NEW DELHI: Dozens of suspended MPs on Tuesday protested on the stairs of the new Parliament building with Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee mocking Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar by mimicking him. The TMC MP’s act drew condemnation from the BJP.
In the House, Dhankhar expressed his displeasure and termed the opposition action “shameful” and an “insult” to his background as a farmer and a “Jat.” Chairing the Rajya Sabha, Dhankhar said, “Mr Chidambaram, you are a very senior member. Imagine what must be going on in my heart when your senior leader videographed an MP mimicking the institution of the chairman.”
Dhankhar said such mimicry was an insult to his background. “Don’t take on my background as a farmer; don’t take on my background as a community member. The institution of the Chairman has been ravaged; an MP vidoegraphed the other members. For what?”
He also said that on Instagram, a video that was withdrawn later was shared. “You used the official X handle of spokesperson to demean me, insult me, insult my background as a farmer, my position as a Jat, insult my position as a Chairman,” Dhankar told Chidambaram in the House.
Later, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi termed the Opposition act as a mockery of democracy and the constitutional institution. In a post on X, Joshi said, “The I.N.D.I alliance reaches a new low as suspended TMC MP mimics a constitutional position, and the so-called messiah of democratic values, Rahul Gandhi, stands there, laughing at it. They are a disgrace to democracy.”