“You may be a celebrity…..” RS chairman on Jaya Bacchan –

Source: India.com

Recently, in a session of Rajya Sabha, there was heated debate between the Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and the veteran actress sulking from the opposition party Jaya Bachchan. They therefore paid much attention to this incident and in a protest led by the Congress, the opposition parties walked out.The exchange started with Jaya Bachchan, a Samajwadi Party MP: harsh a tone with which the chairman Dhankhar was addressing her. She ordered him to stop using the “unacceptable” tone to her and she was adamant saying that she is an artist so she knows about gestures and mimes. This assertion was said in reaction to a preceding ‘sour’ exchange between opposition members and the Chairman triggered by comments by BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari about Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge.Perceiving offence in the remark made by Bachchan, Dhankhar said that even celebrities cannot be below the dignity of the House. He was rather offended by her behavior and thus said, “Well, you may be anybody, you may be a celebrity, you have to understand the decorum.” He went on to lecture her that the House does not function in recognition of fame but in decorum.This confrontation did not subside there. Dhankhar had cut Bachchan short in her attempt to continuing her point by saying Enough of it which made the atmosphere in the chamber rather uncomfortable. Given this statement, which many received as an attempt to disparage them, the process continued to worsen, provoking protest from the side of the opposition.The development climaxed to an opposition boycott led by the congress party’s Sonia Gandhi to express their indignation at what they considered as contempt against one of their colleagues in the parliament. Outside the chamber, Bachchan continued her protestation of the impugned words saying that such words are said not in a parliamentary style let alone when speaking to senior citizens and veteran politicians as she is.The highlight of this confrontation is that the Rajya Sabha is currently witnessing a more and more hostile atmosphere in debates with more interruptions and fights between the ruling party and the opposition parties. The same as any parliamentary event, the incident brings up questions about how a member should, or is allowed, to behave and treat other people, including those who have devoted the major part of their life to serving the public.To sum up, the exchange of words between Jaya Bachchan and Chairman Dhankhar has not only raised the question of etiquette inside the Rajya Sabha but has also raised the question of opposition members’ dissatisfaction with the way functioning of the Rajya Sabha under the present chairmanship.