"Mimicry, an art, no one said this was on Dhankhar ji": Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
Dec 20, 2023
New Delhi [India], December 20 : Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday reacted to the mimicry incident of Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar by suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee outside the Parliament and said, "Mimicry is an art".
A video went viral earlier showing Banerjee mimicking Dhankhar's mannerisms and physical limitations during a protest by the suspended Opposition members on the stairs of the Parliament on Tuesday.
Referring to this, Chowdhury said, "Mimicry is an art. No one said this mimicry was on Dhankhar ji. He is accepting it himself. Why is he taking it on himself, no one said his name. Does it suit a person on such a high post to talk about caste?"
Hitting out at the ruling BJP, the Congress leader said, "They are trying to escape with the issue of Parliament security breach. They don't want to give answers on the same and thus are exaggerating this issue".
Meanwhile, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij lashed out at the suspended TMC MP over the mimicry incident and said that he should be sent to the zoo.
"The way MP Kalyan Banerjee has made fun of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, his Parliament membership should be cancelled and he should be sent to the zoo," Vij told ANI.
The members of the Jat community also held a protest in support of the Rajya Sabha chairman in the national capital.
Jagdeep Sehrawat, Khap Pradhan of Mahipalpur said, "This is an insult of not just the Vice President of the country, but also of all farmers... This behaviour of opposition leaders is absolutely unparliamentary. We demand an apology from all of them so that this is not repeated in the future... We hope this protest doesn't take the shape of a revolution."
Palam 360 Khap Pradhan, Chaudhary Surender Solanki, said, "This meeting has been called so that either TMC MP (Kalyan Banerjee) apologise to Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and also to millions of farmers across India, or we will call a bigger meeting today itself and protest against TMC...Unfortunately, we talk about Congress, especially Rahul Gandhi, as their outlook towards the whole situation was very unprofessional and ridiculous...Our only demand is that we will not tolerate the insult of a farmer family."
Meanwhile, under fire from the members of the Treasury and the BJP-led Centre over his mock impersonation of Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on the Parliament complex, suspended TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee clarified his conduct saying he was not intending to hurt anyone.
Addressing reporters on Wednesday, Banerjee said, "I wasn't intending to hurt anyone. I do not know why he is taking this on himself. Does he act like this in the Rajya Sabha?"
Also hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the TMC MP said, "Even the PM mimicked Opposition leaders in the Lok Sabha between 2014 and 2019. He did it. But everyone took it as harmless humour, not seriously. Now, if they are taking it seriously in my case, I can't help it."
The suspended TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, during the protest with other suspended MPs at Parliament's Makar Dwar, was seen mimicking the Vice President while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was seen filming the Trinamool MP using his phone.
Forty-nine more opposition MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha on Tuesday for 'misconduct" for the remainder of the monsoon session. The total number of MPs suspended from Parliament is now 141.
