Jagdeep Dhankhar: Outspoken Vice President who took on judiciary, had daily run-ins with opposition

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5 days ago

While he was admitted to AIIMS for a few days in March this year and appeared not so well at a few occasions, he has been mostly seen as lively and energetic in his public appearances, including in Parliament.
The 74-year-old leader, who cited medical reasons to resign from the Vice President's post after an eventful day in Rajya Sabha under his chairmanship, had said this month only at an event that he would retire at the 'right time', subject to 'divine interventions'.
New Delhi, Jul 21 (PTI) Jagdeep Dhankhar, who once called himself a 'reluctant politician', took on the Judiciary over the issue of separation of powers and had face-offs with the opposition in the Rajya Sabha virtually every day during his stint as the Vice President.
Dhankhar's abrupt resignation nearly two years before his tenure was to end followed a day of surprising developments in the Rajya Sabha for the government, as an opposition-sponsored notice for a motion to remove Justice Yashwant Varma was submitted to him and he mentioned it in the House.
The development came as a jolt to the ruling alliance, which had sponsored a similar notice in the Lok Sabha and taken the opposition on board.
Dhankhar was the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's candidate in the 2022 election for Vice President, who is the ex-officio Chair of the Rajya Sabha.
He is the third Vice President of India after V V Giri and R Venkataraman to resign during tenure. Giri and Venkataraman had resigned from the post of Vice President to contest the presidential election.
Dhankhar will also go down in history as the only vice president against whom the opposition brought a notice of removal for 'partisan' conduct as the chairman of the Upper House.
Unmindful of the notice, which was rejected by Deputy Chair Harivansh, Dhankhar had dubbed it as a 'rusted' vegetable-cutting knife which was used for a bypass surgery.
Dhankhar, who had been associated with the Janata Dal and the Congress, joined the BJP only in 2008 after a hiatus of nearly a decade.
He championed issues related to the Other Backward Classes, including the grant of OBC status to the Jat community in Rajasthan.
While his surprise appointment as the West Bengal governor in 2019 brought him back to the political limelight, he did not shy away from the hurly-burly of politics and was caught in frequent run-ins with the state's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
As the vice president and Chair of the Rajya Sabha, his frequent verbal clashes went beyond the TMC. On a variety of issues, from House disruptions to allegations of bills being passed with little discussion, he took on the opposition.
Dhankhar, in particular, targeted top lawyers who are also Rajya Sabha members representing opposition parties, especially the Congress.
A lawyer by profession, Dhankhar took on the Judiciary, especially on the issue of separation of powers.
He was harsh in his criticism of the Supreme Court decision to strike down the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act which sought to overturn the collegium system of appointing SC and high court judges.
In the presence of then Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, he had questioned the top court for striking down a law passed with near unanimity by the two Houses.
He had also slammed MPs, saying when the law was struck down, there was 'not even a whisper' of protest by the lawmakers.
Designated as Senior Advocate by the Rajasthan High Court in 1990, Dhankhar had practised primarily in the Supreme Court and his focus area of litigation was steel, coal, mining and international commercial arbitration, amongst others.
As a lawyer, he was associated with the black buck case involving actor Salman Khan and had played a key role in getting him bail.
He appeared in various high courts in the country till assuming the office of the West Bengal governor in July 2019.
Dhankhar, who took to cricket in his school days and also had keen interest in spirituality and meditation, began his political journey with the Janata Dal and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1989, held under the shadow of the Bofors scandal, from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan.
He had a brief stint as Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar.
In his initial journey as a politician, Dhankhar was influenced by Devi Lal and later shifted to the Congress during the tenure of Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.
After hanging up his boots as a member of the Rajasthan legislative assembly, Dhankhar focused on his legal career, practising as a lawyer in the Supreme Court.
While naming him as the NDA candidate for the vice president's post, BJP had described him as 'Kisan putra', a move seen in the political circles aimed at reaching out to the politically significant Jat community which had participated in huge numbers in the year-long farmers' protests against agriculture reform measures unveiled in June 2020.
After his election as the vice president. Dhankhar met several groups of farmers in the national capital, Haryana and Rajasthan, urging them to go beyond agriculture and get into food processing and marketing to increase income.
On one occasion, his words sounded like a harsh criticism of the Modi government.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the centenary of ICAR-CIRCOT in Mumbai in December 2024, Dhankhar had said, 'Agriculture minister, I request you to please tell me, what was promised to the farmer? Why was the promise not fulfilled? What should we do to fulfil the promise? 'There was a movement last year, there is a movement this year, too.' 'The wheel of time is turning, we are not doing anything. For the first time, I have seen India changing. For the first time, I am realising that developing India is not our dream but our goal. India was never at such heights in the world.
'When this is happening, then why is my farmer worried and suffering? The farmer is the only one who is helpless,' Dhankhar had said, reaching out to the farmers.
Born on May 18, 1951, in village Kithana in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, Dhankhar went to Sainik School, Chittorgarh on full scholarship. PTI NAB KR BJ RT
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