Some books change history, books that gather dust, and then some books do not exist but still manage to enter the Lok Sabha.
One also wonders, in passing, whether Rahul Gandhi has the habit of reading any books at all – published or unpublished.
The safer assumption is that he relies on briefing notes supplied by his IT cell, trusted propagandists in the party, Uncle Sam, Jairam Ramesh, and whatever research packets drift in from George Soros–aligned outfits.
Rahul Gandhi, it appears, has inaugurated a new literary movement in Indian politics – the citation of an unpublished memoir whose publisher insists is neither published, circulated, nor legally visible to the naked eye.
It is reminiscent of that once-viral volume titled ‘How to Tame Your Wife’ – a compendium that went viral precisely because every page was blank. The genius lay not in the advice offered, but in the absence of it.
Rahul’s version improves on the genre. Here is a book that is not blank, not published, not authorised – yet sufficiently solid to be waved for cameras and sufficiently sacred to demand space in parliamentary debate.
A debate without text
The publisher has clarified, repeatedly, that no copies exist in the public domain. The Delhi Police have registered an FIR to determine how something that officially does not exist is circulating in digital and other forms.
Yet the Leader of the Opposition wished to read from it, as though Parliament were a seance table where spirits of unpublished chapters could be summoned by privilege alone.
This places the Lok Sabha Chairman in a position no rulebook quite anticipated. Should the Chair protect free speech, or should it protect the more elementary idea that debate requires material that exists in the real world?
Parliamentary privilege is meant to shield speech from intimidation, not to launder copyright infringement or elevate leaked manuscripts into legislative scripture.
When imagination seeks immunity
There is a deeper irony here. The same ecosystem that demands retired generals be gagged, pensions stopped, and memoirs treated as acts of treason suddenly discovers the sanctity of free expression when a leaked draft serves political convenience.
The book is dangerous when written, essential when quoted, and sacrosanct when brandished by the Opposition.
One wonders if tomorrow MPs will demand debates based on anonymous Google Docs or heavily forwarded WhatsApp PDFs, citing national interest and creative interpretation. Once imagination is granted immunity, fact becomes optional and discipline an inconvenience.
Not a book club for advance copies
Action against Rahul in this case would not amount to stifling debate. It would amount to reminding the House that Parliament is not a book club for advance copies, nor a flea market for pirated ideas. The Chair is not obliged to preside over literary cosplay.
If rules mean anything, they must apply even when the Opposition discovers a dramatic prop. Otherwise, the Lok Sabha risks becoming a stage where blank books are treated as manifestos and unpublished memoirs as holy texts – all substance deferred, all symbolism delivered.
