Former Army chief Manoj Mukund Naravane has said it was unnecessary to pull his unpublished autobiography into a political controversy and place him in the political spotlight.
The remarks come after Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, during the last Budget session, referred to the 2020 India–China clash and displayed an unpublished book attributed to Naravane while criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In an interview with a news agency, Naravane said that during periods of border tension with China, the Union government gave the armed forces full freedom to take appropriate action—something he said reflected the government’s confidence in the military.
He added that, as an author, he has not even seen the final version of the unpublished memoir and therefore cannot comment on what the book is or where it came from. He said the Defence Ministry had asked publishers to hold the autobiography back for review, and that the matter should have ended there.
Naravane also spoke about his new book, Unearthing Military Myths and Mysteries, which he said features interesting stories from the Army, Navy and Air Force, including what he learned while researching the origins of the slogan “Jai Hind.”
