Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Tuesday called for initiating a privilege motion against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his allegations that the BJP was attempting to portray former Army chief General M.M. Naravane's book as "unpublished", even though, according to the Congress leader, the memoir is already available in the public domain.
The political confrontation intensified amid the ongoing deadlock in Parliament over the former Army chief's yet-to-be-released memoir. Rahul Gandhi stepped up his criticism of the government as well as Penguin, the book's publisher, asserting that the memoir is already accessible publicly and accusing the BJP of attempting to suppress it to stop what he described as "inconvenient truth" from coming to light.
Speaking to the media after the adjournment of the House on Tuesday, Gandhi claimed that the book was available on e-commerce platform Amazon, a statement that Penguin has strongly denied. Reacting to the claim, Giriraj Singh told reporters, "Rahul Gandhi should be removed by invoking a privilege motion, as the publisher has stated that the book has not yet been published publicly.
Therefore, the authentication itself has become invalid. So, there should be a privilege motion against Rahul Gandhi." He further criticised the opposition for the continued disruption of parliamentary proceedings and alleged disrespect towards the Prime Minister.
"The way they (opposition) are disrupting the House proceedings and also abusing the Prime Minister, strict action should be taken against them," Singh said. Meanwhile, Gandhi also showed reporters a 2023 X post of the former Army chief, urging readers to go through the memoirs detailing the events surrounding the 2020 India-China clash.
Referring to the post, Gandhi said, "Naravane tweeted in 2023. Just follow the link -- happy reading, Jai Hind. Either Penguin or the former Army chief is lying; both cannot be right." For over a week, the Lok Sabha has been repeatedly adjourned amid protests and disruptions over the issue of General Naravane's book.
The opposition has remained firm in its demand to raise what it describes as "revelations" from the memoir, while the government has resisted any discussion on the matter inside the House. The controversy further escalated on Monday when Gandhi displayed what he claimed was a copy of the book outside the House, triggering fresh tensions and sharp exchanges between the treasury benches and the opposition.
Escalating his attack further, the Leader of Opposition reiterated his support for the former Army chief and questioned the stand taken by the government and the publisher. "I believe Naravane ji and not Penguin. Would you believe Naravane over Penguin?" Gandhi asked while speaking to reporters.
He also alleged that the memoir contained several sensitive details that could place the government in an uncomfortable position, claiming that this was the reason behind attempts to prevent the opposition from raising the issue of the 2020 India-China military standoff in Parliament.