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'Video on my phone...': Rahul Gandhi's first reaction on Jagdeep Dhankhar row
Jagdeep Dhankhar video row: Rahul Gandhi said there is no discussion on Adani, no discussion on Rafale.
New Delhi: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday criticised the media in his first reaction to the controversy triggered by a TMC MP's mimicry of Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. A day after Dhankhar attacked him for recording the MP's antics, Gandhi accused the media of not "discussing" the suspension of 143 Opposition MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha enough.
"MPs were sitting there, I shot their video. My video is on my phone. Media is showing it...Nobody has said anything...150 (143) of our MPs have been thrown out (of the House) but there is no discussion on that in the media. There is no discussion on Adani, no discussion on Rafale, no discussion on unemployment. Our MPs are disheartened and sitting outside. But you are discussing that (mimicry)," he said.
On Tuesday, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee was seen mocking Dhankhar at the Parliament's Makar Dwar. Gandhi recorded the MP on his mobile phone. Dhankhar later said the actions of the two MPs were an insult to the Chairman's post.
On Wednesday, the ruling party MPs remained in the standing position for ten minutes to show solidarity with Vice-President Dhankhar. Among those seen standing were finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, commerce minister Piyush Goyal, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, transport minister Nitin Gadkari and parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi.
Also read: PM Modi dials VP Dhankhar as mimicry row heats up, expresses pain over ‘abject theatrics’
As soon as the house resumed, Joshi said they condemned how Gandhi insulted Dhankhar.
"In protest against the action of their party's former president (Rahul Gandhi) and in your honour and in the honour of the Constitution, we would participate in the Question Hour while remaining standing in silence. We request your permission. We strongly condemn how Rahul Gandhi insulted you and your constitutional position. To tarnish a particular community and section of society is not right," he said.
Joshi said the Congress had been insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he comes from a poor background.
"Then they insulted the President of India who is a tribal. And now they have insulted the Vice President of India, who is a farmer's son and hails from the Jat community," he said.
Dhankhar later said he was touched by the gesture of the MPs.
Dhankhar today said he received a phone call from PM Modi who expressed his condemnation for the MPs' act. He claimed Modi said he had been at the receiving end of such insults.
“He 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," Dhankhar said in a social media post.
Meanwhile, the TMC MP and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee played down the controversy.
"We respect everyone. It was not disrespectful. It was just politically, casually... You would not even have known it if Rahul ji had not recorded it," Mamata Banerjee said.
Kalyan Banerjee said he didn't intend to hurt anyone's feelings.
"Mimicry is not an offence, they (BJP) are trying to change the main issue which is whether suspension of opposition MPs was right," the TMC MP said.
He said he had some differences with Dhankhar over some issues but he meant no disrespect.
With inputs from ANI, PTI
