Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee hogged the limelight yet again for saying he will continue to mimic Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, terming it as an "art form". Addressing a gathering on Sunday in his constituency Serampore, he said, "I will keep doing the mimicry. It is an art form. If needed, I will do it a thousand times. I have all the fundamental rights to express my views. You can put me in jail. I will not step back," he said.
The TMC MP, who was suspended from the Lok Sabha, along with several others from both Houses, said that the right to dissent and protest is also a fundamental right.
"Mimicry is a right, an expression, a fundamental right," he said, asserting that nobody can "destroy" it. Banerjee mimicked Dhankhar, who is also a senior advocate, during the opposition's protest on the stairs of Parliament on December 19 against the suspension of MPs, drawing strong condemnation from the ruling BJP.
Rajya Sabha chairman Dhankhar called the act "shameful, ridiculous and unacceptable". The Serampore MP, speaking at the programme in his constituency, accused Dhankhar of "throttling the opposition to please the ruling dispensation at the Centre".
"How much will you bend? How much do you want to please Narendra Modi and the BJP?" the TMC MP said. Accusing Dhankhar of being engrossed with himself while adorning a constitutional position, Banerjee, rapidly shaking his hands and body, said that he should look at the country instead.
The TMC MP further chastised Dhankhar for being agitated over a "trivial issue". Subsequently, Jagdeep Dhankhar declared in a statement that he would not put up with any disrespect for the Vice-President's position or Parliament. He conveyed his distress over the TMC MP dressing like him in the Parliament building and a Congress MP filming the incident. The TMC MP referred to Dhankhar's claim that Banerjee's impersonation had "insulted" the farmers' community, saying that Dhankhar possessed a lavish apartment in Delhi and property valued at crores in Jodhpur.
He also questioned Dhankhar's "silence" on the announcement of Sakshee Malikkh, a farmer's daughter, and Bajrang Punia, the son of a Jat, returning the Padma Shri.
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