New Delhi: After a decade in electoral politics in the 90s, Jagdeep Dhankhar, once a senior advocate in the Supreme Court, went into a political hiatus. His appointment as the Governor of West Bengal in July 2019 shocked many, including his peers in the legal fraternity and his old allies in the BJP.
Dhankhar, a new face in East Indian political circles, has since run with the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee several times.
by bringing espionage charges Against the Chief Minister’s Office, for regularly summoning senior officials, including the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police, to the Raj Bhavan, to take reports about incidents of violence and issues related to government functioning, Dhankhar has actually caused some political and administrative complications. was made. Chief Minister of Bengal during his tenure as Governor.
His actions, letters and statements have always been too sharp for the government to counter him on legal or administrative grounds, though leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress – including the chief minister – have never shied away from it. calling him A “BJP leader” and Raj Bhavan an “RSS office”, Dhankhar accuses Dhankhar of “interfering” in government affairs.
However, since his brief stint as a Union minister in former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar’s cabinet, the last four years have been the most productive years for Dhankhar.
These four years have brought national prominence for Dhankhar, and have given him direct access to Home Minister and former BJP national president Amit Shah.
As governor, he traveled to West Bengal, visiting sites of casualty games and political violence, visiting universities in case of any crisis – including Jadavpur University, when the vice-chancellor was besieged.
While Dhankhar was criticized by Bengal politicians for being “hyperactive”, all his actions were legally and constitutionally validated by the Raj Bhavan through his statements.
As the former Bengal governor has been elected the new Vice President (VP) of India, a look at his rise.
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‘Farmer’s son’, ‘Governor of the people’
Dhankhar is the first former Governor to be elected Vice President after Krishan Kant, Vice President of India between 1997 and 2002.
Former Rajasthan CM Bhairon Singh Shekhawat succeeded Krishan Kant for the post of Vice President. M. Hamid Ansari (politician and retired diplomat) – who had two terms as VP – replaced M. Venkaiah Naidu (a former Union Minister) followed him before taking over.
Dhankhar is addressed as “farmer son (Farmer’s Son)” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “people’s governor“By BJP President JP Nadda.
Born in a village in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, he attended a school in his village before taking admission in a Sainik school on full scholarship. His Jat identity is seen as one of the reasons for being nominated as NDA’s VP candidate.
Dhankhar, once one of the most powerful lawyers of the Rajasthan High Court, has also been a senior advocate of the Supreme Court. In a conversation with ThePrint, his junior colleagues at SC referred to him as a “guru”, and credited him with having a “sharp mind” when questioning, reasoning and fighting a case.
His peers in the SC remembered him as a man who was instrumental in making former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley the country’s Additional Solicitor General (ASG).
And despite their public face-to-face with CM Mamata Banerjee, the two are known to be on amicable terms. Banerjee visited the Raj Bhavan unscheduled on several occasions. He called DhankharBhalo Manushi (a good person in Bengali)” several times, while Dhankhar called him “our little sister (My younger sister in Hindi)”.
(Edited by Polomi Banerjee)
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