A disturbance at Lok Sabha on Monday when Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi referenced unpublished memoirs of former Army Chief General M M Naravane (Retd) sparked a political disturbance in the House. Top ministers like Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju objected when Gandhi quoted from an unpublished book, due to Parliamentary rules. Speaker Om Birla cited Rule 349(i) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha and ordered Gandhi not to read from the memoir.

Even after the ruling, Gandhi alluded to both the book — Four Stars of Destiny — and an article from Caravan magazine that was based on it, sparking intense exchanges between Gandhi with a few members of the Treasury benches. At one point, Rijiju proposed that the House should have a discussion of actions against members who defy the Chair’s orders. The conduct to be expected from members of the House is set out in Rule 349. Clause (i) says that a member is not free to read from any book, newspaper or letter unless it is directly tied to the business of the House.

Gandhi contended that his comments were associated with the President’s Address and in retaliation to BJP MP Tejasvi Surya’s remarks which questioned the patriotism of the Congress party. And senior ministers argued that quoting from a non-published book or magazine article was impermissible.

Attempting to read passages related to the 2020 India-China military standoff, Gandhi said the memoir would clarify who was truly patriotic. His remarks were met with objections from Rajnath Singh, who questioned whether the book had been officially published and said it was inappropriate to cite an unpublished work. Singh also asked Gandhi to table a copy of the memoir in the House.