Veteran actress and Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan has found herself at the centre of another political storm after her heated exchange with Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.
Dhankhar and actor-politician Jaya were involved in a face-off on Friday with Bachchan demanding an apology for what she described as an 'unacceptable tone' during the session. While talking to reporters in the parliament complex, Bachchan said she was not only upset with the tone of the Chairman, but also shocked by his decision to turn off the mic of Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge when he stood up to speak in the House. "You have to allow the Leader of Opposition to speak," she asserted.
The confrontation occurred when Bachchan, attempted to speak during a heated discussion between Opposition parties and the Chairman over remarks made by BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari against Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge a few days ago. As Bachchan rose to make her point, Dhankhar addressed her as "Jaya Amitabh Bachchan" and granted her permission to speak. However, Bachchan took issue with the manner in which he did so.
"I, Jaya Amitabh Bachchan, want to say that I am an artist. I understand body language and expressions. Forgive me, but your tone is not acceptable. We are colleagues, Sir. You may be sitting in the Chair, but I remember when I went to school..." Bachchan began, before being abruptly interrupted by a visibly angry Dhankhar, who said, "Enough of it".
"You may be anybody, you may be a celebrity, you have to understand the decorum, no, nothing doing...Never carry an impression that only you build reputations...we live up to reputations, nothing doing," he said.
Talking to reporters in the parliament complex, the SP leader said she "objected" to the tone used by the Chair."We are not school children, some of us are senior citizens. I was upset with the tone and especially when Leader of Opposition stood up to speak he had switched off the mic. How can you do this? This is against the tradition. You have to allow the Leader of Opposition to speak," she said.
She also alleged that members sitting in the Treasury benches use unparliamentary words.
"'You are a nuisance', 'Budhiheen' (stupid), all these words are also spoken by Treasury benches," she alleged and further argued, "I am saying I am a member of Parliament. This is my fifth term. I know what I am saying. The way things are being spoken in Parliament these days, nobody has ever spoken before," reported ANI.
When asked by the media personnel what was the way forward, she said, "I need an apology... for saying 'I don't care'. He has to care. He is on the Chair, he has to care."
Last week, Jaya was in the news when she took objection on being called 'Jaya Amitabh Bachchan' by Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh during the House proceedings on July 29. She objected by saying, "Sir, only Jaya Bachchan would have sufficed," stressing her unease about women being identified only by their husband's names as if "they don't have their own identity."
