Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee who is under fire for mimicking Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdheep Dhankhar – that has now drawn flak from PM Modi and President Draupadi Murmu – said on Wednesday that he had no intention to hurt the vice president. Mimicry is a form of art and he has great respect for the vice president, Banerjee said. “I did not intend to hurt Dhankar Ji. I don’t know why he took it on himself,” Kalyan Banerjee said. PM Modi on Wednesday dialled Jagdeep Dhankhar over the mimicry row and said he had been targetted by such insults for the last 20 years.

“I have not said anything either in the Rajya Sabha or in the Lok Sabha. It was a mock parliament. I am really helpless if he (Jagdeep Dhankhar) has taken it on himself. But my question is does he behave like this in the Rajya Sabha? I never had any intention to hurt anyone. He is my senior in my profession. And in our profession, we never hurt anyone. I did not intend to do it,” Banerjee said.

“I have a great respect for Dhankhar Ji. First, he belongs to my profession; second, he is our ex-governor (West Bengal), and third, he is the Vice President and the chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Mimicry is one type of art. PM Modi also did mimicry in the Lok Sabha itself. I can show you the video. He did it in the last term. Everyone took it lightly,” Banerjee added.

Reacting to PM Modi’s telephonic conversation with Dhankhar in which PM Modi said he too has been subjected to such insults in the last 20 years, Kalyan Banerjee said, “But I have not been here for the last 20 years. I don’t know why did he say that.”

Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee who is in Delhi said she won’t comment on Kalyan Banerjee’s mimicry of Dhankhar. “You can ask Derek O’Brien or Sudip Bandyopadhyay. They are enough to reply to this,” Mamata Banerjee said.