"Ridiculous, unacceptable", says Dhankhar after TMC's Kalyan Banerjee mimics Rajya Sabha Chairman
Dec 19, 2023
New Delhi [India], December 19 : Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday took exception to Trinamool Congress' suspended MP Kalyan Banerjee mimicking him during a protest in Parliament premises saying that the mimicry is 'ridiculous' and 'unacceptable'.
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.
As the House reconvened at 12 noon after being adjourned, Dhankhar took note of the incident and said, "Office of Chairman, Rajya Sabha and Office of Speaker is very different. Political parties will have their cross currents, they will have exchanges, but imagine a senior leader of your party, video graphing another member of another party. Mimicry of the Chairman, mimicry of Speaker. How ridiculous, how shameful, how unacceptable."
Later he adjourned the House till 2 pm.
Meanwhile, the suspended MPs of the INDIA bloc parties staged a protest in front of the Gandhi statue on Parliament premises this morning.
The suspended lawmakers were joined by the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Sonia Gandhi, as they raised slogans against the Centre.
The suspended members also protested against the government at Parliament's Makar Dwar.
The protests came a day after 78 opposition MPs, from both houses, were suspended for the remainder of the ongoing 'Winter Session', for raising a ruckus and disrupting proceedings in both Houses to push for their demand for a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the Parliament security breach incident.
The suspensions, combined with the 13 members removed earlier, were the largest in the history of Indian Parliament.
A total of 78 MPs -- 33 from Lok Sabha and 45 from Rajya Sabha -- were suspended on Monday, following a ruckus over the demand by the Opposition for a statement from Union Minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach incident, taking the total number of lawmakers suspended for the remainder of the ongoing Winter Session to 92.
While 34 opposition Rajya Sabha MPs, including Congress' Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala were suspended for the remainder of the 'Winter Session', the 'misconduct' of 11 others was also referred to the Privileges Committee, which has been asked to give its report in three months.
The members will remain suspended till a report is submitted by the panel.
The reason for the suspension of opposition MPs for the rest of the Winter Session was cited to be 'misconduct' and failure to adhere to the directions of the Chair.
