had earlier endorsed his publisher’s stand that the book has neither gone into publication nor have any copies been “published, distributed, sold or otherwise made available to the public.”
“I did my job of writing the book. Published or not is a subsequent thing. If anything had to happen, it should have happened after the book was published. All those things were premature. The matter is still between the publisher and the defence ministry. As far as I am concerned --- let’s move ahead. People can keep tossing things here and there…I have better things to do.”
One of those is The Curious and the Classified: Unearthing Military Myths and Mysteries, which did not require any official clearance as its contents are anecdotal, Naravane said.
“A witty, informative and entertaining book which explores myths, mysteries, some lesser-known gems and the peculiar culture of the Indian armed forces. The evolution of quirky phrases and traditions is most interesting... The Curious and the Classified, I am sure, will appeal to everyone; soldiers and civilians alike,” former army chief General VP Malik (retd) wrote in “praise for the book.”
The book is full of charming nuggets, writes author Amish in the foreword. “We have heard of the Molotov cocktail; but do you know about the Bangalore torpedo? Or that the origins of the salute may lie in Roman or Apache Indian protocol? Or how critical it is to return a salute? Or that ‘dot on time’ may be related to ‘door opening time’ of an aircraft? Or even why a Major is senior to a Lieutenant but a Major General is junior to a Lieutenant General.”
These are likely to pique the curiosity of anyone interested in matters military, but all discussion of Naravane’s published work will likely always turn to his unpublished magnum opus.
The manuscript of any book that contains sensitive operational details must be cleared by the army’s additional directorate general of strategic communication before publication. This wing comes under the Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (Strategy). Depending on the contents, the additional directorate general of strategic communication may send the manuscript for vetting to relevant directorates, including those dealing with military operations and military intelligence. A book can be published only after such clearance.
In the case of Naravane’s memoir, the manuscript wasn’t submitted to the additional directorate general of strategic communication for the necessary approvals. After some controversial excerpts were published in December 2023, the defence ministry wrote to Naravane and the publisher, asking them to submit the book to the army for clearance before publication. The army went through the book in detail, recorded its observations on the subjects covered, and sent it to the defence ministry to take the final call. The defence ministry has not yet cleared the former chief’s book.