It is an irony that just about six months ago, the principal opposition party, the Congress, wanted to get the then Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar removed through impeachment. The party eventually, though, did not bring any impeachment motion against him. The same Congress has now come to his strong defence when he resigned “voluntarily” under mysterious circumstances.
Although there have been wide and wild speculations about his resignation, ranging from genuine health reasons to threat of impeachment from his own ruling party, nothing has been established convincingly and conclusively. Probably it never will be, unless and until Dhankhar writes his autobiography and reveals the secret reason behind his resignation and whether it was voluntary or forced on him.
As of now, nobody is buying the theory of his resignation on health grounds. He indeed did undergo an angioplasty a few months ago, but after that he was working normally. Even on the day of his resignation, there were no signs of his weakening health that would require him to relinquish the Constitutional position and that, too, spontaneously. For the entire day, he presided over the proceedings of the house. The same day, his tour programme to Rajasthan, his native state was also released by his secretariat.
Moreover, resignations on health grounds cannot be so sudden and spontaneous. There is always a bigger reason, like falling ill with such a debilitating condition that one is not able to discharge his Constitutional duties. It would normally take a certain amount of time for a “sick” person to realise that his health is not allowing him to continue. In Dhankhar’s case, there was no such situation. He resigned on “health grounds” while discharging his duties in apparent good health.
Speculated is rife that he had to resign or was made to resign because he admitted the motion of impeachment against Justice Yashwant Verma in view of the recovery of huge cash from his residence in Delhi. This apparently is an error of judgement that can be made by anyone. The Lok Sabha had already admitted a motion for impeachment of Justice Verma, which was moved by the government. In the Rajya Sabha, the motion was moved by the opposition MPs, which was accepted by Chairman Dhankhar. Anyone in his position would accept the impeachment motion after it had already been accepted in the Lok Sabha.
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It is difficult to believe that this should be the reason to ask him to resign. Because it is suggested that the government wanted to bring its own impeachment motion in the Rajya Sabha as well, like it did in the Lok Sabha to launch a bipartisan narrative against corruption. By letting the opposition move the motion in the RS, the Chairman denied the ruling party the chance. This, as already mentioned, can just be an error of judgement without any wilful or vicious intent.
The Vice President’s is merely a ceremonial position. His top-most job is presiding over the Rajya Sabha proceedings. The only other main Constitutional duty of the Vice President is that in case there is a sudden vacancy in the Rashtrapati Bhawan due to death, resignation or the impeachment of the President, s/he (the Vice President) will act as the President till the election of the new President.
Dhankhar was not known to be impartial while conducting the proceedings of the house. The opposition parties always accused him of extreme bias, so much so they decided to bring in an impeachment motion for his removal last year. That was for the first time in the history of independent India. That way Dhankhar, despite holding a politically neutral position, would rarely make himself to be seen like that. His loyalties towards his party were obvious while being the Vice President as also while being the Governor of West Bengal before that.
Although he would always speak out his mind whether it was about the judicial overreach or the issue of farmers, he never crossed the proverbial ‘Laxman Rekha’ (the party line). His views about the judiciary were widely hailed and welcomed. That is the reason his sudden and unceremonious exit has come as a surprise for everyone, possibly to himself as well, as his resignation was everything but “voluntary”.
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Unless there is something more serious, the reasons being speculated about, for his exit do not sound convincing. If any of these reasons holds true, such an unceremonious exit for someone holding an important Constitutional position was quite avoidable.
The ruling party’s radio silence over the resignation has let the rumour mills have a field day. There are suggestions on multiple media platforms that Dhankhar was threatened with impeachment if he did not resign on his own. This is something the government and the ruling party should have clarified by now. Their silence is lending credibility to such reports.
It is an irony that removing the Vice President of the country, holding a Constitutional position after getting duly elected, is so easy that he can be impeached by a simple majority in the Rajya Sabha, which has to be approved by the Lok Sabha as well. This makes it very easy for any government to get the Vice President removed. In Dhankhar’s case, there did not seem to be any apparent serious reason either.
Former Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari could survive, despite his stated positions on various issues and certain actions, which went directly against the BJP’s policies, for three years, as the BJP-led NDA did not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha during his term which lasted till 2017. Otherwise, he would have been undoubtedly impeached.
Two other Vice Presidents have resigned before Dhankhar. Both - VV Giri and R Venkataraman - were elected Presidents.
While the BJP may have tried to convey a strong message that the party/ government interest will always remain paramount and there will be no laxity shown in case it perceives certain actions contrary to that end, the resignation of the Vice President has unnecessarily led to a wide range of speculations which the BJP could have always done without. The perception is that Dhankhar was asked to resign with a threat of impeachment if he did not do it on his own.
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