'Never Said I Was Ill, Was Prioritising My Health': Former V-P Jagdeep Dhankhar on His Abrupt Resignation

In August last year, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had questioned Dhankhar’s silence ever since his surprise resignation and had said that “there is a big story about why he resigned.”

The Wire Staff

never said i was ill was prioritising my health former v p jagdeep dhankhar on his abrupt resignation

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from his post on Monday, July 21, 2025. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Former vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Thursday (February 26) that he resigned from the post in July last year not because of ill health but that he was “prioritising health”.

“Kehte hain pehla sukh nirogi kaaya. Maine swasthya ke prati kabhi laparwahi nahi barti. Maine jab kaha ki main pad tyag raha hun, toh maine kabhi ye nahi kaha ke main beemar hun. Maine kaha main swashtya ko ahmiyat de raha hun, aur deni chahiye. (It is said that the first happiness is a healthy body. I have never neglected my health. When I said I was resigning, I never said I was ill. I said I was prioritising my health, as it should be),” Dhankhar said at a gathering in Rajasthan’s Churu district on Thursday, reported Indian Express.

In a surprise post on X on July 21, 2025, Dhankhar had made public his letter to the President, in which he said:

“To prioritise health care and abide by medical advice, I hereby resign as the Vice President of India, effective immediately, in accordance with Article 67(a) of the Constitution. I extend my deepest gratitude to Your Excellency – the Hon’ble President of India for her unwavering support and the soothing wonderful working relationship we maintained during my tenure.”

“There is a big story about why he resigned. Some of you might know it, some of you might not. But there is a story behind it. And then there’s a story about why he is in hiding. Why is he, the Vice President of India, in a situation where he cannot say a word… and has to hide… suddenly, the person who used to burst forth in Rajya Sabha has gone… completely silent,” Gandhi had said.

During his visit to Churu on Thursday, Dhankhar was hosted by former Congress MP Ram Singh Kaswan, father of sitting Churu MP Rahul Kaswan of the Congress, and Olympian and former Congress MLA Krishna Poonia, reported Indian Express.

Dhankhar assumed the office as the 14th vice president in August 2022, after defeating the opposition candidate former Rajasthan governor Margaret Alva. His tenure as the Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman was marked by confrontation with the opposition benches.

This article went live on February twenty-seventh, two thousand twenty six, at twenty-eight minutes past four in the afternoon.

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