A heated exchange erupted in the Rajya Sabha on Friday between Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan. The confrontation escalated regarding BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari's remarks against Leader of the Opposition.
During the session, Dhankhar called on Bachchan to address the House. Bachchan questioned Dhankhar’s "tone" and faced a stern rebuke. "I Jaya Amitabh Bachchan would like to say that I am an artist, I understand body language, expressions. I am sorry to say that your tone is not acceptable," Bachchan said. She added, "We are colleagues, you may be sitting on the Chair...."
Dhankhar interrupted Bachchan, urging her to take her seat. "Jaya ji, take your seat. You have earned a great reputation. An actor is subject to the director. You are not seeing what I see from here. I am a person who has gone out of the way. Enough of this. You may be a celebrity, but you have to understand decorum," Dhankhar said.
The altercation led opposition parties, led by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, to walk out of the Rajya Sabha in support of Jaya Bachchan.
"I objected to the tone used by the Chair. We are not school children. 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 mike. 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 want an apology," Addressing the media later, Jaya Bachchan said.
This incident follows a previous exchange on Monday when Bachchan had objected to Dhankhar addressing her by her full name, Jaya Amitabh Bachchan. She had termed it as a "new drama" in Parliament and expressed discomfort with women’s identities being linked to their husbands' names.