‘My Self-Respect Challenged’: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge Says His Mic Turned Off In Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday claimed he was ‘insulted’ and that his ‘self-respect has been challenged’ as his mic was turned off while he was speaking in Rajya Sabha the previous day.  

“It was a breach of my privilege. This is my insult. My self-respect has been challenged,” Kharge told the upper house of Parliament while referring to Tuesday’s proceedings.

“If the House is run on the instructions of the government, then I will understand that it is not a democracy,” he added.

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Other Opposition members supported Kharge with many of them raising slogans and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asking them to take their seats.

When he informed Kharge that several MPs were standing in the rows behind him, the Congress leader said, “Mere peechhe khade agar nahi honge toh kya Modi ke peechhe khade honge? (If they will not stand behind me, will they stand behind (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi?)”

Dhankhar and several other lawmakers were then seen smiling at Kharge’s remarks. The chairman, however, clarified that the mic was not turned off and that he has also checked with the deputy chairperson.

The floor was given to Kharge when the House was discussing a legislative matter, Dhankhar said.

“Any transgression that takes place… Everyone in the House is aware that cannot be allowed. At that stage, the deputy chairperson intervened. So, it not that mics were turned off,” he said.

Dhankhar also referred to certain media reports which quoted an MP as saying that AAP member Sanjay Singh was suspended from the House for raising an issue. He said the member was suspended not for raising an issue, but because of his misconduct and indecorous behaviour. He stressed that no one is suspended from the House for raising issues.

“We cannot allow these kinds of things. It is a plain and simple breach of privilege. Putting it in the public domain that this House suspended a member because the member was trying to raise an issue is unpardonable. This is an aggravated form of breach of privilege,” Dhankhar said.

Sanjay Singh was on Monday suspended from Rajya Sabha for the rest of the Monsoon session for repeatedly ‘violating’ the directives of the Chair while protesting on the Manipur issue.