“You may be anybody… you may be a celebrity, but you have to understand the decorum,” Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankar said to Jaya Bachchan.
A heated confrontation took place in Parliament on Friday between Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan and Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar. The clash began when Ms. Bachchan criticized Mr. Dhankhar’s “tone,” declaring it “unacceptable.”
In response, Mr. Dhankhar, visibly angered, retorted, “I don’t want a schooling!” and reminded Ms. Bachchan, “You may be a celebrity, but you have to understand the decorum.”
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The exchange began with Ms. Bachchan introducing herself as “Jaya Amitabh Bachchan,” a pointed reference to a prior disagreement with Mr. Dhankhar earlier in the week. She then expressed her disapproval of his conduct, saying, “I am an actor. I understand body language and expression… but your tone is not acceptable. We are colleagues, sir… you may be sitting in the Chair but I remember when I went to school…” before being abruptly interrupted by Mr. Dhankhar, who repeatedly instructed her to “take your seat.”
As the tension in the Rajya Sabha chamber escalated, Mr. Dhankhar responded sternly, “Jayaji, you have earned a great reputation. But you know the actor is subject to the director… you have not seen what I have seen from here (the Chair). Every day… I don’t want to repeat, I don’t want a schooling.” He then firmly declared, “You may be anybody… you may be a celebrity, but you have to understand the decorum.”
The sharp exchange culminated in Mr. Dhankhar refusing to allow further protests, stating, “Nothing doing… no. Not at all… I will not hear it.”
Opposition Walks Out in Protest
Following the fiery exchange, opposition MPs, led by Congress veteran Sonia Gandhi, staged a walkout in support of Ms. Bachchan, highlighting their grievances about being silenced during House debates.
Outside Parliament, opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien, gathered around Ms. Bachchan in a show of solidarity. Several opposition figures, including Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, spoke out in her defense.
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Ms. Chaturvedi pointed out that Ms. Bachchan has “vast parliamentary experience… more than the Vice President,” while Trinamool Congress’ Dola Sen emphasized that Ms. Bachchan, a four-time MP, deserves respect. Speaking to reporters afterward, Ms. Bachchan described the experience as “humiliating” and criticized the Chair’s treatment of opposition MPs compared to those from the BJP.
Ms. Bachchan expressed her frustration with the Chair’s conduct, particularly when Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge attempted to speak and had his microphone switched off. She also condemned the use of derogatory language in Parliament, such as the Chair referring to her as a “nuisance” and saying, “you may be a celebrity but I don’t care.”
“I am not asking him to care! Nobody has ever spoken the way they do now in Parliament. What is the problem? It is so disrespectful to women,” Ms. Bachchan asserted.
BJP Condemns Opposition Walkout
The opposition’s walkout drew a strong response from BJP leaders, with party chief and Rajya Sabha MP JP Nadda labeling the protest as “indecent and irresponsible” behavior. “The opposition wants to weaken the country and should apologize,” he declared in the now mostly empty House.
Mr. Nadda accused the opposition of lowering their political standards, claiming they had shifted from opposing a party or individual to opposing the country itself.
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Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also condemned the opposition’s actions, describing them as “unruly” and “indecent” and stating that the behavior was an “insult to the Chair, to democratic values, and to the Constitution.”
Chouhan concluded by asserting that the opposition’s actions were an attempt to “push the country into anarchy” and demanded an apology for what he described as behavior that had “shamed the House and the country.”