Opposition's impeachment bid against Dhankhar: Symbolism or strategy?

Injured egos may rile them, but they cannot justify the Opposition's move to impeach Jagdeep Dhankhar

Members of Parliament (MPs) in the INDIA bloc on December 10 moved an unprecedented resolution — to impeach the vice-president and chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankhar. As both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had to pass the motion, and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has a majority in both Houses, defeat was certain. The notice has now been dismissed by the deputy chairman. So, despite the full knowledge that it would not go through, why did the Opposition press ahead with it?

 

First, let us be clear. A vice-president and Rajya Sabha chairman cannot be impeached because his manner upsets the Opposition. Mr Dhankhar tends to be brusque and loses no opportunity to make a point, legal and political. In August, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Jaya Bachchan objected to his “tone”, to which the chairman said: “Don’t school me … You may be anybody, you may be a celebrity, but you’ve to maintain the decorum.” Outside the Parliament House, she said it was “a most humiliating experience”. But colleagues in the Opposition, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), were clear that should the SP make these grounds to impeach the chairman, it would not get their support.

 

And rile them as it may, injured egos cannot be grounds for the Opposition to justify a move for his impeachment. Nor were they trying to make a case on that basis. Their argument was: “You don’t let us speak”. The Opposition has moved more than 40 motions under Rule 267 (equivalent to the adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha, demanding all other matters be suspended to discuss the extant motion followed by voting if necessary). Mr Dhankhar has not accepted even one. In a ruling he said procedural failure in adjournments motions was the reason for their rejection. There was no bias.

 

Opposition leaders say his frequent interjections break their train of thought and allow Treasury Benches to jeer. At a recent meeting of the business advisory committee, which decides the time allotted to discussions, a Bill saw agreement for a three-hour discussion — “two hours for the Bill, one hour for the chairman”, quipped a member of the Opposition. But impeachment because the chairman likes to hear the sound of his own voice?

 

Then there is the matter of suspension of members. If one repeatedly interrupts proceedings, one has to be suspended. No argument.

 

The suspension, according to rules, remains in place “for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session”. However, several MPs have remained suspended for far longer — Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh was suspended from July 2023 to June 2024. Everything the Rajya Sabha does is a precedent for Councils and Assemblies in states. So, there is nothing to prevent a presiding officer in a state legislature from suspending Opposition members for months, even years — because the chairman of the Rajya Sabha has done it.

 

These are worrying but hardly grounds for impeachment. And though the Opposition believes he is unfair and partisan, Mr Dhankhar’s legal training teaches him how to navigate choppy waters.

 

In his home state of Rajasthan, he is well known as a criminal lawyer: He started practice in the Rajasthan High Court and became the youngest president of the Rajasthan High Court Bar Association. When the Jat agitation was on in the state, he was the one who intervened to fight the scores of legal cases against Jats by the governments in both Haryana and Rajasthan. He was one of Salman Khan’s lawyers in the controversial blackbuck hunting case in Jodhpur.

 

His commitment to public service is unquestionable. He was in the Congress (MLA from Kishangarh, Rajasthan, from 1993 to 1998); Janata Dal (MP when V P Singh was Prime Minister, a position he got because of the strong recommendation from the Jat leader from Haryana, Devi Lal); and minister for parliamentary affairs during the short-lived Chandrashekhar government (1990-91). One of his mentors in the BJP, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, too was vice-president.

 

His affiliation with the Bharatiya Janata Party came with his support (from behind the scenes) for controversial former RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) activist Swami Aseemanand, who was charged in the conspiracy that led to a bomb blast in the Ajmer Sharif Dargah in 2007 but was later acquitted. A few members of the RSS and Vishva Hindu Parishad were accused in this case and at least two were convicted and awarded life imprisonment in 2017. Mr Dhankhar helped Union minister Bhupender Yadav fight the case. That’s why in the Rajya Sabha he described himself as an “Eklavya in the RSS for 25 years”.

 

Mr Dhankhar once observed at a felicitation function in Jaipur after he became vice-president: “I have learnt my magic at the feet of Tau Devi Lal and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.”

 

Impeachment will not happen. But only magic can dissipate the current phase of bitterness between the government and Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.