'I am a sufferer...': Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar days after mimicry row (WATCH)

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday branded himself as a "sufferer" who has to keep enduring "insults", days after a row over a parliamentarian's alleged mimicry of him. "I am a sufferer! A sufferer knows how to withstand from within, taking all upfront, enduring all insults," he added.

Days after a dispute over a parliamentarian's purported impersonation of him, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday defined himself as a "sufferer" who must continue to bear "insults". Dhankhar, who chairs the Rajya Sabha, was addressing the current batch of the Indian Statistical Service (ISS) probationers at his official residence.

Speaking at the event, he said,"I am a sufferer! A sufferer knows how to withstand from within, taking all upfront, enduring all insults, with one direction - we are in the service of our Bharat Mata."

Telling the probationers to learn to endure criticism, he said people don't spare him even though he holds a constitutional post. "People don't spare me, even in my constitutional roles as Vice President, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, and Chairman! Should that change my mindset? Should that result in deviation of my path? No! On the path of righteousness, we must always proceed," he added.

Never be deterred by those who have poor digestive system for our growth, he further said, referring to such persons as "chronic critics".

Former Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee parody act was dubbed a "personal attack" by Dhankhar  with the ruling alliance even standing in the parliament for an hour in his honour. Dhankhar said that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him and mentioned that he had been "receiving end of such insults" for 20 years.

Amid strong BJP criticism, Trinamool and Banerjee had both defended the act by saying "mimicry is an art" and it had nothing to do with Dhankhar.