New Delhi: Chaos erupted in the Lok Sabha on Monday after Leader of Opposition Rahul 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, criticised BJP MP Tejasvi Surya for “questioning the Congress party’s patriotism” and quoted former Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane’s book, where he mentioned the Ladakh standoff.
“No debate on who is patriotic and who is not. Our patriotism is not buried,” he said.
Upon raising the Ladakh issue, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh objected to Gandhi mentioning the quotes and questioned whether the book had been published or not. “If not, then he cannot,” Singh said.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that quoting books that have not been published is against the rules of the House.
This caused an opposition uproar in the House. Following this, Home Minister Amit Shah said, “These quotes are not from the former Army Chief’s book; a magazine can write anything. We just want him to clarify if the book is published or not.
The LoP mentioned that his source is “authentic” and includes quotes from the unpublished memoirs of former Army chief M.M. Naravane, who, according to Gandhi, has claimed that the government is “trying to stop the publication of his book”.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.
Samajwadi Party chief and MP Akhilesh Yadav backed Gandhi and said, “The China issue is very sensitive, and I believe if there is any suggestion in national interest, then the LoP should definitely raise it.”
(IANS)
