Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the publisher of former Army chief General MM Naravane’s memoir of lying, claiming the book had been available for sale.
Gandhi said he believed the word of the former army chief over the publisher, Penguin Random House India, which said the memoir — 'Four Stars of Destiny'— had not been published in print or digital form or made available to the public.
Speaking with reporters in the Parliament House complex, Gandhi read out Naravane's social media post on X (then Twitter), which said, "Hello friends. My book is available now. Just follow the link. Happy reading. Jai Hind."
"This is the tweet Mr Naravane has made. The point I am making is either Mr Naravane is lying, and I believe the (former) Army chief, I don't think he will lie, or Penguin is lying. Both cannot be telling the truth," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
"Penguin is saying the book is not published. The book is available on Amazon. Gen Naravane has tweeted, as I just read to you, that please buy my book. He tweeted this in 2023. Do you believe Penguin over Mr Naravane? I believe Mr Naravane," Gandhi said.
The Congress leader said Naravane has made certain statements in the book that are "inconvenient" for the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Obviously, you have to decide whether Penguin is telling the truth or the (former) Army chief is telling the truth. That is the issue," he added.
Meanwhile, a screenshot of a search for the book on Amazon’s US website shows a published date of May 1, 2024, while listing it as currently unavailable. A similar search on Amazon’s India site shows the page as "not a functioning page on our site."
Penguin Random House India (PRHI) has said it holds the exclusive publishing rights to former Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane's memoir titled Four Stars of Destiny, and clarified that the book has not yet been published, amid reports of unauthorised copies in circulation.
The clarification came after the Delhi Police registered an FIR over the alleged illegal circulation of the manuscript in digital and other formats.
In a statement issued on Monday, the publishing house clarified that no copies of the book have been released to the public.
"Penguin Random House India would like to clarify that we hold the sole publishing rights for the book 'Four Stars of Destiny', a memoir by General Manoj Mukund Naravane, former Chief of the Indian Army. We wish to make it clear that the book has not gone into publication," the publisher said in a statement.
It further said that no copies of the book "in print or digital form -- have been published, distributed, sold, or otherwise made available to the public" by the company.
The publisher also warned that any version of the book currently circulating, whether in full or in part and in any format, including print, PDF or online copies, would amount to copyright infringement.
Notably, the controversy comes after Rahul was seen flashing a purported copy of the book in the Parliament complex last week. He wanted to cite excerpts from the memoir in the Lok Sabha since February 2, but has been stopped as it has not yet been published.
Rahul had sought to quote from what he described as a “pre-print book” by former army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane during a Lok Sabha debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address. Members of the treasury benches objected, following which the Speaker ruled that the Leader of the Opposition could not quote from unpublished literature.