New Delhi: The Lok Sabha witnessed one of the most dramatic parliamentary confrontations of the Budget Session on Monday, igniting intense debate and disorder after Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi referenced excerpts he claimed were drawn from the unpublished memoir of former Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane (Retd) during a speech on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. The incident drew sharp objections from senior Union Ministers and led to a temporary adjournment of House proceedings.
Gandhi, while addressing the House, produced printed pages from a magazine article that he asserted contained passages from General Naravane’s yet-to-be-published memoir Four Stars of Destiny, and began quoting sections relating to the 2017 Doklam standoff with China to underline his critique of the government’s handling of national security issues. Moments after he began reading the excerpts, members of the treasury benches, including Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah, erupted in protest, questioning both the authenticity and propriety of citing unpublished material in Parliament.
Rajnath Singh immediately stood to challenge Gandhi’s source, arguing that the memoir had not been officially published or authenticated, and thus could not be legitimately quoted in a parliamentary debate. “He should not be allowed to speak on this… I want that LoP, Lok Sabha (Rahul Gandhi), should present before the House the book he is quoting from, because the book he is referring to has not been published,” the defense minister told the House amid rising voices from both sides.
Home Minister Amit Shah backed Singh’s intervention, emphasizing that mere inclusion in a magazine did not equate to a formally recognized or vetted source for parliamentary record. Shah stressed that unverified material should not form part of official debate, asserting that “magazines can publish anything” and reinforcing concerns about procedural norms. Speaker Om Birla also intervened, citing parliamentary rules that bar the citation of unrelated newspaper or magazine articles during House proceedings.
Rahul Gandhi, undeterred by the interruptions, defended his remarks, asserting that the excerpts he cited were “100 % authentic” and grounded in a credible reportage of the former Army Chief’s writings. Gandhi maintained that his intention was to highlight substantive security issues, including alleged Chinese incursions near Indian positions, and he only raised the matter in response to earlier questions about his party’s stance on national security.
The clash rapidly escalated into extended disorder, with opposition members protesting that the treasury benches were curbing substantive debate on pressing matters of defense and foreign policy. Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav supported Gandhi’s attempt to speak on critical national security concerns, urging the Chair to allow uninterrupted discussion on issues related to China’s conduct along the border.
As tensions mounted and voices grew louder from both aisles, the Speaker was compelled to adjourn the Lok Sabha until mid-afternoon to restore order. The stand-off underscored not only deepening political polarization but also highlighted broader questions about the boundaries of parliamentary discourse, the use of unpublished material in official record, and the friction between procedural norms and pointed political critique during one of Parliament’s most important sessions.