 "Jagdeep Dhankhar")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar “to express pain” after the vice president was mimicked by Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee. Reacting to this, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said this mimicry episode is a desperate attempt to divert attention from the suspension of the opposition MPs.
Sharing the clip of PM Modi mimicking Rahul Gandhi's wink, Jairam Ramesh wrote, "Remember who mimicked whom and that too in the Lok Sabha".
'मिमिक्री' का मुद्दा उठाकर 142 सांसदों के निलंबन से ध्यान भटकाने के अंधाधुंध प्रयास हो रहे हैं। संसद के इतिहास में आज तक कभी भी इतने बड़े पैमाने पर सांसदों का निलंबन नहीं हुआ है।
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) December 20, 2023
लेकिन मिमिक्री की बात करने वाले ज़रा याद करें कि किसने किसकी मिमिक्री की थी और वह भी लोकसभा में? pic.twitter.com/auXzHQDWJr
President Murmu, PM Modi criticise mimicry incident
President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday criticised the incident and expressed their pain at the way things unfolded.
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“I was dismayed to see the manner in which our respected Vice President was humiliated in the Parliament complex,” President Murmu posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“Elected representatives must be free to express themselves, but their expression should be within the norms of dignity and courtesy. That has been the Parliamentary tradition we are proud of, and the people of India expect them to uphold it,” she added.
Meanwhile, PM Modi also expressed great pain at the “abject theatrics” of some of the MPs.
“Received a telephone call from the Prime Minister, @narendramodi Ji. He expressed great pain over the abject theatrics of some Honourable MPs and that too in the sacred Parliament complex yesterday,” Jagdeep Dhankhar posted on X.
“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,” he said
He further said that this won’t prevent him from performing his duty. “I told him – Mr Prime Minister, the antics of a few won’t prevent me from performing my duty and upholding the principles enshrined in our Constitution. I am committed to those values from the bottom of my heart. None of the insults will make me change my path,” Dhankhar added.
'I am not commenting': Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi said he won't comment on PM Modi's telephonic conversation with Jagdeep Dhankhar over the mimicry row.
Rahul Gandhi was slammed for filming the mimicry act when Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee was mimicking Dhankhar at the Parliament complex as the suspended opposition MPs were protesting.
Case against Kalyan Banerjee for mimicking Dhankhar
An advocate, Abhishek Gautam, filed a complaint against Kalyan Banerjee for his mimicry of Jagdeep Dhankhar. "A complaint was given by advocate Abhishek Gautam at Defence Colony Police station on Tuesday evening. We have forwarded it to the New Delhi district police," a police officer told news agency PTI.
Gautam in his complaint said the video was made with an “intention to insult and defame the Vice President of India, his caste as well as his background as a farmer and as a lawyer.”
He also demanded that an FIR be registered under the appropriate sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the IT Act against the TMC MP and others seen in the video.
