Vice-presidential retirements are usually sedate footnotes in the news cycle. Jagdeep Dhankhar's sudden resignation, however, feels more like an exclamation mark! Dhankhar spent his tenure as Rajya Sabha Chair tilting unambiguously toward the Treasury benches. From blocking Opposition adjournment motions to expunging critiques of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he wore partisanship on his sleeve.

If there was something that set Jagdeep Dhankhar apart, it was his outspokenness in the House, particularly in countering the criticism of Modi and the BJP. So, his silence now is nothing short of deafening. It might have been this outspokenness that spoiled the show for him.

His recent jaunts without a leash and unchaperoned tête-à-têtes with members of the opposite group were no doubt already a bone too hard to swallow for the upper échelon of the party. His stealing a march in the Yashwant Varma impeachment bash, presumably, was the last straw. He would have done well to remember that, though he showed more loyalty to Modi than anyone else, he was never an insider.

Dhankhar's fall must be read alongside a wider recalibration inside the Parivar. Since the BJP's reduced majority in 2024, the RSS has been tightening organisational screws. There is a palpable wave of disquietude washing over the nation with an order allowing all central civil-service employees to join RSS activities, ending a 58-year prohibition. Simultaneously, the Sangh is consolidating its physical and symbolic power: a ?150-crore, 13-storey headquarters in Delhi offers 300 rooms for pracharaks, a library, and even a mini-hospital. In the states, RSS liaison chief Arun Kumar is driving booth-level reviews following setbacks. The RSS is increasingly insisting on cadre-driven presidents over "turncoat" faces. Bureaucrats, sensing the wind, have already begun queuing at RSS offices seeking plum postings.

Against this backdrop, Dhankhar's undoing is instructive. He embodied the ferocity the regime once valued: castigating judges, chiding civil-rights lawyers, and treating parliamentary neutrality as optional. It is natural for the Presiding Officers in both Houses to have a soft corner for the dispensation which appointed them. Still, it is not expected that the Vice President, any more than the Governor, will be a political actor, furthering the agenda of the ruling party.

It was as Governor of Bengal that he was widely seen performing that role against the democratically elected government led by CM Mamata Banerjee. In fact, it is common knowledge at this point that his elevation was a reward for those services. As Governor, he tormented the Mamata Banerjee government with daily missives, social media duels, and selective assent to bills. One study found that he summoned state officials more often than any predecessor since 1950, often during BJP agitation cycles. In effect, Dhankhar pioneered the now-familiar playbook of gubernatorial obstruction against Opposition-ruled states.

In a paradox worthy of the Indian political drama, the Vice-President who thundered about parliamentary supremacy exits without a single speech. In the annals of history, he will not be missed.