Inside the secret power struggle behind Dhankhar’s resignation

Mumbai: The cryptic silence surrounding the abrupt resignation of former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar in July was shattered on the floor of the Rajya Sabha this Monday, not by a government clarification, but by the visible anguish of the Opposition. While official records continue to attribute his departure to “health reasons,” highly placed sources in the power corridors of the capital have now confirmed that a fatal misunderstanding of the shifting power dynamics between the Rashtriya...

min read

Inside the secret power struggle behind Dhankhar’s resignation

Mumbai: The cryptic silence surrounding the abrupt resignation of former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar in July was shattered on the floor of the Rajya Sabha this Monday, not by a government clarification, but by the visible anguish of the Opposition. While official records continue to attribute his departure to “health reasons,” highly placed sources in the power corridors of the capital have now confirmed that a fatal misunderstanding of the shifting power dynamics between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) top brass was the true precipice from which the former Vice President fell. The revelations surfaced as the Winter Session of Parliament commenced on Monday, December 1, 2025. The solemnity of welcoming the new Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman, C.P. Radhakrishnan, was punctured by an emotional intervention from Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge. The veteran Congress leader, hands shaking and voice trembling, shed tears on the floor of the House—a rare display of vulnerability that underscored the Opposition’s grievance over what they term an “institutional surgical strike.” The Failed Mediation Exclusive details emerging from Delhi’s political circles paint a picture of a constitutional authority who misread the winds of change. Sources reveal that tensions between Dhankhar and the government had been simmering for months, primarily over his handling of key legislative agendas and a perceived “drift” towards accommodating Opposition demands in the Upper House. As the chasm widened, a lifeline was reportedly thrown. A senior leader from a prominent alliance partner within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) — a figure with decades of parliamentary experience and respect across the aisle — had discreetly offered to mediate. This leader recognized the growing impatience in the BJP high command and sought to bridge the gap before it became unbridgeable. However, Dhankhar declined the immediate urgency of this political mediation. “He was confident in his equations with the ideological parent,” a source familiar with the developments stated. “He is close to some of the RSS top functionaries and relied on them to mediate when his equations with the BJP top brass started going astray.” This reliance on Nagpur to manage New Delhi proved to be a critical miscalculation. Sources indicate that Dhankhar believed his deep ties with the Sangh would act as a buffer, insulating him from the political maneuvering of the ruling party’s executive leadership. He reportedly waited for the “green signal” or intervention from RSS functionaries, delaying the necessary reconciliation with the party leadership. Cost of delay The delay in mending ways was fatal. By the time the former Vice President realized that the RSS would not—or could not—overrule the BJP’s strategic decision to replace him, the die had been cast. The drift had become a gulf. The instruction, when it finally came on that fateful July 21, was absolute - he had to vacate the office immediately. The “untimely sudden resignation” that followed was officially cloaked in medical terminology, but insiders describe a chaotic exit. The former VP, who had recently moved into the lavish new Vice-President’s Enclave, was forced to vacate the premises in haste, leaving behind a tenure marked by both assertive confrontations and, ironically, a final act of silent compliance. Tears in the Upper House The ghost of this departure loomed large over Monday’s proceedings. Welcoming the new Chairman, C.P. Radhakrishnan, Mallikarjun Kharge could not hold back his emotions. Breaking away from the customary pleasantries, Kharge launched into a poignant lament for the predecessor who was denied a farewell. “I am constrained to refer to your predecessor’s completely unexpected and sudden exit from the office of the Rajya Sabha Chairman, which is unprecedented in the annals of parliamentary history,” Kharge said, his voice heavy with emotion. As Treasury benches erupted in protest, shouting slogans to drown out the discomforting truth, Kharge continued, wiping tears from his eyes. “The Chairman, being the custodian of the entire House, belongs as much to the Opposition as to the government. I was disheartened that the House did not get an opportunity to bid him a farewell. Regardless, we wish him, on behalf of the entire Opposition, a very healthy life.” The sight of the Leader of the Opposition shedding tears for a presiding officer with whom he had frequently clashed was a striking paradox. It highlighted the Opposition’s narrative that Dhankhar’s removal was not just a personnel change, but an assertion of executive dominance over the legislature. New chapter with old scars The government, represented by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, sharply countered Kharge’s remarks, accusing the Opposition of shedding “crocodile tears” after having moved impeachment notices against Dhankhar in the past. “You are insulting the Chair by raising this now,” Rijiju argued amidst the din. Yet, outside the House, the whispers persisted. The narrative of a Vice President who waited for a call from Nagpur that came too late has firmly taken root. As C.P. Radhakrishnan takes the Chair, he does so not just as a new presiding officer, but as the successor to a man who learned the hard way that in the current dispensation, political alignment with the executive supersedes even the oldest of ideological ties.

Completing Raman’s Unfinished Revolution

Dr. Kishore Paknikar
Nov 6
4 min read

Honouring Sir C.V. Raman means advancing his legacy by using RDI to transform India’s discoveries into enduring capabilities.

