Bollywood actor and Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Jaya Bachchan and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar sparred yet again on Friday after the Vice President referred to her as ‘Jaya Amitabh Bachchan’ while inviting her to speak at a debate in the Rajya Sabha.

Visibly irritated, Bachchan accused Dhankhar of talking to her in an “unacceptable tone”, drawing protests from the Opposition MPs before they walked out of the Upper House.

Twice in this Parliamentary session, Jaya Bachchan, married to Amitabh Bachchan, has been introduced in Parliament as ‘Jaya Amitabh Bachchan’. She has expressed her strong disapproval of this practice.

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Speaking in the Upper House, Bachchan objected to the “unacceptable” tone used by Dhankhar against her and demanded an apology from him. “I am an artist. I understand body language and expressions. But your tone is not right. We are your colleagues, but your tone is unacceptable,” Bachchan said.

To this, Dhankhar told Bachchan to understand the importance of maintaining decorum even if she is a celebrity. But he lost his cool as Opposition members sided with the actor-politician and protested against the Chairman.

“Jaya ji you have earned a great reputation. You know an actor is subject to the director. But every day, I do not want to repeat myself. Every day, I don’t want to do schooling. You are talking about my tone? Enough of it. You may be anybody. You have to understand the decorum. You can be a celebrity but accept decorum,” Dhankhar fired back at Bachchan.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman asked the Opposition MPs to stop protesting and take their places but to no avail. “I have to be in action and take care of the situation,” he said.

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“There is a lack of decorum. You are walking away from your duty,” Dhankhar said before the Opposition MPs, including Jaya Bachchan, walked out of the Rajya Sabha.

Union Minister JP Nadda, also the Leader of the House of Rajya Sabha, moved a censure motion against Jaya Bachchan over her remarks targeting Dhankhar.

The Opposition walkout was led by Congress stalwart Sonia Gandhi in a powerful show support for the SP MP.

Speaking to reporters after the walkout, Bachchan said, “It was a humiliating experience…” and criticised the treatment of opposition MPs, contrasting it with the latitude given to those from the ruling BJP.

“Whatever is said from the Chair… is allowed. Outside the Chair, the individual is like us.. an MP. I objected to the tone used by the Chair. We are not school children and some of us are even senior citizens. I was upset with the tone… especially when the Leader of the Opposition (Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge) stood up to speak he (the Chair) switched the mike off…” she said.

This is the second such face-off between Dhankhar and Bachchan in the past 10 days over the former being referred to as ‘Jaya Amitabh Bachchan’.

On July 29, Bachchan objected to using her husband Amitabh Bachchan’s name as her middle name, saying every woman had their own identity too.