'Unacceptable tone': Jaya Bachchan demands apology from RS Chair Dhankhar

The Opposition staged a walkout on Friday after Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan accused Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar of using unacceptable' tone

Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan on Friday said that she wants an apology from Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar for his “unacceptable” tone.

Opposition parties on Friday staged another walkout from the Rajya Sabha in support of Jaya Bachchan. This action came as Jaya Bachchan voiced her protest against the repeated resurgence of the ‘Jaya Amitabh Bachchan’ controversy in the Upper House.

Following the walkout, the SP MP said, “I objected to the tone used by the Chair. We are not school children. Some of us are senior citizens. I was upset with the tone and especially when the Leader of Opposition stood up to speak, he switched off the mike. How can you do this?”
 

She further said that the RS chairman used unparliamentary words such as “nuisance”, “Buddhiheen” (witless) in the Rajya Sabha.

“You have to allow the Leader of Opposition to speak. I mean, using unparliamentary words every time which I do not want to say in front of you all. ‘You are a nuisance’, ‘Buddhiheen’. He said ‘you may be a celebrity, I do not care’. I am not asking him to care. I am saying, I am a member of the Parliament. This is my fifth term. I know what I am saying. The way things are being spoken in Parliament these days, nobody has ever spoken before,” Bachchan said.

The SP MP demanded an apology from Dhankhar. “I want an apology. I want an apology for saying ‘I don’t care’. He is in the Chair, he has to care.”

While addressing the House on Friday, Jaya Bachchan said, “I am an artist. I understand body language and expressions. But your tone is not right. We are your colleagues, but your tone is unacceptable.”

Replying to this, the RS chairman said that the actor-politician should maintain decorum even if she is a celebrity. “Jaya ji, you have earned a great reputation. You know an actor is subject to the director. But every day, I do not want to repeat myself. Every day, I don’t want to do schooling. You are talking about my tone? Enough of it. You may be anybody. You have to understand the decorum. You can be a celebrity but accept decorum,” Dhankhar said in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

[With agency inputs]

WATCH: You may be a celebrity, but accept decorum: Jagdeep Dhankar schools Jaya Bachchan