November 7 marks the anniversary of Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman’s birth, India’s first Nobel laureate in science. His life remains a clear example of how far intellectual courage can carry a nation, even before it possesses the institutional support or material wealth to nurture scientific inquiry. Using simple optical setups, tuning forks, sunlight, and glass plates instead of costly instruments, Raman observed how light scatters when passing through matter. What emerged from this quiet experiment would transform the study of molecular structure and show the world that India could produce science of the highest originality.

Quiet Revolution

Raman’s life shows us that true scientific greatness comes not from abundant resources, but from intellectual courage. Working in modest surroundings, he discovered the phenomenon now known as the Raman Effect, an achievement that reshaped modern spectroscopy worldwide. In fact, one could say that the Raman Spectrometer was the original RDI (Raman Discovered Innovation), a breakthrough born in India that became a global technology, yet one whose commercial and industrial potential we did not ourselves realize. This was not the fault of the scientist, but of the ecosystem that did not yet exist. The insight was ours, but the instruments, industries, and markets that followed grew elsewhere.

Today, Raman spectroscopy is indispensable in pharmaceutical quality control, materials science, forensic science, semiconductor fabrication, biomedical diagnostics, planetary exploration, and the preservation of cultural heritage. It shows how a single scientific discovery can seed entire technological domains. The Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Scheme 2025, announced by the Prime Minister at ESTIC 2025, is India’s opportunity to ensure that such a story does not repeat. The knowledge generated in our laboratories must be developed, engineered, manufactured, and scaled within India’s own innovation ecosystem.

India today stands at a threshold that Raman could not have imagined. We have a broad network of national laboratories, research universities, technology institutes, and increasingly sophisticated industries. We have a young and ambitious scientific workforce fluent in global research languages, and an entrepreneurial ecosystem willing to attempt what earlier generations could not. Start-ups are venturing into plasma gasification, point-of-care diagnostics, climate-resilient agriculture, water purification, medical imaging, and small-satellite launch systems. The raw material for scientific progress, namely intellect, curiosity, and imagination, exists in abundance.

Knowledge conversion

What India needs now is alignment. We must be able to move from discovery to development, to product, to widespread implementation. Knowledge alone does not generate national capability. Knowledge that converts does.

The Rs. 1 lakh-crore RDI Scheme 2025, anchored by the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), is India’s first systematic effort to build this conversion system. The establishment of an RDI Cell and a Special Purpose Fund allows research programs to continue beyond short funding cycles. The scheme funds ecosystems rather than isolated projects. These include shared instrumentation facilities, pilot-scale manufacturing plants, translational research offices, regulatory facilitation frameworks, and real-world test beds in rivers, farms, clinics, schools and industries.

This structural model is what enabled other nations to convert science into capability. The United States built leadership in semiconductors and computing through DARPA, where universities, suppliers, and users iterated together. Japan’s excellence in materials and precision engineering grew from long-term coordination between academia and manufacturers under MITI. South Korea’s rise in memory and display technology emerged from shared research roadmaps between institutes and industry. China’s position in solar manufacturing and batteries came from mission-linked scaling systems where translation was built into research from the beginning.

The lesson is clear. Scientific insight becomes national power only when research, engineering, manufacturing, and deployment are aligned from the start. To achieve this alignment, three foundational shifts are essential.

First, restore the legitimacy of scientific risk. Frontier science involves uncertainty and failed attempts. A culture that punishes failure gradually eliminates originality. RDI must protect curiosity and exploration while guiding translation.

Second, ensure continuity of teams and funding. Scientific excellence develops cumulatively. Laboratories become centers of gravity only when teams stay together long enough to form shared understanding. When research groups dissolve, tacit knowledge dissolves with them. Continuity is the precondition for depth.

Third, build translation infrastructure with the same seriousness that we build research laboratories. Discoveries must move through prototyping, supply chain integration, certification, regulatory clearance, field testing, and cost optimization. These steps require patient engineering and iterative refinement. Scientists must learn to think like engineers. Engineers must learn to think like users. Institutions must learn to measure progress in reliability and reproducibility, not only in publications.

This final point deserves emphasis. Translation takes time. MRI took decades to become clinical practice. Lithium-ion batteries took decades to become commercially dominant. The technologies that shape civilization mature gradually through repeated refinement. Rushing translation weakens ideas. Nurturing translation strengthens them. The success of the RDI Scheme 2025 must therefore be measured not by rapid announcements but by durable capability. This moment is promising: Indian industry is now a co-creator, not just a consumer.

With deeper manufacturing ecosystems, better quality systems, and modernized regulations, the private sector can finally partner with research from the start. Yet discipline is key - RDI must not be judged by start-ups or patents, but by reliability, reproducibility, and the ability to scale. True success lies in systems that endure long after the first funding cycle ends.

To honour Raman is not merely to celebrate his genius. It is to complete the unfinished half of his story. Raman discovered but the world built on it. This time, India must discover and India must build.

Raman once said: “The essence of science is independent thinking and hard work.” India has always had independent thinkers. What we needed was a system that allows knowledge to travel its full arc from curiosity to capability. The RDI Scheme 2025 is that system.

(The author is the former Director, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune; Visiting Professor, IIT Bombay. Views personal.)