Amid the row over a Trinamool MP’s mimicry of Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Rajya Sabha MPs belonging to the BJP and its allies today staged a unique protest to show solidarity with the Vice-President. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said NDA members would stand in the House for an hour to express support to Mr Dhankhar, Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman. 

“We strongly condemn this. There are crossing all limits. They are repeatedly insulting people on constitutional posts. They have been insulting the Prime Minister for 20 years because he comes from a humble background and the OBC community. They insulted the President because she is a tribal woman. You are a farmer’s son. For the first time, someone from the Jat community became Vice-President. They have insulted this post. We are making it clear, we will not tolerate the insult of the Vice-President and the Constitution,” Mr Joshi said. 

“So, in your honour and to protest against them, we will stand and participate in the question and answer session,” he added. 

A video of Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee mimicking the Vice-President on Parliament premises has raised a political storm. Mr Banerjee is among the 141 Opposition MPs suspended for demanding a statement by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach last week. Yesterday, while protesting near Makar Dwar to the new Parliament building, the Serampore MP started mimicking the Vice-President. Other MPs were seen laughing as Mr Banerjee imitated Mr Dhankhar’s gestures. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was seen filming the act.

Soon after, Mr Dhankhar said in Rajya Sabha that he had seen the video and was “deeply pained”. Addressing senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, he said, “Imagine what I felt when a senior leader of your party, an MP, was filming an act making fun of me, a personal attack.”

“This is not just the insult of a farmer or a community, it’s disrespect to the post of Rajya Sabha chairman. And that too by a party that ruled the country for so long,” he said. 

The Congress’s official Instagram handle, he said, had posted the video, but later took it down. “This is shameful. You used an official handle to humiliate me for my farmer background, to humiliate me as a Jat, to humiliate my position. This is very serious,” Mr Dhankhar said.

The BJP, under fire for the unprecedented suspension spree of Opposition MPs, used the mimicry video to hit back. Union ministers Kiren Rijiju and Piyush Goyal, and the party’s official X handle, termed Mr Banerjee’s mimicry a “contemptible act”.

“If the country was wondering why opposition MPs were suspended, here is the reason… TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee mocked Honourable Vice President, while Rahul Gandhi lustily cheered him on. One can imagine how reckless and violative they have been of the House!” the BJP’s official handle posted.

Sharing a video showing Mr Gandhi recording Mr Banerjee’s mimicry, Mr Goyal posted, “For the record – Congress supports those who RIDICULE a constitutional position!”

A day after a Trinamool MP’s mimicry raised a political storm, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar said he doesn’t care if he is insulted as an individual, but won’t tolerate the insult of Vice-President’s office. Without naming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, he questioned the sanskaar (values) of those who filmed and amplified Trinamool Congress Kalyan Banerjee’s mimicry on Parliament premises yesterday.

Addressing Congress MP Digvijaya Singh in Rajya Sabha, Mr Dhankhar questioned the “silence” of top Congress leaders on the episode. “You say your party is 138 years old. Your silence is ringing in my ears. (Congress chief Mallikarjun) Kharge ji’s silence in ringing in my ears. Everyone knows what is happening,” he said.

“…I don’t care about how much you insult Jagdeep Dhankhar. But I can’t tolerate (insult of) Vice President of India, farmers community, my community… I will not tolerate that I could not protect the dignity of my post, it is my duty to protect the dignity of this House..,”… pic.twitter.com/vLxUAtw6VG

— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2023

“A person derives fun (from the mimicry) by videographing it, amplifies it. These are the manners? The level is so low now?” he added.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman said he doesn’t care if he insulted. “But the office of the Vice-President, the farmers’ community, my community… I will sacrifice… I tolerate if someone insults me. Khoon ke ghoont pita hoon, but I will not tolerate if I feel that I could not protect the decorum of this position,” he said. ‘Khoon ke ghunt pee kar reha jana’ is a proverb that means suffering grief silently.

Mr Dhankhar made the remarks amid sloganeering by the BJP MPs, who stood in Rajya Sabha for an hour this morning as a show of support to the Vice-President.

Mr Banerjee’s act of mimicry was caught on camera yesterday during a protest by suspended Opposition MPs at Makar Dwar – one of the entry points to the new Parliament building. Mr Gandhi filmed the act.

The Trinamool MP has said he had no intention to hurt anyone and termed mimicry an art. Mr Banerjee as also said Prime Minister Modi had mimicked Opposition leaders inside the parliament. He has also said he was not a Rajya Sabha member and did not know how Mr Dhankhar held proceedings in the Upper House.

The Vice-President yesterday said he was “deeply pained” by the episode and that it was an insult to his farmer family background and the Jat community he comes from. Several Jat organisations have protested against Mr Banerjee’s act, saying it amounted to insulting the community.

A 52-year-old man on Tuesday allegedly used a sword to behead his wife over a delay in bringing him his morning tea. The incident was reported from the Bhojpur village in Ghaziabad, near Delhi.

Dharamveer has been taken into the custody for killing Sundari, 50, over what the police described as an argument between them over making tea.

The accused was enraged over Sundari saying the tea will take time and this led to a quarrel between them, suggest reports, adding that their four children were asleep in another room during the incident.

Hearing her screams, the villagers rushed to their house and found the victim lying dead in a pool of blood. The local police was then informed who have sent the body for post-mortem, said the cops.

“Dharamveer and Sundari had a fight over making tea. He then took out a sharp weapon and attacked her on the neck from behind, which led to her immediate death,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Gyan Prakash Rai.

A case has been registered and the accused taken into custody, he added.