‘Not warranted’ to quote and drag me to limelight over unpublished book: Ex-army chief Naravane

FSea-ear regular army chief superior general Manoj Naravane has brought come out deuce books after his unpublished memoir, "Four Stars of Destiny", sparked a row earlier this year. Looking back, he said it was “not warranted” to quote him and pull him into public attention over that book.Notably, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was prevented from referring to parts of the memoir in the Lok Sabha, as the book had not been published at that time in February this year.Ex-Army chief on row over unpublished memoirThe general, who has recently published "The Curious and the Classified: Unearthing Military Myths and Mysteries", said he has moved past the issue. He added that he has already completed two books and another one will be released soon."The Ministry of Defence had asked the publisher to put it on hold till it was vetted. As far as I am concerned, the matter rested there, and I have moved on…so that is a closed chapter. And unnecessarily quoting me and dragging the unpublished book into the limelight and indirectly me to the limelight was I think not warranted," Naravane told PTI Videos in an interview.After the row over the book, Naravane’s writing journey has shifted direction. His latest book is "supposed to be an entertaining read and not a serious academic endeavour"."The Curious and the Classified: Unearthing Military Myths and Mysteries", brought out by Rupa Publications, looks at several interesting stories linked to the traditions and history of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.In the book, Naravane explains how the military greeting "Jai Hind" began during the freedom movement and later became part of the armed forces.He said "Jai Hind" was first adopted by the Indian Air Force and was later taken up by the Army and the Navy. He also pointed out that salutes were earlier done in silence, while different regiments used their own greetings such as "Sat Sri Akal" or "Ram Ram".What was the row in Lok Sabha?In February, Naravane found himself at the centre of a controversy over his unpublished memoir after Rahul Gandhi referred to it while criticising the Centre over the 2020 standoff against China.On February 2, during the motion of thanks on the President's Address, the Lok Sabha saw heated exchanges. Gandhi tried to quote from a magazine article that carried extracts from General Naravane's unpublished memoir.His remarks were cut short by defence minister Rajnath Singh, who objected to the reference. He said that an unpublished book cannot be cited, adding that it had not been verified. Members from the treasury benches also opposed Gandhi’s move to use those extracts.The row escalated when Opposition MPs moved a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. One of the grounds cited was that Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to speak in the House.The motion was later withdrawn after a voice vote during the second phase of the Budget Session of Parliament.With inputs from agencies