Galwan Or Doklam: Which India-China Standoff Was Rahul Gandhi Referring To In Lok Sabha?

Last Updated:February 02, 2026, 16:45 IST

Galwan vs Doklam: What happened in Lok Sabha? What were Rahul Gandhi’s exact words? What was the article he was referring to about? How are the two India-China standoffs different?

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, speaks in the House, in New Delhi, on Monday. (Sansad TV via PTI)

Amid the clash in the Lok Sabha over a yet-to-be-published memoir of former Army chief General MM Naravane, one question has emerged – Was the Opposition leader referring to Galwan or Doklam?

What happened in the Lok Sabha? What were Rahul Gandhi’s exact words? What was the article he was referring to about? How are the two India-China standoffs different?

LOK SABHA CHAOS ON MONDAY: RAHUL GANDHI SPOKE ABOUT DOKLAM

Gandhi on Monday challenged the Central government over its objections to his attempt to quote from a report that apparently cited the unpublished memoir of Naravane, asking why the government was “so scared” of the content, insisting on reading excerpts related to the Doklam standoff, which he said highlight true patriotism.

Gandhi’s reply during the motion of thanks on the President’s Address was interrupted by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who raised concern about the fact that the Congress MP cannot quote from an unpublished book, which he said has not been authenticated.

ALSO READ | Naravane’s Memoir Not Out Yet, But Here’s What Ex-Army Chief Said About India-China Border Standoff

Gandhi further said that the passage related to an incident at Doklam. “The Army Chief writes, and I quote from an article that is quoting his book…This is from the memoir of Army Chief Naravane. And I’d like you to listen nicely. You will understand exactly who is patriotic and who is not. It will take a little while, so this is about when four Chinese tanks were entering Indian territory. They were taking a ridge in Doklam…,” Gandhi added.

Even as Singh objected, Gandhi responded, stating that his source was authentic and that the quotations appeared in a published magazine article. However, the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla ruled that unpublished material could not be read out in the House and denied permission to proceed with the reading.

The Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, “The Speaker has given a ruling that articles from magazines or newspapers cannot be quoted in the House…Debate in the House should be held according to the laws…We should also discuss what should be done with a member who doesn’t obey the Speaker’s ruling in Lok Sabha.”

Samajwadi Party chief and MP Akhilesh Yadav said, “The matter relating to China is very sensitive. LoP, Lok Sabha should be allowed to speak.”

Further, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also intervened during the exchange as the House remained divided over the issue, before the proceedings moved ahead amid continued interruptions. Shah also got up: “When the book has not even been published, how can he (Rahul) quote from it?”

WHAT IS THE CONFUSION?

While RG mentioned Doklam, a section of the internet pointed out he could have been referring to Galwan.

For instance, a user wrote on X: “Rahul Gandhi really says Doklam instead of Galwan at 2:30 min.”

“After building and heating up the atmosphere against China, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has

#Misquoted… Said #Doklam instead of #Galwan… Rahul Gandhi ji should know that former Army Chief General Naravane’s unpublished book is on Galwan and Agneepath, which hadn’t received approval for publication…,” said another user.

CARAVAN ARTICLE RAHUL GANDHI QUOTED IS ON GALWAN STANDOFF

The article on the website of the magazine mentions 2020, which is the year the Galwan clash was reported. “LIEUTENANT GENERAL YOGESH JOSHI, the chief of the Indian Army’s Northern Command, received a phone call at 8.15 pm on 31 August 2020. The information he received alarmed him. Four Chinese tanks, supported by infantry, had begun moving up a steep mountain track towards Rechin La in eastern Ladakh. Joshi reported the movement to the chief of army staff, General Manoj Mukund Naravane, who immediately grasped the severity of the situation…,” it reads.

In a post on X, the Caravan put out an excerpt from their cover story in the February issue, titled, ‘Naravane’s Moment of Truth: An army chief’s unpublished memoir exposes how the Modi government spun the China border crisis’. The X post read: “Lieutenant General Yogesh Joshi, the chief of the Indian Army’s Northern Command, received a phone call at 8.15 pm on 31 August 2020. The information he received alarmed him. Four Chinese tanks, supported by infantry, had begun moving up a steep mountain track towards Rechin La in eastern Ladakh. Joshi reported the movement to the chief of army staff, General Manoj Mukund Naravane, who immediately grasped the severity of the situation. The tanks were within a few hundred metres of Indian positions on the Kailash Range, the strategic high ground that Indian forces had seized, hours earlier, in a dangerous race with China’s People’s Liberation Army. “To each and every one my question was, ‘What are my orders?’” Naravane writes in his as-yet-unpublished memoir, Four Stars of Destiny. The situation was deteriorating dramatically and demanded clarity. There was an existing protocol…”

DOKLAM VERSUS GALWAN

Doklam (2017) and Galwan (2020) are two distinct border standoffs between India and China.

Doklam was a 73-day standoff at the China-Bhutan-India trijunction in the Eastern Sector, triggered by Chinese road construction. It ended with a mutual disengagement after India resisted the construction near its sensitive corridor.

Galwan Valley clash in 2020 was a violent, hand-to-hand clash in Eastern Ladakh, resulting in casualties on both sides, marking the first deadly encounter in 45 years. It arose from Chinese incursions and led to a massive, long-term buildup of troops and subsequent rounds of disengagement talks.

Following the Galwan incident, which killed 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops, India and China engaged in a four-year standoff. A significant breakthrough in October 2024 led to 95% disengagement in Depsang and Demchok, with resumed patrolling in key areas.

NETIZENS ON THE ISSUE

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s X handle posted: “Former Army Chief General M. M. Naravane has stated clearly: “Not an inch of land has been lost. We are exactly where we were before.” Yet, to push his false narrative, Rahul Gandhi chose to misrepresent facts, dragging a former Army Chief into his dirty politics. That too, with a book that hasn’t even been published! When political agendas come before the nation and its Armed Forces, it exposes a deeply anti-national mindset.”

While one user said it was bizarre that Gandhi was not allowed to read excerpts from an unpublished book, another said that instead of an unpublished memoir, he should have referred to published interviews where Naravane has said that not an inch of space was lost in Galwan.

WHAT BJP, CONGRESS LEADERS SAID

BJP MP Dilip Saikia said, “…The issues raised by Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi are unrelated to the address of the President of India…Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi is trying to mislead and spread confusion in the nation…He was lowering the morale of the army and raising questions on the security of the nation…”

BJP MP CP Joshi said, “The Speaker of Lok Sabha gave many chances to Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi to speak…He deliberately disgraced the country and lowered the morale of the army…The opposition is playing into the hands of the foreign powers…”

Congress MP Akhilesh Prasad Singh said, “We have been saying from the beginning that there is no government here that respects the constitution. There are continuous attempts to undermine democracy. When even the leader of the opposition is not being heard, then what kind of democracy is this?”

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said, “…It’s very clear there are some very inconvenient truths in the book. I have never seen a government so vehemently opposing a quote from a former army chief, a respected soldier who spent his entire life defending us, who has written an autobiography…”

With Agency Inputs

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