Use ‘nuclear weapon of expression’ within limit, Jagdeep Dhankhar tells new MPs

New Delhi, July 27

At a time of routine government-Opposition face-off in Parliament, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday urged newly elected MPs to use their “nuclear weapon of expression within limit” and cautioned against the political strategy of “hit and run to capture media glare”.

Dhankhar’s veiled reference was to the Congress-led Opposition, which, after having its say, walked out of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget speech the other day. Noting that the Parliament had discharged its functions well barring during the “dark period of Emergency when fundamental rights and Constitutional processes were suspended”, Dhankhar said it was important for MPs to value constructive debate over “strategic disruption”.

He came down heavily on the Opposition for disrupting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply to the President’s address during the last session and said it called for “serious introspection”.

“I feel anguished to see some members who keep looking for an opportunity to cause disruption. Political parties decide before the House begins that they will disrupt it today. I urge you to think deeply if this is right, if this is the practice in democracies elsewhere?” Dhankhar said.

He told the new MPs that if the legislature gets weak, it is because of its own conduct. “This affects the common man who wants you to make the government accountable,” the V-P said.