The Delhi Assembly on Tuesday was adjourned when Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators created a ruckus over the remarks made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Manjinder Singh Sirsa in which he referred Dalit community as “chotti jati” (low caste).

Sirsa was speaking in a calling attention session ~Rule 54~ on the hardships being faced by the sanitation workers of municipal corporations due to non-regularisation of their services and lack of other basic facilities.

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Citing an example how Guru Gobind Singh never discriminated people belonging to lower castes, Singh speaking in Hindi language referred to them as “chotti jati”. The AAP legislators pounced upon the chance to corner Sirsa and demanded an apology from him for using a “derogatory remark” against Dalit community.

Sirsa, however, refused to apologise. He explained his position that he had metaphorically used the word as a reference that how other people see the Dalit community.

AAP legislators were unconvinced by Sirsa’s explanation. They stormed into the well of the House and started sloganeering against the BJP and its legislators. AAP legislators also charged Sirsa for doing drama (nautanki) in the House by raking up teachings of Guru Gobind Singh.

Demanding suspension of Sirsa for the rest of the Delhi Assembly session over his “derogatory language” against Dalit community, AAP legislators did not pay heed to Speaker Ram Niwas Goel’s plea to maintain the decorum of the House. The action of AAP legislators prompted Speaker to adjourn the House for rest of the day.

Later, Sirsa took to micro-blogging site Twitter accusing AAP MLAs for stopping him when he was talking about Guru Gobind Singh.

“I was forcefully stopped when I was talking about Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji and Bhai Jaita Singh ji in Delhi Assembly today. Can these hooligans stop a True Sikh from taking name of Sri Guru Gobind Maharaj?? Shame on how you twist truth,” Sirsa tweeted.

Earlier, all four BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly to lodge their protest after Speaker Ram Niwas Goel turned down the request of leader of opposition Vijender Gupta for a discussion on the condition of ‘jhuggis’ in the city. As the House proceedings began, Gupta demanded immediate discussion despite Goel’s assurance that he would allow it later.

Gupta, Om Prakash Sharma, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Jagdish Pradhan, then walked out of the House in protest.