NEW DELHI:
Trinamool Congress
MP
Kalyan Banerjee
on Tuesday stoked a controversy as he mimicked Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar during a protest by suspended MPs in Parliament premises. Dhankhar took strong exception to the incident and called it 'ridiculous' and 'unacceptable'. The Rajya Sabha chairman also objected to the filming of the mimicry by former Congress president
Rahul Gandhi
.
"Shameful, ridiculous, unacceptable that an MP is mocking and a second MP is videographing that incident," Dhankhar said reacting to the video clip which shows the TMC leader making some gestures with both of his hands as other members burst out in laughter.
Referring to former union minister P Chidambaram who was in the House, the Chairman said the senior Congress leader can imagine his anguish. "Mr Chidambaram you are a very senior member. Imagine what must be going through my heart when your senior leader videographs a Member of Parliament mocking the Institution of Chairman, as an individual take on me," he said, referring to Kalyan Banerjee and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
"Don't take on my background as a farmer, don't take on my background as a community member. Institution of Chairman has been ravaged and that too by a political party that has gone far so long that a Member of Parliament, a senior one, videographs the other member. For what?" the chairman said.
"I had suffered, I tell you. On Instagram, Mr Chidambram, your party posted a video, which was withdrawn later on. That was a shame to me. You used the official Twitter handle of the spokesperson to demean me, insult me, insult my background as a farmer, my position as a Jat, and insult my position as a Chairman. These are too serious issues. Please go back to your seat," he added.
Several ministers hit out at Rahul Gandhi for "filming and cheering the contemptible act" of the suspended Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee.
Sharing a clip of the protest on his official social media account, X, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said, "MP is mocking Hon'ble Vice-President of our Country, while Rahul Gandhi is cheering and filming the contemptible act !!"
Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal also criticised the Congress in his post on X "For the record - Congress supports those who ridicule a constitutional position!"
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