President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday expressed disappointment at the actions of Members of Parliament suspended from the House for unruly behaviour and said that elected representatives must express themselves within the norms of dignity and courtesy. The President’s remark came a day after Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee’s snide mimicry of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.

“I was dismayed to see the manner in which our respected Vice President was humiliated in the Parliament complex. Elected representatives must be free to express themselves, but their expression should be within the norms of dignity and courtesy. That has been the Parliamentary tradition we are proud of, and the People of India expect them to uphold it,” President Murmu said in a tweet on X.

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Banerjee, the Trinamool MP, was among 49 Opposition lawmakers suspended from the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, taking the tally of MPs suspended from both houses of Parliament to 141. On Tuesday, several videos showed Banerjee part of a protest along with the suspended MPs when he appeared to mimick and mock V-P Dhankhar. Other Opposition members cheered him on while Congress MP Rahul Gandhi stood and watched for a while before pulling out his phone and recording the incident.

Opposition members were suspended for disorderly conduct from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as they continued to press for a statement by the Union Home Minister on the security breach in the Lower House on December 13 when a group of individuals jumped into the Lok Sabha gallery, raised slogans and opened smoke cans inside the House. The government maintains that a probe is underway and the investigation should be allowed to take its natural course.

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Vice President Dhankhar termed the Opposition MP’s actions as an insult to the position of Rajya Sabha Chairman. “You have no idea what kind of reaction people have against this institution and today we got a chance to see its lowest level,” he said. “A senior member of Parliament videographs another member. Why? I tell you I have suffered greatly,” he added.

On Wednesday morning, Dhankhar said that he received a call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi who expressed great pain at the theatrics of some Opposition MPs. “Received a telephone call from the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Ji. He expressed great pain over the abject theatrics of some Honourable MPs and that too in the sacred Parliament complex yesterday. He told me that he has been at the receiving end of such insults for twenty years and counting but the fact that it could happen to a Constitutional office like the Vice President of India and that too in the Parliament was unfortunate,” he said.

“I told him- Mr. Prime Minister, the antics of a few won’t prevent me from performing my duty and upholding the principles enshrined in our Constitution. I am committed to those values from the bottom of my heart. None of the insults will make me change my path,” he added in a post on X.