New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi repeatedly refused to follow Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s ruling about only quoting “authentic” sources in the House, and continued to raise the Ladakh issue, allegedly mentioned in the unpublished memoir of former Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Narvane (Retd.).
Chaos erupted in the House after Gandhi raised the India-China standoff issue, which was interrupted by the treasury benches, claiming it was against the House rules.
Gandhi, speaking during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in the Lok Sabha, mentioned that his source is “authentic” and includes quotes from the unpublished memoirs of former Army chief M.M. Naravane, who, according to Gandhi, has claimed that the government is “trying to stop the publication of his book”.
Quoting the magazine (which allegedly quoted the former Army chief), Gandhi said that “it mentioned Rajnath Singh”.
The Opposition benches started creating a ruckus and objecting to “not allowing” the LoP to speak in the House.
Gandhi continued to raise the issue and said that his source, a magazine, is authentic, and he will raise the issue, quoting the publication.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh again interrupted Gandhi and said, “I just want to ask the LoP this: if the book exists and its contents were correct, it would definitely have been published. And if someone had stopped its publication, then if the stop was wrongly imposed, Mr Naravane could have obtained a court order. Why didn’t they seek a court order?”
The Speaker again made his ruling known, to which Gandhi said, “Ok, I will not quote the magazine now.”
“There was a border; on the border, there were forces of some country that were entering that border. Four tanks were entering the Kailash range,” Gandhi continued, after which he was again interrupted.
The chaos continued in the Lok Sabha, and Gandhi said, “Speaker Sir, please tell me what I should say.”
To which Speaker Birla said, “I am not your advisor, but as a Speaker, it is my responsibility that the House functions according to rules and procedures, and that the discussion remains on the subject under consideration. When the treasury benches were wandering from the subject, I advised them also to do the same.”
Gandhi, again, raised the same issue, claiming the Chinese tanks were “entering our territory”.
Following this, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “We have said earlier that we all want to listen peacefully… The House runs according to rules. When the Leader of Opposition himself does not recognise the ruling side, there should also be a discussion on what to do with such members.”
Gandhi, replying to this, said, “You (Speaker Birla) asked him that I cannot quote a book. I said ok then I will raise the issue between India and China. You told me that I cannot say anything about it as it’s against the rules. I want to ask, which rule states that I cannot raise the India-China issue in the Parliament?”
Birla replied, “You want to speak on the president’s address; in it, there is no specific mention of the India-China issue.”
“So, Sir, you want to say that there is no relation to the international issue in the President’s address?” Gandhi added.
Birla reminded Gandhi that he should abide by his responsibilities as a LoP of the House and “speak accordingly”. “I do not think that you want to discuss anything here today,’ he added.
When the LoP refused to let go of the issue, the Speaker called Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav to speak.
(IANS)
