Indian Opposition Party Strives To Impeach Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar

Indian Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar (right)/PHOTO via Instagram @jdhankhar1

JAKARTA - Indian opposition parties are moving to impeach Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Opposition accuses him of being partisan in his role as chairman of the upper house of parliament.

As reported by Reuters on Tuesday, December 10, Dhankhar's office did not respond to a request for comment but Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Dhankhar was "very professional and impartial".

The move follows a few weeks of disruption in parliament, in which the opposition government and parties accuse each other of not allowing legislative affairs by creating political controversy.

The vice president holds the second-highest constitutional position in India, and is chairman of the upper house of parliament. The vice president also acts as president of the country if there are temporary vacancies.

Although this move is symbolic because opposition parties do not have enough votes to fire them, it is estimated that this will worsen relations between the opposition and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government because Dhankhar was elected as a candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Modi.

"The opposition has no choice but to officially propose a vote of distrust of Dhankhar because of his very partisan way of carrying out the process on the state council," said Jairam Ramesh, spokesman for the main opposition party Congress.

Minister Rijiju said the action was an "attack" on the chairman of the upper house and was regretted.

"Don't do things like this, this is not good for democracy, the vice president must be respected, the DPR and its chairman must be respected, we oppose such a notice. It will never work," he told reporters.

The motion will most likely not be heard at this session as parliament will hold a recess on December 20, before a mandatory 14-day notification period.