‘Great gesture’: Kalyan Banerjee, who mimicked Jagdeep Dhankhar, now lauds V-P. Here's why
TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee stressed the importance of moving forward, leaving behind past misunderstandings.
Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress on Friday lauded Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s “great gesture” of wishing him on his birthday, days after the MP’s mimicry of the Rajya Sabha chairman snowballed into a massive political controversy. Banerjee added that it was important to move forward, leaving behind past misunderstandings.
“I thank Hon'ble @VPIndia for his warm greetings on my Birthday. I'm overwhelmed that he personally had a telephone conversation with my wife and conveyed his blessings to my entire family. He also invited my wife and me to have dinner at his residence in Delhi with his family,” Kalyan Banerjee wrote on social media X.
He told news agency PTI that it was “indeed a great effort and gesture" by the vice president to wish him on his birthday. "I am truly overwhelmed that he spoke to me and my wife and invited us for dinner at his place," Banerjee, who turned 67 on Thursday, told PTI.
"Life must always move on, leaving behind past misunderstandings," the TMC's Srirampore MP said when asked if Dhankhar’s gesture could improve relations between the two.
When Kalyan Banerjee mocked Jagdeep Dhankhar
Kalyan Banerjee mimicked Dhankhar, who is also the Rajya Sabha Chairman, during the opposition's protest on the stairs of Parliament on December 19 against the suspension of MPs, drawing strong condemnation from the ruling BJP.
Banerjee’s actions drew strong condemnation from the BJP. Dhankhar had then said in the House that he would not tolerate any disrespect to Parliament or the constitutional post of the vice president.
Banerjee later asserted that mimicry is a form of expression, and the right to dissent and protest is a fundamental right.
The TMC MP, who was suspended from the Lok Sabha along with several others from both Houses, said that the right to dissent and protest is also a fundamental right.
"Right to expression is a fundamental right," Banerjee, a senior advocate, said, while addressing a programme on Sunday in his constituency Serampore.
"Mimicry is a right, an expression, it is a fundamental right," he said, asserting that nobody can "destroy" it.
(With inputs from agencies)