Dhankhar suppressing opposition voice: Congress steps up attack | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Listing reasons for moving ‘no confidence’ against Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Vice-President of consistently suppressing opposition’s voice, and for repeatedly criticising the members inside and outside the House while often echoing the reasons given by BJP.
Kharge posted a long text on social media on Thursday evening listing the provocation behind the no-confidence motion against Dhankhar, stating that he was doing so since he was stopped from speaking in the House.
“The chairman displays unwarranted sycophancy of govt within the House and also outside it. On various occasions, he has equated the Prime Minister with Mahatma Gandhi, and has held it wrong to seek accountability of the PM by opposition,” he added.
He said muzzling of “right to speak” by opposition and trampling of “democracy” and “subjugation of truth” has become the autocratic norm in Rajya Sabha, even as “established parliamentary practices are under assault”. “He (the chairman) has misused the sanctity of the Chair to praise his political ideologue – RSS, and said ‘I am the Eklavya of RSS’, which is inconsistent with the spirit of the Constitution,” said Kharge.
He said while opposition’s freedom of expression is being suppressed through “persistent heckling, unwarranted insistence on authentication, unfair remarks, and refusal to list issues of public importance for discussion”, the chairman has also “misused his authority” by suspending members en masse and extending these suspensions beyond a single session, setting a concerning precedent. He said Dhankhar has “schooled” senior opposition members in the House.