5 min readNew DelhiFeb 6, 2026 06:21 AM IST
First published on: Feb 6, 2026 at 06:21 AM IST
FINANCE Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday said the government did not have any issues with former Army chief General MM Naravane, whose unpublished book Four Stars of Destiny was held aloft by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to target the government over a military face-off with China in August 2020.
In an interview to The Indian Express, Sitharaman said, “When I had a short stint as Defence Minister, I knew General Naravane, a very respected senior general. Why will the government of India have any problem with a General who’s been made the Chief of Army Staff under our period. We respect him. We have no issues about him.”Sitharaman was the Union Defence Minister during NDA’s first term from September 2017 to May 2019.
The Finance Minister said the book was not banned. “The publishers might have sent the book for defence ministry clearance which is not yet given,” she said.
Sitharaman said the book quotes the Prime Minister instructing the Armed Forces as “jo uchhit samjho woh karo (Do whatever you deem is appropriate)”. “The Prime Minister gave a blank cheque to the Armed Forces. What more do you want to say? It’s not like (Pandit) Nehru saying, ‘Arunachalis, you take care of yourself’. Or over Ladakh, not a blade of grass grows (two remarks often quoted for Nehru while dealing with border dispute with China),” Sitharaman said.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi shows a copy of the unpublished “memoir” of former Army chief M M Naravane during the Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. (PTI)
Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi for displaying the book “to get the heft of the General’s name”, she said, the objections raised were against the “wrong quotation” Gandhi had tried to raise in the Lok Sabha.
Sitharaman also slammed the Congress party for sending women MPs with banners and posters towards the Treasury benches to act as a “shield or deterrent”. “I have in the past openly commented outside Parliament against the manner in which women employees, no matter how high their official positions are, give bouquets to the guests while male members are watching…,” she said. “Male and female MPs are here in their capacity as MPs. What was the Congress party’s strategy,” Sitharaman asked.
“You wanted to draw attention using a respected General’s name. You quote his name and mock. That’s why leaders like Nishikant Dubey had to come up with quotes from other books to defend. You want to quote one, but we have seven. Then you say ‘we don’t like Nishikant Dubey-like politics.’ How can you get away with such an attitude?,” Sitharaman asked.
‘Learn from Nehru’
Gandhi, she said, should learn from leaders like Pandit Nehru, who had tremendous respect for the Opposition members. “H V Kamath was a bitter critic of Nehru. But when he was defeated in the election, Nehru said in Parliament he (Kamath) should not have lost. Such a bitter critic, Nehru could have said, it’s good riddance. But he got up in the House and said he (Kamath) should have won the election… They accuse us of ignoring Nehru. But I honestly want to say just look at him only. Why are you not learning from your own family?”
According to the Finance Minister, Gandhi starting his speech quoting General Naravane was a “Freudian slip that betrayed his intention”. Instead of “changing goal posts”, Gandhi could admit his mistake that he was quoting from an unpublished book and an article and go ahead, she said.
Alleging that the Congress party has been “absolutely irresponsible” as an Opposition, Sitharaman said, “We want an Opposition that stands up and asks us questions. We will answer all of them. But it should be within the niyam kanoon (rules and regulations) of the House. You ask questions and when the Prime Minister stands up to answer, you run away, calling names… You cannot have a raita failao and bhag jao approach (mess up things and run away). That’s not democracy,” she said.