'It is an art form': TMC's Kalyan Banerjee mimics VP Dhankhar again

Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Kalyan Banerjee, whose mimicry of Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar led to a political row last week, doubled down on the jabs directed at Dhankhar. According to a report by The Indian Express (IE), Banerjee said that mimicry is a right to expression and a fundamental right.

A controversy broke out on December 19 after Banerjee mimicked Dhankhar during the Opposition's protest on the stairs of Parliament against Opposition MPs'MPs' suspension, drawing criticism from the ruling BJP. Banerjee is one of the MPs who has been suspended from the Lok Sabha.

Speaking at an event in West Bengal's Srerampore, Banerjee claimed he would mimic Dhankhar a thousand times. The TMC MP said that mimicry is an art form, and If needed, he would do it a thousand times. Banerjee added that he would not step back and was not afraid of being sent to prison.

The suspended MP also criticised Dhankhar, saying he was getting upset over a "trivial issue". 

Videos showed Kalyan Banerjee mimicking Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankhar during an Opposition protest outside Parliament last Tuesday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was also seen recording Banerjee's act as leaders of the Opposition protested, demanding a discussion on the Parliament security breach that took place on December 13.

Dhankhar claimed Banerjee had insulted his caste and stated he would not tolerate any abuse to his position in the House.

In Rajya Sabha, the vice-president said that he was personally hurt as his farmer and Jat backgrounds were targeted. "Imagine what must be going through my heart when your senior leader videographs a Member of Parliament mocking the institution of the chairman," he said in Rajya Sabha.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Droupadi Murmu had called Dhankhar to express their support.

PM Modi expressed pain over the "abject theatrics" of some MPs in the Parliament complex. "He told me that he has been at the receiving end of such insults for twenty years and counting, but the fact that it could happen to a Constitutional office like the vice-president and that too in Parliament was unfortunate", Dhankhar said on a post, on social media platform X.

Banerjee had earlier been at loggerheads with Dhankhar when he was the governor of West Bengal.