Jaya Bachchan demands apology from RS Chairman Dhankhar over ‘tone’

Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Jaya Bachchan on Friday (August 9) demanded an apology from Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar for his “tone” in the House and using unparliamentary words.

In a show of support for Bachchan, the Opposition members, led by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, walked out of the Rajya Sabha.

Bachchan and Dhankhar faced off again in the Rajya Sabha on Friday. Earlier, Bachchan had taken exception after he had addressed her as “Jaya Amitabh Bachchan”.

On Friday, during the Rajya Sabha proceedings, Dhankhar invited her to speak and said, “Jaya Amitabh Bachchan is the last speaker on this point.”

“I, Jaya Amitabh Bachchan, want to say that I am an artist and I understand body language and expression. Sir, I am sorry to say that but your tone ... is not acceptable. We are colleagues, sir. You may be sitting on the Chair,” she said.

“Jaya Ji, you have earned a great reputation. You know, an actor is subject to the director. You have not seen what I see from here. Everyday. I don’t want to repeat. I don’t want schooling. I am a person who has gone out of the way and you say, my tone,” he said.

When Bachchan tried to respond and there was an uproar from the Opposition members, Dhankhar replied, “Enough of it. No. You may be anybody, you may be a celebrity. You have to understand the decorum ... never carry an impression that only you build reputations ...”

Later, speaking to reporters outside the Rajya Sabha, Bachchan demanded an apology from Dhankhar.

“I objected to the tone used by the Chair. We are not schoolchildren. Some of us are senior citizens. I was upset with the tone and especially when the Leader of Opposition (Mallikarjun Kharge) stood up to speak, he switched off the mic. How can you do this? You have to allow the Leader of Opposition to speak. I mean using unparliamentary words every time which I do not want to say in front of you all. You are a nuisance, ‘Buddhiheen’.

“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. The way things are being spoken in Parliament these days, nobody has ever spoken before. I need an apology for saying ‘I don’t care’. He has to care. He is on the Chair, he has to care,” she said as Opposition MPs including Sonia stood behind her.

On what the next course of action is, she said, “We are all together. What our LoP says we will do. We will not take independent decision.”