Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan demands apology from Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar

Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan speaks to the media as Congress MPs Sonia Gandhi, Rajeev Shukla and others look on during the Monsoon session of Parliament on Friday. | Photo Credit: PTI

Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan on Friday (August 9, 2024) demanded an apology from Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar for being “disrespectful towards women MPs”. Ms. Bachchan addressed the media outside Parliament after the Opposition walked out of the Upper House following a heated exchange with Mr. Dhankhar.

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Earlier in the day, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh demanded the Chair’s statement on an incident that occurred on July 31, when BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari called Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge a “political dynast”.

“He made a comment regarding ‘parivarvaad’. I request that this should be expunged [from the records],” Mr. Kharge had said. The Leader of the Opposition further said he was a first-generation politician and provided details of his political journey, which began after he joined the Congress party. He mentioned that his father had died at the age of 85.

Chairman Dhankhar defended Mr. Tiwari on Friday, saying that the issue was resolved in a private meeting with Mr. Tiwari and Mr. Kharge. “Mr. Tiwari told me he is prepared to apologise if he transgressed any boundary. He, instead, embellished the reputation of Mr. Kharge,” Mr. Dhankhar said in the Upper House.

Speaking to the media, Ms. Bachchan said that she objected to the tone used by Chairman Dhankhar. “We are not schoolchildren. Some of us are senior citizens. I was upset with the tone, and especially when the Leader of Opposition stood up to speak, he switched off the microphone,” she said.

“He said you may be a celebrity, I do not care. I am not asking him to care. I am saying I am a member of Parliament. This is my fifth term. I know what I am saying. Nobody has ever spoken the way [it] is being done nowadays in Parliament…I need an apology for saying “I don’t care.” He has to care, he’s on the Chair,” she added.

The issue snowballed as Opposition MPs protested against Chairman Dhankhar’s unwillingness to address it in the House, with senior MPs Tiruchi Siva and Ms. Bachchan supporting the demand to expunge Mr. Tiwari’s statement.

Chairman Dhankhar took strong exception to Ms. Bachchan’s remark that his tone is “not acceptable”. He added that he “does not want schooling”, and that he does not go by anyone’s script.

You want to destabilise the entire nation, Mr. Dhankhar told the Opposition as they protested in the House. “I shall not be party to this House being converted, Mr. Kharge, as the epicentre of disturbance,” he said.

The Opposition walked out soon after, as the Chairman allowed the Treasury benches to chime in on his stance against the Opposition’s demands. “India has leadership continually in its third term — a history in the making after six decades. India has leadership in [the form of] Prime Minister who has global recognition — the nation is proud of it,” Mr. Dhankhar said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and AITC MP Dola Sen also expressed their support for Ms. Bachchan.

This is not the first time when Chairman Dhankhar has sparred with MP Bachchan in the Upper House. The Samajwadi Party MP has previously expressed discomfort at being addressed as “Jaya Amitabh Bachchan”, but Chairman Dhankhar has continued to add her husband’s name while recognising her in the Upper House.