They have insulted my background, constitutional position: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar

NEW DELHI: Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee triggered an unseemly row on Tuesday by mimicking Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar during an impromptu skit before an approving group of opposition MPs who held a "mock session" to protests against the suspension of 141 opposition MPs so far.

Several participants could be seen laughing while Congress MP Rahul Gandhi filmed the sequence on his mobile phone which was, Dhankhar later said, "posted on Instagram and the official X handle of a Congress spokesperson" before being removed amid the uproar that ensued.

In the video, Banerjee could be seen mimicking Dhankhar and saying "my spine is so straight, I'm so tall, I'm a lawyer, you are a lawyer" while depicting his version of proceedings in Rajya Sabha.

The mimicry was a rip-off on Dhankhar's earlier protest against the allegation that he was too reverential to the Prime Minister.

An upset Dhankhar told Rajya Sabha that those involved in the episode had insulted his background as a farmer and Jat as well as his constitutional position.

When the House reconvened at 12 noon after the first adjournment, it triggered a strong reaction from Dhankhar, who called the act "shameful". He said, "Mimicry of the chairman, mimicry of the speaker... how ridiculous, how shameful, how unacceptable.

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