Omkar Dattatray
It is very disturbing and unfortunate that a law maker has done mimicking of the top constitutional post of vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and it has aroused needed criticism of this bad act .No one has the inborn right to perform mimicking and that too of the constitutional post of the vice-president .But this unwarranted and deplorable act has taken place in our parliamentary history when Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee performed mimicking of vice -president and rightly this issue snowballed into a major controversy with president Droupadi Murmu and prime minister Narendra Modi expressing their disapproval to the act publicly .Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ,who was targeted by the BJP for filming Mr.Banerjee’s act on his phone ,hit back by saying that he shot the video of MPs sitting outside parliament and asked why there is no discussion in the media over 150 opposition MP’s being thrown of the august house .Mr Banerjee derisively mimicked Mr Dhankhar during the oppositions protest on the stairs of parliament against the suspension of MP’s drawing strongest condemnation from the ruling BJP .In a rare public comment on a developing public debate Mrs Murmu ,in a post on X ,said she was dismayed to see the manner in which vice-president was humiliated in the parliament complex. ”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 people of India expect them to uphold it’ ‘Ms Murmu said .The vice presidents secretariat also put out a post on X to inform that Mr Modi had called Mr Dhankhar to express ”great pain over the abject theatrics of some honorable MP’s and that too in the sacred parliament complex .He told me that he had been at the receiving end of such insults for 20 years and counting but the fact that it could happen to a constitutional office like vice president and that too in parliament was unfortunate ,”Mr Dhankhar was quoted as saying in the post .Both the sad and unbecoming act of the parliament member Banerjee as well as the en-masse suspension of 150 MP’s are both undemocratic ,unprecedented and should not have happened .The suspension of MP’s is anti democratic ,anti constitutional and amounts to murder of democracy and it hints towards the destruction of democracy .Oppositions disruptive behavior ,mimicking vice president ,is a strategic way of walking out, says expert .Relations between the opposition and treasury benches have hit an unprecedented low as a result of the suspension of 143 MP’s marking a historic with one in five Lok Sabha MP’s currently under suspension .This contentious episode originated from the oppositions demand for Home minister Amit Shah to address the parliament on security breach incident .A video of TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee mimicking vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar sparked a parliamentary uproar ,leading to protests by NDA Rajya Sabha MP’s during the question hour .President Murmu expressed dismay over the incident. Political analyst Desh Ratan Nigam commented on the situation, stating that the oppositions disruptive behavior ,such as mimicking the vice President ,is a strategic way of effectively walking out .It is so extreme that TMC ,MP Kalyan Banerjee ,whose mimicry of vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar sparked controversy asserted that he will persist in mimicking him ,referring to it as an art form. The TMC ,MP Kalyan Baneerje ,whose mimicry of vice president stirred a row ,imitated Dhankhar once again on Sunday and said that he will continue to mimic him ,terming it as an’ ‘art form ”.Most unfortunate that Banerjee said that he would do it a thousand times and that he had a fundamental right to do so .He further said I may be kept in jail .I will not step back .But the hard fact is that all the fundamental rights have to be exercised within limits and decency and one cannot take the shield of enjoying fundamental rights and offend others and more so the person holding a constitutional post .Better sense should prevail on the law makers and especially on the arrogant Banerjee and he should desist from taking the bad recourse to mimicking of the vice president .At the same time the chairman of the Raj Sabha and the speaker of the Lok Sabha should see reason and not suspend the law makers and allow the democracy to function because the destruction and obstructing of democracy should not be allowed .Moreover the fact is that the suspended MP’s do represent the people of the country and suspending them results in dishonoring the large chunk of the people who voted for the opposition members .This fact should not be overlooked by the people holding the presiding officers post in the both houses of parliament .It is unprecedented in the parliamentary history of the country that the members of the parliament are suspended en mass as 150 MP’s were thrown out by the chairman of the Raj Sabha and the speaker of Lok Sabha .At the same time the opposition MP’s should realize that their role is fundamental for the successful working of the legislatures and in fact for the working of the functional democracy and therefore they should conduct themselves in decorum and show discipline for constitutional norms and not indulge in showing disrespect to the constitutional posts .The opposition members of the parliament should do constructive and positive criticism and abide by the rules and regulations of the parliament and desist from doing anything which amount to showing disrespect to the constitutional heads .Thus both the treasury and opposition benches should conduct themselves in a dignified manner so that the functioning of the parliament is not disrupted but goes in smoothly in the interests of the country and its people .It follows that the ruling MP’s and those of the opposition parties should work in tandem and realize their responsibility and help in the smooth functioning of the temple of democracy that the parliament is .In short both the houses of parliament should be allowed to run smoothly so that the business of the houses are conducted in a fair and impartial way and the working of the parliament is not disturbed.
(The author is a columnist,
social and KP activist).
