‘I belong to no party’: Congress invokes Dr S. Radhakrishnan to send ‘impartiality’ message to vice president-elect

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday extended his best wishes to C.P. Radhakrishnan, who was elected India’s 15th vice president, and reminded him of the importance of acting with fairness and impartiality towards each party.

 

Ramesh recalled the remarks made by India’s first Vice President, Dr S. Radhakrishnan, on the opening day of the Rajya Sabha on May 16, 1952, where he vowed to uphold the highest traditions of parliamentary democracy.

 

“While extending its best wishes to Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan, the newly-elected Vice President of India who will also be the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Indian National Congress recalls the wise words of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the very first Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha,” the Congress leader wrote on X.

 

Ramesh quoted Dr S. Radhakrishnan as saying, “I belong to no party, and that means I belong to every party in this House. It shall be my endeavour to uphold the traditions, the highest traditions, of parliamentary democracy and act towards each party with fairness and impartiality with ill-will to none and goodwill to all....A democracy is likely to degenerate into a tyranny if it does not allow the opposition groups to criticise fairly, freely, and frankly the policies of the Government".

 

In a cryptic note, Ramesh added that Dr Radhakrishnan had practised what he preached, both in letter and spirit.

 

The Congress leader’s post assumes significance as the Opposition MPs had accused former vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar of acting in a partisan and unfair manner as the Rajya Sabha vice chairman.

 

In December 2024, around 60 MPs submitted a notice seeking Dhankhar’s removal, saying he had repeatedly interrupted members of the Opposition while they were speaking and unfairly used privilege motions to silence them.

 

C.P. Radhakrishnan, in his first public remark after winning the vice presidential election, termed the ruling party and the opposition as the two sides of the same coin and asserted that the interest of democracy will be taken into account.

India