‘Book Does Not Exist?’ Gandhi Carries Copy of Naravane Memoir to Parliament

Feb 4, 2026 – In an interesting turn of events, Four Stars of Destiny, the book written by former Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane which has been at the centre of a turmoil in the Lok Sabha since Monday (February 2), appears to have disappeared from major online platforms including Amazon, Penguin Random House India and Flipkart. Hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi displayed a copy in Parliament today (February 4), a search online for the book showed it was “unavailable” or “not found”. 

Readers may recall the Monday political storm which erupted in the Lok Sabha after Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP), tried to read out excerpts (recently published online) from the memoirs of Naravane but was not allowed to by Speaker Om Birla amid repeated interruptions by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah. The excerpts throw light on the 2020 Ladakh stand-off between India and China and the government’s reported handling of the crisis.

Earlier today (February 4), Gandhi reached the Parliament carrying the “unpublished” Four Stars of Destiny and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “not fulfilling his responsibility”.

Speaking to the media outside the Parliament House, Gandhi said, “The Speaker is saying that this book does not exist, Rajnath ji has said this book does not exist. This is Naravane ji’s book wherein he has written the account of Ladakh… Narendra Modi ji did not fulfill his responsibility”.

He further said he was going to give the Prime Minister the book when he comes to the Parliament, adding “I don’t think the Prime Minister will have the guts to come to the Lok Sabha today….”

The Congress leader claimed, "It's available abroad, I think. It's published abroad. Govt is not allowing it to be published here. That’s what I believe…the book is available…. You can imagine where the book (he was carrying) has come from. You think about where it came from…”

Gandhi has taken the government to task over the instructions Jo uchit samjho, woh karo (do whatever you deem appropriate) allegedly issued by PM Modi to Naravane even as Chinese tanks advanced and the Army faced pressure from commanders seeking clear orders. Naravane was caught between “the Command who wanted to open fire with all possible means” and a government committee “which had yet to give me clear-cut executive orders” as the Chinese army advanced towards what then appeared like a surefire conflict.

 “I had been handed a hot potato,” Naravane, who was Chief of Army Staff then, recalls in his memoirs.

With Media Inputs

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