Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s shock resignation citing health grounds has created a rare mid-term vacancy in the country’s second-highest constitutional office. He is only the third Vice-President in India’s history to resign before completing his term, after V.V. Giri and R. Venkataraman—both of whom stepped down to contest presidential elections and were succeeded by Gopal Swarup Pathak and Shankar Dayal Sharma, respectively.
His exit comes at the onset of the monsoon session after attending the meeting of the business advisory committee of the Parliament and hours after accepting the Opposition-backed motion to remove Justice Yashwant Varma, who hit the headlines after a massive cash recovery at his official residence. The vineyards say the government is not pleased that no representative from the government was present to attend the second round of the business advisory committee, which was deferred. When Dhankar met the Congress leaders and held a meeting with the Opposition MPs he then suddenly chose to announce his resignation through the Vice President’s handle on X. It took barely three hours for President Droupadi Murmu to accept the resignation. The timing and happenings seem to suggest that something was cooking that led to murmurs of speculation.
Interestingly, when Dhankar addressed an event at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi earlier this year he had said, “I will retire at the right time, August 2027, subject to divine intervention”. That intervention did not come. Developments clearly suggest that quitting midway into his term was nowhere on his mind — until yesterday. The question hovering is whether the happenings on the first day of the monsoon session trigger Dhankhar’s exit? Or was there more than meets the eye? Murmurs in the corridors of power suggests about Dhankhar’s growing proximity with several leaders of the Opposition — his recent meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at the VP Enclave last week and hosting Arvind Kejriwal for a meeting being some cases in point. Nevertheless, the resignation at the onset of the monsoon session might prove to be a challenge for the government, as the relations between the opposition and the ruling benches have been tense. Senior Congress leaders described the development as “inexplicable” and a “riddle wrapped in mystery rolled in an enigma”.
The gazette notification of Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s resignation, ostensibly “to prioritise health care” is out on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after he tendered it, formally marking his exit from the post. With no formal farewell ceremony in the Rajya Sabha, which he presided over for three years, scepticism permeates the air. Dhankar was admitted to AIIMS owing to chest pain in March this year and soon after he has been regularly attending functions and travelling. As the official reason remains health-related the timing and events surrounding it, makes the reason implausible. Was it ill health or political unease? Only if it comes from the horse’s mouth.
