Jagdeep Dhankhar, The Governor Who Refused To Be ‘Rubber Stamp’, The VP Who Shook Energy Corridors
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A lawyer-turned-politician, Dhankhar’s Bengal stint was among the many most contentious in India’s federal historical past as he styled himself a fierce protector of constitutional propriety.
Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resigned from the put up of VP on Monday night. File pic/PTI
In the summertime of 2019, when Jagdeep Dhankhar walked into the stately corridors of Kolkata’s Raj Bhavan, most likely just a few anticipated that the newly appointed Governor would quickly develop into the principal political antagonist of the state authorities. And, fewer nonetheless might have predicted that inside virtually 4 years, he can be elevated to the Vice-President’s workplace, having reworked a largely ceremonial function into an area of relentless however legally sound confrontation, constitutional provocation, and social media (X) diplomacy.
In two months of assuming workplace and within the first interview with this reporter, Dhankhar, the Bengal governor raised problems with ‘spiritual discrimination’ as he was denied membership in Kolkata’s iconic La Martiniere’s board for being a ‘non-Christian’. Within the interview, he stated that the ‘provision’ in La Martiniere’s structure straight contravenes the appropriate to equality earlier than the regulation as talked about within the Indian Structure.
That marked the start of the primary fiery section for Jagdeep Dhankhar. His assertive presence and actions unsettled and overwhelmed Bengal’s Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee. Till then, politicians and their governments had hardly ever encountered somebody in a constitutional function who refused to behave as a mere ‘rubber stamp’.
A lawyer by coaching, a politician by previous affiliation, who later reworked himself as a self-styled protector of constitutional propriety, Dhankhar’s stint in Bengal grew to become one of the crucial contentious governorships in India’s federal historical past. Nevertheless, nobody might problem or contest his claims as Dhankhar was at all times legally appropriate and constitutionally articulate.
Trinamool leaders usually referred to as him the ‘BJP’s shadow state president’ and Raj Bhavan because the ‘RSS headquarter’. In personal, bureaucrats spoke of a Raj Bhavan the place ministers had been summoned like schoolchildren and officers had been grilled over file notings.
Dhankhar, nevertheless, by no means paused. Trinamool’s public criticism, the confrontation, surveillance and chopping Raj Bhavan’s bills – all actions by the ruling dispensation fell flat as Dhankhar was ‘unstoppable’.
A Raj Bhavan That Roared
Dhankhar arrived with political and authorized credentials — former MP, ex-minister beneath the Chandra Shekhar authorities, and senior advocate within the Supreme Court docket. However in Bengal, it wasn’t his resume that made information. These had been his public statements, his tweets and his unyielding confrontation with the chief minister.
He routinely fired off missives to the state authorities on the whole lot from law-and-order breakdowns and alleged corruption in recruitment, to “contemptuous therapy” by ministers and ‘politicisation of Bengal’s academic establishment’.
His social media deal with became a parallel newsroom, providing near-daily commentary on the Mamata Banerjee authorities. By 2020, the chief minister had blocked him on X (then Twitter) — publicly accusing him of behaving like an “agent of the ruling get together on the Centre.”
Behind the scenes, the acrimony ran deeper, so did his efforts to keep up a dialog relationship with Mamata Banerjee. Dhankhar’s choice to carry again assent to a number of state payments, notably these relating to school appointments irked the TMC management, who considered it as sabotage masked in constitutional concern. And within the meantime, they continued to fulfill throughout events, exchanging Rakhi greetings as Dhankhar referred to as Banerjee as his ‘little sister’. That was really an odd time.
His repeated visits to websites of political violence, particularly in areas the place BJP employees had been killed, had been seen as overt political posturing, whereas he maintained that it was his ‘responsibility’ as the pinnacle of state to be with the victims.
RSS, Reverence, And His Ideological Roots
If his actions raised eyebrows, his phrases left little doubt about his ideological proximity. Dhankhar by no means shied away from publicly praising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), calling it the “most nationalistic establishment on the earth.” For a person occupying the Vice-President’s chair, a constitutional put up anticipated to stay aloof from political alignments, however he’s by no means identified to mince phrases.
Later, after being elevated to the place of Vice President, he continued to problem the established order with unwavering dedication and conviction, incomes each respect and resistance from political circles. A few of his statements concerning the RSS turned out to be political flash factors.
Opposition events moved a decision within the Rajya Sabha in 2024 alleging breach of constitutional propriety. “He was not simply crossing the Lakshman Rekha,” a TMC MP stated, “he redrew it to swimsuit Nagpur (RSS HQ).”
Many within the BJP, nevertheless, noticed Dhankhar as a obligatory corrector throughout conditions – political, administrative and in addition in judiciary.
In personal conversations, senior Sangh functionaries level to Dhankhar as an “ideologically astute individual with authorized precision”, somebody who understands each energy and its procedures.
Dhankhar’s cordial connections with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and basic secretary Dattatreya Hosabale had been by no means unknown, as he at all times maintained the Sangh as his ‘roots’.
A Profession of Reinventions
It was by no means the primary time Dhankhar reinvented himself, nor as Governor, or as Vice President and neither because the Rajya Sabha chairperson. As soon as a Janata Dal MP from Jhunjhunu, he served as union MoS for parliamentary affairs in a short-lived authorities. He joined the Congress within the Nineteen Nineties earlier than lastly aligning with the BJP in 2003. Colleagues recall him as erudite, persuasive and most significantly – bold.
That ambition was usually on the coronary heart of the criticism towards him in Bengal. TMC ministers overtly claimed that Dhankhar’s tenure as Governor was a protracted audition for the nationwide excessive workplace. His frequent clashes with Mamata Banerjee, his visits to violence-hit pockets, and his public commentaries on regulation and order mirrored the BJP’s line in Bengal. On one hand, he emerged as a folks’s governor within the state, whereas on the opposite, he grew to become Mamata Banerjee’s fiercest political adversary
Controversies, Critics, and a Calculated Exit
His identify appeared within the previous Jain hawala diary — one thing Mamata Banerjee raised on the ground of the Meeting lengthy again. Then got here accusations of nepotism, allegations that he had appointed kinfolk to Raj Bhavan posts. Dhankhar referred to as it “private malice cloaked in politics,” and the allegation didn’t have an ‘iota of reality’.
But, none of those controversies dented his upward arc. In 2022, the BJP selected him as their Vice-Presidential candidate. His credentials as a Jat chief from Rajasthan, and his constant battles with Mamata, made him a super foil in a political panorama.
Jagdeep Dhankhar could now not be within the Vice President enclave, however the tremors of his tenure formed centre-state equations, centre-judiciary chemistry and upper-house – Opposition phrases. He uncovered a gray zone in constitutional structure — the place a Governor’s or Vice President’s discretion could possibly be wielded like a political and constitutional blade. He turned procedural defiance right into a spectacle, and constitutional commentary into prime-time content material, that the nation was witnessing for the primary time.
Madhuparna Das, Affiliate Editor (coverage) at CNN Information 18, has been in journalism for almost 14 years. She has extensively been masking politics, coverage, crime and inner safety points. She has coated Naxa…Learn Extra
Madhuparna Das, Affiliate Editor (coverage) at CNN Information 18, has been in journalism for almost 14 years. She has extensively been masking politics, coverage, crime and inner safety points. She has coated Naxa… Learn Extra
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