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Informist, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Lok Sabha saw repeated disruptions Monday before dispersing for the day amid chaos as Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi brought up the issue of clashes with Chinese forces along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh in 2020.

 

Gandhi cited an article published in Caravan magazine that dwelt on former army chief General M.M. Naravane's unpublished memoir. As soon as he read out a line from the memoir, saying Chinese "tanks were within a few hundred metres of Indian positions on the Kailash Range", Defence Minister Rajnath Singh objected, saying Gandhi could not quote from an unpublished memoir. Gen. Naravane was the army chief from December 2019 to April 2022.

 

Amid the face-off between the Treasury and the Opposition benches, Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House until 1500 IST. Minutes after reassembling, however, the House was adjourned once again till 1600 IST.

 

Raising concern about national security, Gandhi accused the government of not being transparent about the situation along the Line of Actual Control.

 

Home Minister Amit Shah then stood up to second Rajnath Singh and said that either Gandhi should produce the "book" he is quoting from or he should stop. Speaker Birla said no member could cite unauthenticated material.

 

"This is fully authentic...," Gandhi responded. "The entire army knows what happened (at the Line of Actual Control). But you (the government) do not want it raised here because you want to hide it from the public."

 

Indian and Chinese forces engaged in multiple face-offs in May-Jun 2020 along the Line of Actual Control, including near Pangong Lake, with a gory confrontation in the Galwan valley in June, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed.

 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju attacked Gandhi, saying he was repeatedly disobeying the rulings of the Chair, and the House should consider what should be done with "such a member". Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav supported Gandhi and said that since "the issue of China" in the context of border security is "very sensitive", the leader of the Opposition should be allowed to speak.

 

Parliament was discussing the motion of thanks to the president's address. As soon as the House reassembled at 1600 IST, Gandhi said he could not understand why he was not being allowed to raise the "most important issue" pertaining to national security. "I don't understand what is there in these words that the prime minister has escaped, Amit Shahji has escaped...."

 

He said he "understood" the prime minister and the defence minister were "not comfortable" with the issue. "If they were comfortable, they would have let me speak," he said. The speaker then adjourned the House till 1100 IST Tuesday.  End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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