‘Inexcusable’: VP Jagdeep Dhankhar slams P Chidambaram for ‘part-timers’ remark on new criminal laws.

The Rajya Sabha chairman said that the Congress veteran must withdraw his ‘derogatory, defamatory, and insulting’ observations. Taking exception to P Chidambaram’s stinging observations on the three new criminal laws, Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday termed the ex-Union minister’s statement as ‘inexcusable’ and demanded that the former must withdraw his ‘derogatory, defamatory, and insulting’ comments. “I was shocked beyond words when in the morning I read Chidambaram’s interview to a leading national daily in which he said that the new laws were drafted by part-timers. Are we part-timers in the Parliament? It is an inexcusable insult to the wisdom of the Parliament,” Dhankhar remarked at an event in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram. Dhankhar further stated that he was left ‘stunned’ also because the senior Congressman is a former Union finance minister and a ‘Parliamentarian for long.’ “When informed minds knowingly lead you astray, we need to be on guard,” the Vice President cautioned. The ex-Governor of West Bengal also noted how the new legislations ‘unshackled us from the colonial legacy’ and are of ‘epochal dimension.’ “When these were being debated in the House, this gentleman (Chidambaram), who has a great background as finance minister, gave total rest to his vocal chords while the debate was going on. He must hold himself accountable for the ‘failure of duty on your part, an act of omission/commission, dereliction of duty, which can never be explained’,” Dhankhar added. The laws – Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and Bharatiya Saksha Adhiniyam (BAS) – came into effect on July 1, after being passed by the Parliament in December last year. These have been introduced to replace the British-era criminal laws.