New Delhi, Feb 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi has launched a sharp attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, demanding that he apologise to the nation over his remarks in Parliament regarding a book allegedly authored by former Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane's unpublished memoir on the 2020 Galwan Valley stand-off.
Trivedi said Gandhi’s claims have been “unequivocally dismantled” after both Penguin, the publisher, and General Naravane himself clarified that no such book has ever been published.
Penguin further stated that any copy circulating under Naravane’s name would amount to copyright infringement.
Trivedi accused Gandhi of “misleading” Parliament and indulging in “petty politics” on matters of national security.
He argued that while the Leader of the House had earlier described Gandhi as behaving like an “abodh balak (innocent child),” his actions were more akin to those of a “ Shatir Balak (clever child)” deliberately spreading falsehoods.
Calling Gandhi’s conduct “unforgivable,” Trivedi said, “This crime of his, I am using the word crime within crime, is unforgivable. Now clearly he should apologise to the country because both the publisher and the author have clarified the situation.”
The BJP leader asserted that the episode proves the Congress party is lowering the level of political discourse by dragging national security into partisan battles, and reiterated that Rahul Gandhi alone is responsible for misleading the House and the nation.
The “memoir” has become the focal point of a bitter standoff in Parliament, where Gandhi attempted to quote from reported excerpts during debates, leading to repeated interruptions, objections from the treasury benches, and suspensions of opposition MPs.
The government has maintained that the book is under Ministry of Defence review, while the Opposition accuses it of suppressing uncomfortable truths about national security.
Delhi Police have registered an FIR over the alleged leak and circulation of the unpublished manuscript, further complicating the matter.
General Naravane's endorsement of the publisher's statement appears to clarify the book's status, though the political fallout continues to disrupt House proceedings.
The controversy, which has stalled Lok Sabha proceedings for over a week, centres on Gandhi's attempts to quote from purported excerpts of Naravane's book, “Four Stars of Destiny,” during debates.
Gandhi alleged the government was suppressing the memoir due to revelations inconvenient to its narrative on the India-China border clash.
Trivedi said clarifications from both the publisher, Penguin, and General Naravane himself have demolished Gandhi's claims as baseless.
"It has become clear that Rahul Gandhi's attempt to narrate a fabricated story on the floor of the House to mislead is part of his petty politics."
As the Budget Session continues amid acrimony, calls for resolution grow to restore normalcy in parliamentary functioning.
Former Army Chief General (Retd) M.M. Naravane broke his silence over the raging controversy about his unpublished memoirs on the Galwan stand-off in 2020 between India and China, even as the no-holds-barred confrontation between the government and Opposition intensified to a new level on Tuesday.
General (Retd) Naravane took to his social media handle and shared the current “status” of the book, which has been at the centre of the government-Opposition tussle and also primarily the reason behind the week-long gridlock in the Lok Sabha.
“This is the status of the book,” General Naravane wrote in a post on X while sharing the clarification from the publisher Penguin about his unpublished book titled 'Four Stars of Destiny'.
Parliamentary proceedings, hit for over a week now over the stalemate on his memoirs regarding the India-China 2020 conflict, saw the bitter fight escalating to a new level today, as Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi disputed claims of the book being under the review of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and claimed that it was very much in the public domain.
Speaking to the Press, he stated that the book was available on e-commerce platforms like Amazon and also said that the General in question, himself, urged people to read his recollections from the Galwan face-off in the book, back in 2023.
The Penguin Random House, though, was quick to address the issue, stating that it was the sole publisher of the book and also warned of legal recourse in case of its unauthorised dissemination.
General Naravane’s one-line statement on the status of the contentious book sets the record straight and settles the controversy, ignited by the Congress’s claims of the book being in the public domain and accusations against the Centre of blocking its release because of “discomforting truths.”
Source: IANS
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