Congress MP Manickam Tagore

NEW DELHI: Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Friday criticised the government for what he called a “culture of excessive secrecy” in matters of defence and armed forces. He shared an image of a news article stating that the Centre is working on detailed guidelines for serving and retired armed forces personnel who wish to publish books in the future. The proposed guidelines will outline the process to be followed before any manuscript is cleared for publication.In a post on X, Tagore said rules should not be used to silence voices or hide uncomfortable truths from the public.“In 2029, when Rahul Gandhi becomes Prime Minister, one of the guidelines that must change is this culture of excessive secrecy. National security must always be protected. But using rules to silence voices and hide uncomfortable truths from the people of India cannot be justified.”He added, “Our armed forces deserve dignity. Our democracy deserves transparency.”The remarks come after leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi displayed excerpts from an unpublished memoir of former Army Chief General MM Naravane in the Parliament Budget session in early February and was repeatedly interrupted by BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and Kiren Rijiju.Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “not fulfilling responsibility” during the 2020 India-China military clashes in Ladakh. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh objected, questioning whether the book being cited had been formally published or authenticated. He told the House that unpublished material could not be quoted and accused the Congress leader of misleading Parliament. Speaker Om Birla subsequently ruled that unpublished books or magazine articles not directly related to proceedings could not be read out in the House.Despite the ruling, Congress leaders maintained that the excerpts they referred to were authentic and available through a published magazine article citing the memoir.