BJP on offensive as Dhankhar video triggers new govt vs Opposition tussle: 10 points

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday evening launched a counterattack on a united Opposition over a Trinamool MP's mimicry of Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, saying it should apologise in the Parliament for the act. The BJP offensive came amid the Opposition's unrelenting protests demanding a statement by union home minister Amit Shah in the Parliament over the Lok Sabha security breach. 141 MPs have been suspended from both the Houses for showing placards and “unruly behaviour”.

Protesting against the mass suspension, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee had mimicked Dhankhar. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi was seen recording the act on his mobile phone, prompting a strongly worded rejoinder from the Vice President.

Here are 10 points on Dhankhar vs Opposition

1. Reacting to the controversy, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said he was pained by the TMC MP's mimicry and Gandhi's "encouragement". "From the beginning, the Congress party has been deliberately insulting our President, who comes from a tribal community...I strongly condemn this attitude of Kalyan Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi...You (opposition leaders) should apologise in this House, on behalf of those leaders," he said.
2. Joshi also called the INDIA bloc a "touring party". “I condemn the drama and mimicry of the Vice President that Kalyan Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi and his friends did. INDI Alliance is anyway a touring party, they do drama in different cities. But now they have started mimicking the drama talkies...Look at their attitude even before this - they made wrong comments about the first tribal woman President.”
3. Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said the act was an insult to the Jat community, farmers and the OBC community. "They were enjoying themselves while making the video. Look at their intention, they were insulting the Jat community, farmers, OBC community and the Vice President. They think that only they have the right to sit on that chair and how can a person from the Jat community or a farmer's son sit on that Chair...We condemn this act," he said.
4. BJP MP Dinesh Sharma slammed Gandhi over the incident. "It is the democratic right of the opposition to oppose. But using unparliamentary language, showing inappropriate placards, getting out and then filming the whole incident by someone who has been a national president of their party (Rahul Gandhi). One person is mimicking the Rajya Sabha Speaker and one person is filming it, this is shameful for anyone who holds the membership of the House... The opposition should apologise for this... They are running from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha because they do not have any issues. Development, law and order are not issues anymore".
5. BJP MP and union minister Giriraj Singh said: “Does this happen anywhere in the Parliamentary system? Do they think this is a joke?”
6. The Jat Association said the community will take into account the mockery while voting. Jats have a sizable presence in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. "Vice President and the pride of the Jat community, Jagdeep Dhankhar has been mocked. The Jat community will definitely take account of this mockery in the coming Lok Sabha elections," it tweeted.
7. Dhankhar had slammed the TMC MP and Gandhi over the act. Addressing P Chidambaram in the Rajya Sabha, he said the act was an insult to the chair. "A senior member of Parliament videographs another member. Why? I tell you I have suffered greatly.. Mr. Chidambaram is here. Mr. Chidambaram, you are a very senior member. Imagine what must have been going through my heart when one of your senior leaders was making a video of an MP making fun of the Speaker in which I was being personally attacked," he added.
8. Dhankhar said the act was an insult to a farmer. "You have used the official spokesperson of the (Congress) party to insult me, to insult my background as a farmer, to insult my position as a Jat, to insult my position as Chairman," he said.
9. Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam said the conduct of the TMC MP had put the entire nation to shame. "Parliament is no place for drama. There are methods to register your opposition but mocking and insulting the Vice President is not befitting to a healthy democracy," he said.
10. Meanwhile, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on Tuesday that the suspension of a total of 141 Opposition MPs reinforced "our charge" that an autocratic BJP wanted to demolish democracy in this country. "We all know that key Bills like the Criminal Law Amendments, which unleash draconian powers and impede citizen's Rights, are listed. Modi Govt does not want the people of India to hear out the Opposition, while these Bills are debated and deliberated. Therefore, they have adopted this "Suspend, Throw Out and Bulldoze" tactic to destroy Democracy! Our simple demands about the Union Home Minister making a statement in Parliament on the grave security breach and a detailed discussion on the same, remain unaltered," he wrote on X.

With inputs from PTI, ANI