​Agony of exit: on the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar

The abrupt decision by Jagdeep Dhankhar to resign as the Vice-President of India raises several questions about the relationship between the executive and Parliament. Also in focus are the dynamics within the ruling BJP. The Vice-President is also the chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Mr. Dhankhar is the first Vice-President in the history of the Republic to resign this way — some of his predecessors who resigned before completing their term had the reason of moving on to get elected as the President of India. While his resignation letter cites health reasons, it is clear that his decision was driven by other factors which remain speculative at this point. What is evident is that some of the developments on Monday had snowballed into a situation in which Mr. Dhankhar found exit to be the only viable path. He was active in his duties as the Chair, on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament, and his office had also announced his public engagements for the week. After a health incident earlier this year, Mr. Dhankhar had returned to active public life, but nothing that had happened on Monday necessitated a health-related decision. However, his decisions and statements on Monday citing parliamentary rules were in conflict with the script that the government had prepared for the removal of a Delhi High Court judge on charges of alleged corruption. His relationship with the executive had been souring for a while, but his position on judicial accountability, and the relative roles of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha in seeking it, turned out to be an inflection point, as it appears.

Mr. Dhankhar’s conduct as Chair of the Rajya Sabha during the last three years has been controversial. His partisan approach led to a motion for his removal by the Opposition, another first in parliamentary history. He questioned the inclusion of the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ in the Constitution, publicly aligning with the RSS’s call for a debate on them. He has been a champion of parliamentary supremacy in the context of judicial independence and vocal about corruption in the judiciary. While seeking to uphold the supremacy of Parliament and to draw a line of acceptable conduct for the judiciary, he entertained an Opposition move to impeach Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of the Allahabad High Court who had made communally charged remarks in public. Mr. Dhankhar acknowledged receiving a motion signed by over 50 MPs for Justice Yadav’s removal and said he was verifying their signatures. He had also accepted an Opposition motion for the removal of the Delhi judge. Mr. Dhankhar had few options other than what he did, going by the rules. But that put him on a collision course with the government. His resignation weakens India’s parliamentary democracy.