BJP MP Dilip Saikia Slams Rahul Gandhi Over Remarks During President’s Address

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Dilip Saikia on Monday launched a sharp attack on Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of deliberately disrupting parliamentary proceedings and misleading the country on sensitive national security issues.

Reacting to Gandhi’s intervention during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in the Lok Sabha, Saikia said the Congress leader raised issues that had no connection with the constitutional address and unnecessarily diverted the debate.

“The issues raised by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi are completely unrelated to the President’s address. He is deliberately trying to mislead the people of the country and create confusion,” Saikia said.

The BJP MP alleged that Rahul Gandhi’s remarks were irresponsible and risked undermining public trust in the armed forces. According to Saikia, comments made by a senior opposition leader on national security matters should be measured and responsible, especially at a time when unity is crucial.

Saikia’s remarks came after dramatic scenes unfolded in Parliament earlier in the day, when proceedings were repeatedly disrupted following Rahul Gandhi’s attempt to quote from an unpublished book by former Army Chief General Manoj Naravane while speaking on the President’s Address.

As Rahul Gandhi began reading excerpts from the book, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh objected, questioning the credibility of citing an unpublished source on the floor of the House. “He should clarify whether the book has been published or not. It has not been published. He cannot claim to quote from it,” Singh said.

Home Minister Amit Shah also raised objections, stating that unauthenticated material, including unpublished books or magazine articles, cannot be quoted in Parliament. He urged the Leader of the Opposition to continue his speech without referring to the book.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla supported the objections, reminding members that parliamentary rules do not permit references to materials unrelated to House proceedings. He later clarified that even published books cannot be cited if they are not directly relevant to the discussion.

Despite repeated objections, Rahul Gandhi insisted that the excerpts published in The Caravan magazine were “100 per cent genuine” and argued that the Defence Minister himself was mentioned in the text. Several Congress MPs urged the Speaker to allow him to continue.

Support for Rahul Gandhi also came from Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav, who said matters related to China were highly sensitive and should be discussed in Parliament. “The Leader of Opposition should be allowed to raise the issue,” Yadav said.

The back-and-forth between the Treasury benches and the Opposition led to prolonged disorder in the House, with loud protests from both sides. After nearly 45 minutes of disruptions, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House till 3 pm.

Following the adjournment, senior ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah were seen holding a meeting with Speaker Om Birla to discuss the developments.

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