People all over the country and people who work in politics were shocked when Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar quit in the middle of his term on July 21, 2025. Officially, he said he was worried about his health, but many top theories point to deeper and more complicated reasons. The most likely reasons for his leaving are listed below:
Dhankhar sahab was pro-govt, no doubt, but something changed in Nov–Dec 2024. The INDI bloc moved a no-confidence motion against him, the first ever in Rajya Sabha history, accusing him of being extremely partisan.
Though it didn’t pass, Dhankhar sahab seemed to shift stance and…
— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) July 22, 2025
1. Official Reason: Concerns for health
Dhankhar told President Droupadi Murmu in his letter of retirement that:
“In order to put health care first and follow medical advice, I am stepping down as Vice President of India right now…”
Several news outlets, such as the Hindustan Times, Reuters, and the Economic Times, claimed that he said he needed to listen to doctors and focus on his health.
At age 74, it\’s possible that he has real health problems that force him to quit early.
2. Political Pressure
A Fight with the Government: Some people in the opposition, like Jairam Ramesh of Congress and Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, said Dhankhar\’s move wasn\’t for health reasons but was because of politics.
They said that the fact that Dhankhar and top ministers missed important meetings on the first day of the Monsoon Session showed that there was trouble.
NDTV said that the Centre was unhappy that Dhankhar, as Chair of the Rajya Sabha, agreed to an impeachment motion against a judge backed by the opposition without consulting the government first. This made things more tense.
3. Tensions Over Parliamentary Autonomy:
Analysts from the Economic Times and India Today say that Dhankhar\’s growing public presence, in which he criticizes the courts and fights for farmer rights, is making people in his own party uncomfortable.
The JMM-Congress-RJD group in Jharkhand said that the BJP\’s plan to privatize ports got in the way of Dhankhar\’s efforts to get parliament to talk about “Operation Sindoor,” which was important for farmers and the country as a whole. They said things got so bad that the government skipped a meeting of a very important committee.
4. Turning away from important communities
There is unrest in Rajasthan\’s powerful Jat group because Dhankhar quit. This is because they saw him as their national representative. Some see his leaving as the BJP pulling away from the Jat leadership before the polls.
5. The video of “Divine Intervention.”
Recently, a video from 2024 of Dhankhar came back to the public eye. In it, he said that he meant to serve until 2027, “subject to divine intervention.” The difference between that and his sudden resignation has led people to think there are other forces at play.
The political theory is a strong argument against the health one because of the timing (Day 1 of the Monsoon Session) and accounts of government ministers suddenly pulling out of meetings. The impeachment motion event makes it even more likely that the Centre\’s opposition was a big cause.
Until there are more medical details, the story of political pressure and battles for parliamentary autonomy seems very likely to be true.
