THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday came down heavily on senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, MP, over the latter’s comments on the new criminal laws. Chidambaram, in a conversation with a national daily, had said that the new laws were drafted by part-timers. Without naming Chidambaram, Dhankhar said “an informed mind who has been the finance minister of the country, parliamentarian for long and a member of Rajya Sabha” stunned him by his comments. “This gentleman of Parliament with great background says it was ‘new laws but drafted by part timers’. Are we part timers in Parliament? Inexcusable insult to the wisdom of Parliament,” Dhankhar said. He further said that the “gentleman did not use his lung power” and that he “gave proper rest to his vocal cords” while debate was going on over the laws. Dhankhar said Chidambaram or other distinguished colleagues from the legal fraternity did not come forward to help the nation though they had an opportunity to make their point in Parliament. It was a failure on Chidambaram’s part to perform his constitutional duty and obligation. Dhankhar said he was shocked beyond words and asked the participants to be aware of the minds who deliberately create a narrative to run down the nation, demean institutions and taint the country’s progress. “They engage in criticism for the sake of criticism. I do not have words strong enough to condemn such a narrative being set afloat. A member of Parliament being labelled as a part-timer. Ultimately it is Parliament that is the last source of law formulation. Every section of society is represented there. I appeal to him to withdraw the derogatory, defamatory and highly insulting observations to Members of Parliament,” he said.On the new laws, Dhankhar said Parliament did a great thing. “It has unshackled us from colonial legacy by giving three laws that are of epochal dimension,” he said. Dhankhar’s reply to Chidambaram came during his address at the 12th convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram.
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