Rahul Gandhi to Republic on Parliament Faceoff Over General Naravane's Unpublished Memoir

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's speech on Monday, during the ongoing budget session of the Lok Sabha, led to a row during a debate on the Union Budget 2026, after he referred to excerpts from a publication quoting from former Army chief MM Naravane's memoirs to underline his criticism of the government. This comes a day after the Budget was presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

He referred to the excerpt to counter the alleged allegation on the Congress party regarding their patriotism and understanding of Indian culture. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah intervened soon after, alleging that the publication from which Gandhi was citing has not been formally published yet.

"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," Singh said.

After Amit Shah further questioned the authenticity of the referred publication, which Gandhi countered by stating, "This is 100 per cent authentic. It is a guaranteed fact that this is an authentic copy, in which Naravane had alleged that the government is not allowing his memoir to be published. This has everything, and I want to read 5 lines from here. In this memoir, Naravane has written about Rajnath Singh, as well as Narendra Modi."