ice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday said one should not use a vegetable-cutting knife for bypass surgery and asserted that the notice for his removal from the post was actually a “rusted” tool.

In his first reaction on the notice submitted by the opposition INDIA bloc, Dhankhar said, “Just look at the notice against the vice president. Just look at the six links they have given. “You’ll be shocked. Chandra Shekhar ji once said, ‘Never use a vegetable-cutting knife for bypass surgery’. The notice wasn’t even a vegetable-cutting knife; it was rusted. There was haste.” The notice was rejected by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chair Harivansh.

“When I read it, I was astonished. But what surprised me more was that none of you read it. If you had, you wouldn’t have been able to sleep for days,” he told a group of women journalists. Dhankhar said any constitutional position has to be vindicated by commitment to sublimity, sterling qualities and constitutionalism.

“We are not in a position to settle scores. Because for the success of democracy, two things are inalienable: expression and dialogue,” he said, according to an official statement.

Cautioning against orchestrated efforts to harm national interests, the vice president said these are fuelled in an orchestrated manner by forces that are determined to be inimical to the interest of the country.

“Their objective is to destroy, brick by brick, our constitutional institutions, slur the presidency, and mind you, who is the president? The first tribal woman to become president of this country,” he remarked.

Referring to parliamentary debates, Dhankhar said the two Houses are in the news for the wrong reasons. “Accountability must be enforced by media, the only conveyance to the people at large. Media can strike a chord with the people and generate pressure on public representatives,” he said.