NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday defended his decision to counter Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s recent remarks at the party meeting, asserting that he was accused of being part of a system to delegitimise the judiciary “which means sounding the death knell of democracy” and that his response was “diluted”, “subdued” and “decorous”.
Dhankhar’s defence came in response to the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader Pramod Tiwari’s demand that the chairman withdraws or expunge his own remarks on Sonia Gandhi’s statement made at the meeting of the Congress parliamentary party on Wednesday.
Tiwari and Kharge cited parliamentary tradition and previous rulings by the chair that do not allow comment on anything said outside the House, and more so, when the person making the statement was a member of the other House, in this case the Lok Sabha.
At the Congress parliamentary party meeting on Wednesday, UPA chairperson Gandhi was reported to have said that a “troubling new development is the calculated attempt underway to delegitimise” the judiciary. Ministers — and even a high constitutional authority — have been enlisted to make speeches attacking the judiciary on various grounds,” she said.
Dhankhar responded to the remarks on Thursday, telling the House that the observation was “severely inappropriate, indicating lack of faith in democracy” and asked leaders across the political spectrum to not subject high constitutional offices to partisan stances.
As the Opposition faulted his decision to respond to Gandhi’s statement, Jagdeep Dhankar said he “could not have personally compromised my dignity more in my subdued response”, and quoted Gandhi’s reported speech to make the point.
.Dhankhar said the portion of Gandhi’s speech that “troubled” him was where she talks about a constitutional authority being enlisted to make speeches against the judiciary.
“Mark the word ‘enlisted’,” he said.
“This office cannot be allowed to be dragged on partisan stance. I cannot be enlisted, I assure the Leader of the Opposition… I cannot be enlisted either by them or by you to delegitimise judiciary… I suffered the allegation that I was a part of a system to delegitimise judiciary, which means, sounding the death knell of democracy,”.
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