Pune (Maharashtra) [India], March 20 : Former Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane (Retd) on Friday held a book signing event in Maharashtra's Pune for his book 'The Cantonment Conspiracy'.
General Naravane told reporters that now he is into fiction writing, apart from penning military reports for academic journals.
He said, "My book 'The Cantonment Conspiracy' was released last year, and I'm glad to say that the book is relatively well for a first-time author who had no idea how to write. It has been an interesting journey to write this book and transition from being a soldier to being a storyteller. So I enjoyed writing it, and I'm sure all those who read it will enjoy reading it too."
"I've always been writing from time to time, not only military reports but also for various academic journals of the Army. I had also written a few short stories, one of which was even published in the Femina. I am now only into writing fiction," he added.
'The Cantonment Conspiracy', published with Penguin Random House India, is a murder mystery, following two army officers fresh out of the National Defence Academy (NDA).
Meanwhile, the former Army chief and his unpublished memoir were surrounded by controversy after the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, cited the book to target the Centre over the 2020 standoff against China.
On February 2, during the motion of thanks on the President's Address, Lok Sabha witnessed sharp verbal exchanges after the Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House sought to quote a magazine article containing excerpts from General Naravane's unpublished memoir.
Gandhi's reply was interrupted by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who raised concerns that a Congress MP cannot quote from an unpublished book, which he said has not been authenticated. The ruling benches objected to Gandhi's attempt to cite excerpts from the book.
The row escalated to an extent where Opposition MPs brought a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, with allegedly not letting Rahul Gandhi speak in the House being one of the reasons.
The motion was dropped after a voice vote in the second phase of the Budget Session of the Parliament.
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