New Delhi : Former Army chief General MM Naravane finally broke his silence today by resharing a statement from the publishers Penguin. “This is the status of the book,” General Naravane posted on X (formerly Twitter). Penguin Random House India yesterday issued a clarification, stating that it holds the exclusive publishing rights to ‘Four Stars of Destiny’, the memoir of General Naravane, and that the book has not yet been published in any form.
The statement comes amid mounting controversy over the alleged circulation of unauthorised copies of the manuscript and a political row that has spilt into Parliament. The Delhi Police have registered an FIR and initiated a probe into what they describe as the suspected illegal distribution of material from a yet-to-be-approved publication. “Penguin Random House India would like to clarify that we hold the sole publishing rights for the book ‘Four Stars of Destiny’, a memoir by General Manoj Mukund Naravane, former Chief of the Indian Army.
“Any copies of the book currently in circulation, in whole or in part, whether in print, digital, PDF, or any other format, online or offline, on any platform, constitutes an infringement of PRHI’s copyright and must immediately be ceased,” the statement added.The Leader of the Opposition had sought to cite excerpts from the memoir in the Lok Sabha from February 2 onwards but was prevented from doing so on the grounds that the book had not been formally published.
Addressing reporters in the Parliament House complex on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi again referred to what he described as the “unreleased memoir” of General Naravane. He held up a copy of the book and said he wanted young people in India to know that the book exists. “The Speaker has said this book does not exist, the government has said it does not exist, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh ji has said this book does not exist. Every youngster in India should see this book exists,” he said.
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