Jagdeep Dhankhar takes oath as 14th Vice-President of India

Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday sworn in as the 14th Vice-President of India. President Draupadi Murmu administered the oath to Dhankhar (71) during a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Dhankhar took the oath in Hindi in the name of God. “Bahut-bahut badhai (many congratulations),” Murmu said after Dhankhar signed the register of oath. Before the swearing-in, the Election Commission’s certification of election issued to Dhankhar was read out.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dhankhar’s predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu, former President Ram Nath Kovind, former Vice-President M Hamid Ansari, and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and Nitin Gadkari were among the dignitaries present on the occasion.

In the morning, Dhankhar paid tributes at Raj Ghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi. “Felt blessed, inspired and motivated to be ever in service of Bharat in serene sublimity of Raj Ghat while paying respects to pujya Bapu,” he tweeted then. Once a “reluctant politician”, Dhankhar’s reemergence in the political scene in 2019 as West Bengal Governor surprised many, so has his rise to the office of the Vice President of India.

Dhankhar was declared elected as the Vice-President on Saturday after he bagged 528 votes against his rival candidate Margaret Alva’s 182. A man of many interests, his long legal career at the Rajasthan High Court and the Supreme Court and a brief stint as the junior Parliamentary Affairs Minister at Centre will come in handy as he presides over Rajya Sabha as its chairman. Dhankhar, who had been associated with the Janata Dal and the Congress, joined the BJP only in 2008 after a hiatus of nearly a decade. He has championed issues related to Other Backward Classes, including the grant of OBC status to the Jat community in Rajasthan.

While his surprise appointment as the West Bengal Governor in 2019 brought him back to the political limelight, he did not shy away from the hurly-burly of politics and was caught in frequent run-ins with the State’s ruling Trinamool Congress.

The BJP described Dhankhar as a “kisan putra” while announcing his candidature for the vice presidential election, a move seen in political circles as aimed at reaching out to the politically significant Jat community which had participated in huge numbers in the year-long farmers’ protests on the borders of the national capital against agriculture reform measures unveiled in June 2020.

Dhankhar, who took to cricket in his school days and also had keen interest in spirituality and meditation, began his political journey with the Janata Dal and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1989, held under the shadow of the Bofors scandal, from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan. He had a brief stint as the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar.

In his initial journey as a politician, Dhankhar was influenced by Devi Lal and later, shifted to the Congress during the tenure of Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. After hanging his boots as an MLA, Dhankhar focused on his legal career, practising as a lawyer in the Supreme Court. He also had a three-year stint as a member of the International Court of Arbitration in Paris. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said Dhankhar had excellent knowledge of the Constitution and was well-versed with legislative affairs.

“I am sure that he will be an outstanding Chair in Rajya Sabha and guide the proceedings of the House with the aim of furthering national progress,” the Prime Minister said on July 16.