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‘Sins of 1962’: BJP's China retort to Rahul Gandhi over ex-army chief's unpublished book
“Rahul Gandhi started speaking on China border,” the minister said, “Can the Congress party bring back the landmass captured by China in 1959 and 1962?”
Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju reacted with questions over India's history with China on Monday, after the Lok Sabha saw pandemonium when Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi sought to read an article carrying excerpts from an unpublished book by a former army chief.
The excerpts from Naravane's memoir ‘Four Stars of Destiny’ purportedly pertain to the year 2020 Galwan clash in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed by the Chinese. It's pending with the government for two years now for approval before publishing.
What Rijiju said on Rahul Gandhi, China, Naravane's book
“All of us were seated to hear the speech of by Rahul Gandhi. But right from the beginning, Rahul Gandhi flouted rules and started quoting from a book whose publication and authenticity are not clearly mentioned,” Rijiju said in a statement he put up on X and was shared by news agency ANI too.
“Defence Minister (Rajnath Singh) and all of us said that the House will function as per rules and one should speak as per rules… Even after the ruling of Lok Sabha Speaker, Rahul Gandhi kept repeating the same mistake… He wasted half an hour, violated rules and kept saying the same thing,” Rijiju noted.
“He started speaking on China border,” the minister said, adding, “Can the Congress party bring back the landmass that was captured by China in 1959 and 1962?” China occupied Indian territory in military hostilities, and the final settlement of the border remains pending since before India's independence from British Raj in 1947.
Demanding that Rahul Gandhi “apologise to the nation”, Rijiju further said, “If someone is born in a known family, are they above the Parliament? Are they above the rules?” referring apparently to Rahul Gandhi coming from the family of former PMs Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
“India is a democratic nation and function as per rules. Rahul Gandhi doesn't follow any rules. He considers himself above Parliament,” Rijiju said.
Parliament ruckus over ‘Four Stars of Destiny’
In the Lok Sabha earlier, Rahul Gandhi, seeking to counter BJP's charge of “Congress not being patriotic”, mentioned a phrase “Chinese tanks in Doklam” from the memoir, at which defence minister Rajnath Singh got up to interject.
With PM Narendra Modi present but quietly watching, Rajnath Singh said, “He should tell us if the said book has been published or not. It has not been published. He cannot claim to quote from it.” He added, “I can say with confidence, the book has not been published.”
Home minister Amit Shah also got up: “When the book has not even been published, how can he (Rahul) quote from it?”
Speaker Om Birla agreed with the ministers and said, “Rules and conventions, too, say newspaper clippings, books, other such things that are not authentic cannot be cited in the House.” He then requested Rahul Gandhi to carry on with his speech without this part.
Rahul Gandhi insisted that a magazine, The Caravan, had “100% genuine” excerpts of the book. “Rajnath ji is mentioned in it,” Rahul Gandhi said, as his fellow Congress MPs urged the speaker to let him quote from the article. “They (government) can respond thereafter,” Congress MP KC Venugopal told Birla.
But the House was eventually adjourned as he was not allowed to quote, and he refused to speak on a different issue.
