Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar suspended Trinamool Congress' Kalyan Banerjee after he was seen mimicking the Vice-President during a protest on the Parliament premises. Vice-President Dhankhar deemed such mimicry 'ridiculous' and 'unacceptable'.
Banerjee performed a mimicry of Dhankhar in front of several MPs protesting outside Parliament against the mass suspension of Opposition leaders. He was heard saying, "My spine is so straight, I'm so tall," as he portrayed the House proceedings in an impromptu skit. All Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs watching him burst into laughter, while Congress MP Rahul Gandhi filmed the 'performance'.
As the House reconvened at noon after an adjournment, Dhankhar took note of the incident and remarked, "The Office of the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, and the Office of the Speaker are very different. Political parties will have their crosscurrents, they will have exchanges, but imagine a senior leader of your party, videographing another member of another party. Mimicry of the Chairman, mimicry of the Speaker. How ridiculous, how shameful, how unacceptable."
Following this, he adjourned the House till 2 PM.
The BJP, on its official X (formerly Twitter) page, stated, "If the country was wondering why Opposition MPs were suspended, here is the reason…TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee mocked the Honourable Vice President, while Rahul Gandhi lustily cheered him on. One can imagine how reckless and violative they have been of the House!"
BJP Lok Sabha MP PC Mohan posted the video on social media and wrote, "The cheering and recording of videos by Wayanad MP, while another MP, Kalyan Banerjee, mocked the VP of India and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, are not just an attack on an individual; it's an assault on the very foundations of our democracy. Absolutely shameful!"
The protests occurred 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 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, marked the largest mass-suspension in the history of Parliament.
A total of 78 MPs—33 from Lok Sabha and 45 from Rajya Sabha—were suspended on Monday, following a ruckus over the opposition's demand for a statement from Union Minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach incident, bringing the total number of lawmakers suspended for the remainder of the ongoing Winter Session to 92. The reason for the suspension of opposition MPs for the rest of the Winter Session was cited as 'misconduct' and failure to adhere to the directions of the Chair. The members will remain suspended until a report is submitted by the panel.
On Tuesday, the number of suspended MPs increased to 141, with 49 more key leaders getting suspended from Lok Sabha.