The first day of the first session of the newly-constituted eighth Delhi Assembly commenced on Monday on a stormy note with AAP leader Atishi, who is the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, alleging that pictures of Dr. B R Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh have been removed from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).
The three-day session commenced on Monday will continue till February 27.
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Congratulating Vijender Gupta on his election as Delhi Assembly Speaker, Atishi said photos of B R Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh had allegedly been removed from the CMO.
Her remarks, without the permission of the Chair, resulted in an uproar in the House. The AAP members resorted to sloganeering in the House and were on their feet, with BJP members countering their charges.
The Speaker expressed his displeasure over the sloganeering by the AAP legislators. “The Opposition is behaving irresponsibly. You will get time. An attempt is being made to hurt the dignity of the House. I urge Opposition members to take their seats and allow the House to function. AAP members have come with an intention to disturb the House. You should not have made it a political platform. The opposition does not want the House to run smoothly,” he said.
Gupta condemned Leader of the Opposition Atishi for trying to raise an issue without permission and disturbing the proceedings. “I want to warn the Opposition that they should not try to spread anarchy. They should let the proceedings continue smoothly,” he said.
When the AAP MLAs continued to create a ruckus during the proceedings, the Speaker adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
Atishi, said in a post on X, “BJP has shown its true anti-Dalit and anti-Sikh face. Photos of Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar and Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh have been removed from the Chief Minister’s Office of Delhi Legislative Assembly.”
She attached a photo with her X post with herself as CM and another with Rekha Gupta in the CM office. The first photo had images of Ambedkar on the wall behind her while the one with the newly-elected CM, Gupta, had photos of President Droupadi Murmu, Mahatma Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Atishi met Chief Minister Rekha Gupta in her chamber before holding a press conference, claiming that the BJP had removed the photos of Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from all government offices.
Speaking outside the Assembly, Atishi accused the BJP of being “anti-Dalit and anti-Sikh” alleging that the ruling party has removed the pictures of B R Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from the Delhi Chief Minister’s office. “The anti-Dalit mentality of the Bharatiya Janata Party is well known. Today, a proof of its anti-Dalit mentality has been presented. Arvind Kejriwal had put up photos of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh in every office of the Delhi government. Since, BJP has come to power, BJP has removed both these photos from the Chief Minister’s office. This shows that the BJP is an anti-Dalit, anti-Sikh party,” she alleged.
She also castigated the BJP government over the “unfulfilled promise” related to the Mahila Samman Yojana.
BJP MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah slammed the AAP over its protest in the Assembly. “No photo has been removed. They have brought photos from anywhere. They started off their careers from Anna Hazare’s (protests)…We thought Arvind Kejriwal was the only one who lied. But she (Delhi Assembly LoP, Atishi) is ahead of him,” he alleged.
