New Delhi: Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar shut Opposition for moving a no-confidence motion against him and described the now dismissed motion as poorly thought out. “They tried to perform bypass surgery with a vegetable knife,” he said. 

“Just look at the notice against the Vice President—you’ll be shocked,” said Dhankhar, making his first comments since the Opposition’s no-confidence motion against him was dismissed. 

Referring to former Prime Minister’s words, Dhankhar said, “Chandra Shekarji once said, ‘Never use a vegetable cutting-knife for bypass surgery’ and that notice wasn’t even a vegetable-cutting knife, it was rusted. There was haste,”

“When I read it, I was astonished. But what surprised me more was that none of you read it. If you had, you wouldn’t have been able to sleep for days,” he told a group of women journalists.

Dhankhar said any constitutional position has to be vindicated by commitment to sublimity, sterling qualities and constitutionalism.

“We are not in a position to settle scores. Because for the success of democracy, two things are inalienable: expression and dialogue,” he said, according to an official statement.

Cautioning against orchestrated efforts to harm national interests, the vice president said these are fuelled in an orchestrated manner by forces that are determined to be inimical to the interest of the country.

“Their objective is to destroy, brick by brick, our constitutional institutions, slur the presidency, and mind you, who is the president? The first tribal woman to become president of this country,” he remarked.

Referring to parliamentary debates, Dhankhar said the two Houses are in the news for the wrong reasons.

“Accountability must be enforced by media, the only conveyance to the people at large. Media can strike a chord with the people and generate pressure on public representatives,” he said.