V-P Dhankhar's resignation accepted; a bit amiss, says Opposition

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh terms it a 'forced resignation'

Almost 15 hours after Jagdeep Dhankhar posted a letter on social media regarding his resignation as country’s Vice-President (V-P), Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s was a rare voice from the government’s side to bid the 74-year-old leader farewell. Dhankhar had formally sent a letter to President Droupadi Murmu.

 

In his letter to the President, which he posted on X at 9.25 pm on Monday, Dhankhar said he was quitting on health grounds. In his cryptic post on X at 12.13 pm on Tuesday, the PM said that Dhankhar “got many opportunities to serve our country in various capacities, including as the Vice-President of India. Wishing him good health.”

 

But no leader from the ruling coalition called on Dhankhar at his residence to inquire about his health, nor did they take to social media to wish him well. The frostiness between the government and Dhankhar added to the speculation that all was not well between them. In a series of posts, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh sought to fill the information void on the issue. He claimed the reasons behind Dhankhar’s resignation as the V-P were “far deeper” than the health issues cited by him, and said the PM’s “non-post” on X wishing Dhankhar farewell, which Ramesh termed as a “forced resignation”, has added to the “mystery” of the “abrupt exit”.

 

In an earlier post, Ramesh flagged the absence of Union ministers J P Nadda and Kiren Rijiju from the second Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on Monday, saying “something very serious” happened between 1 pm and 4.30 pm on Monday to account for their deliberate absence from the second BAC. Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha said Dhankhar's resignation was quite unexpected. “Did the way he proactively handled the two impeachment motions (Justice Shekhar Yadav and Justice Yashwant Verma) yesterday the last straw,” Tankha asked on X.

 

MPs of the Congress and other Opposition parties had last year moved an impeachment motion against Dhankhar, but praised him as he bowed out. Ramesh said that Dhankhar lauded the post-2014 India, but spoke fearlessly for the welfare of farmers, forcefully against what he called ‘ahankar’ (arrogance) in public life, and strongly on judicial accountability and restraint. The Congress leader said Dhankhar tried to accommodate the Opposition, was a stickler for norms, proprieties, and protocol, which he believed were being consistently disregarded in both his capacities that of the V-P and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

 

 

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notified Dhankhar’s resignation on Tuesday afternoon. The Rajya Sabha was informed about the MHA’s notification at 12 noon, and later in the day its Deputy Chairman Harivansh called on the President. The Vice-President of India is the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Harivansh told the Rajya Sabha in the afternoon that the further constitutional process concerning vacancy in the Office of Vice-President of India will be communicated as and when received.

 

Dhankhar had informed the House on Monday that he had received a notice for a motion to remove Justice Yashwant Varma, who is embroiled in a suspected corruption case, from 63 opposition MPs. According to sources in the Opposition, the notice went against the government’s plan to marshal a bipartisan motion for Justice Varma’s removal in the Lok Sabha and not in the Upper House was made more embarrassing for the ruling alliance by the fact that it was an entirely Opposition-sponsored exercise. Senior ministers, sources said, got Rajya Sabha MPs of the BJP and its allies to put their signatures on a document, which some members said was for a similar notice to ensure that the Opposition members alone were not behind the exercise in the Upper House.

 

Like Tankha, others also suggested that Dhankhar, who wore the hat of a senior lawyer before becoming West Bengal governor in 2019, had taken lead in taking on the judiciary over a host of issues, the latest one involving Varma.

 

According to Clause 2 of Article 68 of the Constitution, an election to fill a vacancy in the office of the Vice-President occurring due to his death, resignation or removal, or otherwise will be held “as soon as possible” after it becomes vacant. However, a time frame, unlike six months in the case of the President, is not specified.

 

The person elected to fill the vacancy will be entitled to hold office “for the full term of five years from the date on which he enters upon his office”. The VP’s functions in the Rajya Sabha, in his absence, are performed by the Deputy Chairman of House.