'Grips And Chokes': Silent On Naravane’s Brutal Snubbing, Rahul Gandhi Explains Jiu-Jitsu Remark In Parliament, BJP Hits Back

New Delhi: In a day marked by sharp tactical shifts, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi pivotally moved away from the controversy surrounding General MM Naravane’s unpublished memoir after former Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane broke his silence on the row regarding his unpublished memoir ‘Four Stars of Destiny’.

Speaking exclusively to Republic's Alisha Nair, Naravane firmly countered Gandhi and the Congress party’s theories on Galwan where Naravane responding to questions about his previous remarks that not an inch of Indian land had been captured by China, stood firm and said, “I think you should ask a reverse question to the Chinese, that have they occupied any Indian land? And answer to that question, I think, will satisfy all those who have any doubts on this matter.”

It must be noted that after days of aggressive posturing over the book Four Stars of Destiny, which both the former Army Chief and his publisher recently clarified has not been published, the Congress leadership appears to have entered a period of strategic silence on the matter.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had previously accused the government of being "scared" of the book's revelations, notably dodged questions from the media today, walking away as reporters sought her comment on General Naravane’s recent "fact-check" of the Congress's claims.

Following the expose, Gandhi remained tight-lipped on Naravane's remark and launched a fresh assault on the government using a martial arts analogy.

The ‘Jiu-Jitsu’ Analogy

Rahul Gandhi ignored the Treasury benches' taunts regarding the memoir and instead focused on the India-US trade deal.

Invoking his training in Jiu-Jitsu, Gandhi claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trapped in a series of "political grips and chokes" applied by Washington.

‘Deal could turn India into data colony’

In a video posted on X, Gandhi said, "Why did I use a Jiu-Jitsu analogy in my Parliament speech on the trade deal? Why were our farmers sacrificed to please the Americans? Why was India's energy security compromised by allowing the US to dictate our oil supplies?"

"Why agree to increase US imports by $100 billion a year without a reciprocal promise? Why did I say this deal could turn India into a data colony? Why would Modi ji agree to a deal where India gives so much and appears to get so little? The answer to this abject surrender lies in the "grips" and "chokes" placed on the PM.

The leader of opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha also claimed that with this deal, India is going to become a "data colony".

Adding further, he said, "The reason I used the idea of a grip and a choke is because these exist in Jiu-Jitsu and how you control an opponent in that sport. But they also exist in the political realm. And in my experience of politics, I have seen political grips and political chokes are mostly hidden. The average person cannot see them," he said."

"And you have to look carefully to see where the choke is being applied and where the grips are placed. So that was the idea behind using this. It expressed very powerfully what our prime minister is going through," he said.

2 Major controversies

The Leader of the Opposition argued that the government is being squeezed between two major controversies- the ongoing criminal proceedings against Gautam Adani in the U.S. and the explosive allegations emerging from the Epstein scandal.

Gandhi cites Naravane's memoir

Turning his attention to the border, Gandhi claimed that India is being squeezed by China on one side, citing the unpublished memoir of former Army Chief General MM Naravane as proof of the government's vulnerability.

He said, "So on one side there is the Chinese who are sitting in our border and on the other side there is the US. Our PM is torn between these grips. He is trapped, everybody knows it, everybody can see it. The problem is that the real grip on Mr Narendra Modi is the fake image that he has built, that has been built for him, an image that has required huge amounts of money."

"The key to that image is now in the hands of the US and that is why Indian farmers are going to suffer, Indian textile is going to suffer, we will be forced to buy imports from the US.

"But most important is the data. The fact that our data is being handed over by Mr Narendra Modi to American companies, to the US, for a pittance. Mark my words, we are going to become a data colony. Why did a country of the size of India hand away everything, including our data, textile industry and our agriculture sector, for what and why? The answer is in the grips and chokes that are applied on the PM," Gandhi added.

BJP Hits Back

The ruling BJP was quick to dismiss the new narrative as another attempt to mislead the public. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and MP Sudhanshu Trivedi slammed the LoP for his "non-parliamentary" conduct, accusing him of spreading "venomous lies" to distract from the embarrassment of the Naravane book row.

"First, he tried to quote from a book that doesn't exist in the public domain. Now, he is using martial arts terms to mask a lack of facts," said Trivedi during a press briefing. "The country sees through these analogies; while Rahul Gandhi talks about 'chokes,' the Prime Minister is securing India's future through the Pax Silica alliance."

Union Minister Piyush Goyal says," I just read a ridiculous comment made by Rahul Gandhi that India has committed to buy USD 100 billion a year from the US without a counter commitment from the US. I think he lives in a world detached from reality. Having safeguarded all sensitive sectors, it's a great win-win solution for both countries..."

The Naravane Row: A Strategic U-Turn?

The shift in Rahul Gandhi’s rhetoric comes after a brutal week for the Congress narrative.

While the Congress continues to demand a debate on the trade deal, the silence of senior leaders like Priyanka Gandhi on the memoir suggests the party is looking to distance itself from a "fact-checking" disaster that has handed the BJP a significant rhetorical victory.

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