In a move unprecedented in the history of India’s parliamentary democracy, Jagdeep Dhankhar, Vice President and ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, resigned on Monday (July 21), ostensibly on health grounds. His resignation was accepted today, July 22, by President Droupadi Murmu.The resignation, submitted on the first day of the monsoon session of parliament, has perplexed opposition parties, who only seven months ago – in December – had wanted to remove him from office by initiating a notice under Article 67(b) of the constitution. They charged, inter alia, that Dhankhar was “explicitly partisan” in conducting proceedings of the House, acted as an “impassioned spokesperson” of the Narendra Modi regime and had declared in the House that he was “the Eklavya of the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]”.No other past vice president had ever faced such a challenge. Eventually, the notice was rejected by deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Harivansh.Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a brief statement on X, noting that Dhankhar had been “given the opportunity” to serve the country in various capacities, including as vice president, and wished him good health. The matter-of-fact, lukewarm nature of Modi’s message suggests that he and his government had lost confidence in Dhankhar and were happy to see him go.Three developmentsWithout relying on speculative narratives circulating in the media, three developments that took place on the first day of the monsoon session yesterday cast light on the Modi regime’s extreme unhappiness with Dhankhar – and its disregard for the office he occupied and the authority and dignity of the Rajya Sabha. Dhankhar allowed Kharge to speak without interruptionWhile Dhankhar was presiding over the House yesterday, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, stood up and said he had given notice under Rule 267 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business to suspend all business and discuss several pressing issues – including the recent terrorist attack on tourists in Pahalgam, in which 26 people were killed, and India’s military response through Operation Sindoor, launched against terrorist bases in Pakistan.In the past, Dhankhar often did not allow the leader of the opposition to speak freely, frequently demanding evidence for claims made. But yesterday, he did not interrupt Kharge at all.The Congress president flagged the public statement by Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha owning responsibility for the Pahalgam terrorist attack and acknowledging the intelligence failure that led to it.On Operation Sindoor, Kharge referred to multiple voices from India’s defence establishment claiming that the country had lost several fighter jets. He even cited a defence attaché at the Indian embassy in Indonesia, who attributed the losses to political restraints placed on the Indian Air Force by the government.Kharge also raised the question of why the president of the United States had claimed, on as many as 24 occasions, that a ceasefire between India and Pakistan had been brokered by him.This wide-ranging critique of the Modi regime, delivered from the floor of the House, went completely unchallenged by the chair – a break from Dhankhar’s earlier approach – and reportedly upset senior members of the ruling party.Also read: Did Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar Slip From Modi’s Good Books? Nadda’s statement undermined the chairWhen Dhankhar called on leader of the house J.P. Nadda to respond to Kharge, his statement led to interventions from the opposition – as is usual in parliament. But Nadda stunned everyone by saying that only his remarks would go on record, and that the interventions made by Kharge and others would be kept out of the official proceedings.This amounted to an unprecedented usurpation of the powers of the chair, since it is solely the presiding officer – in this case, the vice president – who decides what is recorded and what is expunged from the House’s proceedings.Dhankhar remained silent. In all fairness, he should have told Nadda that such a statement was an unacceptable attack on the chair – and by extension, on the authority and dignity of the Rajya Sabha as a whole. He could have cited several previous rulings of the chair affirming that only the presiding officer can determine what goes on record.In the entire history of the Rajya Sabha, no leader of the house has ever attempted to override this authority – and certainly not while the vice president was in the chair. Nadda and Rijiju skipped Business Advisory Committee meetingThe third telling development concerned the Business Advisory Committee meeting chaired by Dhankhar. While the morning meeting was attended by opposition leaders, Nadda and parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju, the afternoon session saw both Nadda and Rijiju remain absent.It is unprecedented for both the leader of the house and the parliamentary affairs minister to skip a meeting chaired by the vice president. Their absence was interpreted as a direct signal of no-confidence from the ruling regime.Deep discontent within the RSS?Senior journalist Ashutosh, speaking in a programme hosted by Mukesh Kumar, said that people close to the RSS were saying that Dhankhar felt humiliated and hurt by the treatment meted out to him.Today, NDTV carried a news item reporting that Dhankhar’s decision to accept an opposition-sponsored notice for the impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma had “run afoul of the Centre’s plan to target corruption in the judiciary.” Quoting unnamed sources, it added that Dhankhar’s resignation “may have spared him a government-backed no-confidence motion”.Such developments suggest that the Modi regime’s increasing control over constitutional institutions has reached a point where even the vice president’s position is no longer immune.There may well be more at play behind Dhankhar’s resignation. Many see it as a symptom of a deeper and more intense power struggle within the ruling establishment – not just between Modi and Amit Shah on one side, and the RSS on the other, but also among various factions within the BJP itself.What should not be forgotten is that Dhankhar was singularly responsible for targeting the opposition in the House and stifling its voice. He was blatantly partisan in favour of the Modi regime. In doing so he brought down the majesty of his own office. Perhaps Modi felt he needed to lower it further and that is why he has been made to go.S.N. Sahu served as officer on special duty to former President K.R. Narayanan. Earlier, he was a joint secretary with the Rajya Sabha secretariat.This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire and Galileo Ideas – and has been republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.