Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said people holding constitutional posts are not in the position to settle scores, also cautioning against “orchestrated efforts” to harm national interests.
Speaking for the first time on the opposition INDIA bloc’s no-confidence motion against him, the Rajya Sabha chairperson said that one should not use a vegetable-cutting knife for bypass surgery while asserting that the notice for his removal from the post was actually a “rusted” tool.
The Congress-led opposition moved a no-confidence motion against Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar on December 10, the first such incident in the country’s Parliamentary history. The notice was rejected by the Deputy Chairman of the Upper House, Harivansh Narayan Singh, on several grounds, including technical flaws, on December 19.
“Just look at the notice against the vice president. Just look at the six links they have given,” Dhankhar said on Tuesday in his first reaction on the notice submitted by the opposition INDIA bloc.
“You’ll be shocked. Chandra Shekhar ji once said, ‘Never use a vegetable-cutting knife for bypass surgery’. The notice wasn’t even a vegetable-cutting knife; it was rusted. There was haste,” he said.
The 60 Rajya Sabha members representing the Congress-led INDIA bloc who signed the notice had said that they condemned ‘the partisan conduct’ of Dhankhar, which, they said, is ‘unbecoming of High-Level Constitutional Authorities’ expected to act in accordance with and in furtherance of the principles enshrined in the Constitution of India.
“When I read it, I was astonished. But what surprised me more was that none of you read it. If you had, you wouldn’t have been able to sleep for days,” Dhankhar told a group of women journalists.
‘Not in a position to settle scores’
The Vice President said any constitutional position has to be vindicated by commitment to sublimity, sterling qualities and constitutionalism.
“We are not in a position to settle scores. Because for the success of democracy, two things are inalienable: expression and dialogue,” he said, according to an official statement.
Cautioning against orchestrated efforts to harm national interests, the vice president said these are fueled in an orchestrated manner by forces that are determined to be inimical to the interest of the country.
The INDIA bloc had been planning to move the motion against Dhankhar for quite some time now. By moving it in the last Winter Session of Parliament, the INDIA bloc wanted to send a message against the Rajya Sabha chairperson who, it alleged, “as the presiding officer of the House, doesn’t give its leaders an opportunity to speak in the House.’
‘Just look at the notice against the vice president. Just look at the six links they have given… it was rusted. There was haste.’
“Their objective is to destroy, brick by brick, our constitutional institutions, slur the presidency, and mind you, who is the president? The first tribal woman to become president of this country,” Dhankar remarked.
Just look at the notice against the vice president… it was rusted. There was haste.