Senior TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee’s insulting mimicry of the Vice President (VP) and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar is drawing widespread criticism for a second day.
On Tuesday (19th December), when a group of Opposition MPs were staging protests in the Parliament premises, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee was seen mimicking the VP while his colleagues laughed along.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi too appeared amused and was seen videographing the distasteful act.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today (20th December) dialled the Vice President, who informed about the call in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The VP said that PM Modi “expressed great pain over the abject theatrics of some Honourable MPs and that too in the sacred Parliament complex yesterday”.
“He told me that he has been at the receiving end of such insults for twenty years and counting but the fact that it could happen to a Constitutional office like the Vice President of India and that too in the Parliament was unfortunate,” the VP wrote on X.
President Droupadi Murmu also expressed displeasure at the Opposition MPs for mocking the Vice President of India.
“I was dismayed to see the manner in which our respected 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 the People of India expect them to uphold it,” she wrote on X.
Meanwhile, a complaint has been filed against TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee by Advocate Gautam at the Defence Colony Police Station.
This is not the first such unparliamentary display and use of objectionable language has been made by a member of Parliament in the Opposition. Here is the track record of misconduct by Opposition MPs.
December 2023
At least 141 MPs from the Opposition have been suspended for misconduct in the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament for disrupting House proceedings. The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been disrupted amid Opposition din and uproar over the incident of security breach in the Parliament on 13th December.
Despite ongoing investigation in the case, the Oppositon has held the House hostage over the same demanding response from the Prime Minister himself.
7th December 2023
Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed “pain and anguish” over a video clip of him that went viral on social media. The video, shared widely by several Opposition leaders on X, showing the Rajya Sabha Chairman greet Prime Minister Modi with joined hands, which is a traditional Hindu greeting.
Several Congress leaders also sharing the video trying to imply that the Vice President was bowing down to the Prime Minister. Dhankhar while addressing the House, said, “I want to say that bowing and greeting namaskar (with folded hands) is my nature. I don;t see who is in front.”
“It is sometimes very painful at the level to which some may stoop. I can only express my pain and my anguish if this uploading is done by an institution which has a high office in the country’s politics,” he said in a veiled reference to the Congress.
5th December 2023
On the second day of the Winter Session of Lok Sabha, Senthil Kumar, the DMK MP from Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu made the pejorative ‘gaumutra’ remark to mock the Hindi-speaking states in the Northern part of India.
While addressing the Parliament on ‘The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2023’, the DMK leader referred to states in the Hindi heartland as “Gaumutra states”.
Addressing the Lok Sabha members, he said, “The people of this country should think that the power of this BJP is only winning elections mainly in the heartland states of Hindi, what we generally call as the ‘Gaumutra states’.”
7th November 2023
Breaching the very basic principals of decorum and dignity, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while addressing the assembly used derogatory language against women while explaining the role of education and women in population control.
He said, “Agar ladki padh legi… aur jab shaadi hoga ladka-ladki mein… aur woh jo purush hai, roz raat mein jab shaadiya hota hai, uske saath karta hai na… to usi mein aur paida ho jata hai… aur ladki padh leti hai… ki humko maloom tha ki woh karega theek hai… lekin ant mein usko bheetar mat ghusao… usko bahar kar do… aur karta to hai… to usi mein… aap samajh lijiye ki sankhya ghat rahi hai”, as reported by Jansatta Hindi.(If a girl receives an education… and when the marriage happens between a boy and a girl… and the man, every night after marriage, engages in that activity with her, right? So, in that, further births occur… and if the girl gets an education… she will know that he would do it, alright… but in the end, don’t let it inside… pull it out… and if it happens… in that… you understand that the numbers are decreasing).”
The Bihar CM was lambasted left, right and centre for the use of such unparliamentary language even as his allies were seen laughing at the matter. PM Modi too while addressing a rally called out Nitish’s vulgar remarks.
2nd November 2023
The Parliament Ethics Committee which probed the cash-for-query charges against former TMC MP Mahua Moitra had alleged that she used unparliamentary language for the panel’s Chairperson.
Moitra had shared her Parliamentary log-in credentials with businessman Darshan Hiranandani who used her account to target Adani in the Parliament. The entire saga eventually led to Moitra’s disqualification as member of Parliament.
18th March 2023
BJP filed a complaint against Congress leader Pawan Khera for using unparliamentary language against PM Modi and allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct during a TV debate.
Khera had allegedly likened PM Modi’s name with terrorists during a TV show on 16th March.
23rd February 2023
Pawan Khera and other Congress leaders raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying “Modi Teri Kabar Khudegi”. This happened after Khera was stopped from boarding a plane by the Assam police.
20th February 2023
In a blatant insult to PM Modi and his father, Pawan Khera, while accusing the PM of favoring businessman Gautam Adani, had called him Narendra ‘Gautamdas’ Modi. He further said that his full name is Narendra Damodardas Modi but his actions are like Gautamdas (literally meaning a servant of Gautam).
7th February 2023
In a viral video, nwo disqualified TMC MP Mahua Moitra was seen and heard using the abusive word ‘hara*i’ while another lawmaker, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu of the Telugu Desham Party was speaking.
As per the uncorrected discussion text available on Lok Sabha’s website, Mahua said, “Kitne [word removed] bante hain… Kitne mahaan… aapko to pata hoga…”Several members of the Parliament objected to the language and demanded an apology from her.
3rd February 2022
Now disqualified TMC MP Mahua Moitra had in a post on X, formerly Twitter, mocked the BJP government with the “gaumutra” remark before addressing the Parliament in 2022.
“Am speaking this evening in Lok Sabha on President’s address. Just wanted to give early heads up to @BJP to get heckler team ready and read up on imaginary points of order. Drink some gaumutra shots too,” she had written.
30th September 2021
A Congress spokesperson ended up insulting PM Modi’s mother during a TV debate show. Mudit Agarwal, when asked by his BJP counterpart what Sonia Gandhi has done in her life for Congress to question the Prime Minister, said, “He (PM) has never sold tea. He was lying. He is the kind of person who sells his mother on television.”
4th February 2020
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury used a derogatory slang against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the ongoing session of the Lok Sabha, calling all of its leaders “Ravan ki aulad”.
While reacting to Karnataka BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde who was criticising the Congress for colluding with the British in the past, Chowdhury said, “Those who call Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha to be a drama are ‘Ravan Ki Aulad’ (Ravan’s child). They are abusing a worshipper of Lord Ram.”
15th April 2019
During an election rally in the run-up to the 2019 elections, Rahul Gandhi had mocked an entire community by saying, “Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi… how come they all have Modi as a common surname? How come all thieves have Modi as a common surname?”
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Surat Purnesh Modi had filed a complaint against the Congress leader for defaming the entire Modi community. Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi was booked under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, which deal with criminal defamation.
He was convicted in March 2023 following which he was disqualified from Lok Sabha. His MP status was later restored by the Supreme Court in August this year.
