The Delhi Assembly witnessed ruckus on Thursday as the Opposition BJP alleged that Speaker Ram Niwas Goel had removed a reference to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi from a recent resolution passed in the House, leading the BJP MLAs to be suspended for the day.
BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa had demanded the removal of the Speaker for allegedly taking out the demand for withdrawal of the late Prime Minister’s Bharat Ratna from a resolution passed on December 21, 2018, seeking justice for 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims.
While the AAP MLA who read out that resolution, Jarnail Singh, had made the demand, the statement was not included in the written resolution distributed in the House that day as well as the bulletin of the proceedings published later.
Proceedings adjourned
Reacting to Mr. Sirsa’s demand, the Speaker said the notice could not be accepted as it has to be given 14 days in advance. After that, Mr. Sirsa entered the well of the House to protest. Mr. Goel then ordered marshals to escort Mr. Sirsa out, suspending him, Leader of the Opposition Vijender Gupta and BJP MLA Jagdish Pradhan for the day. Proceedings were adjourned for 15 minutes.
Speaking to reporters outside the House, Mr. Sirsa alleged that the marshals had manhandled him and removed his turban.
“We had moved a resolution that the Congress should be declared a party of murderers for their involvement in the massacre of innocent Sikhs in 1984. Just because the AAP wants to get into an alliance with the Congress, they have removed the reference to Rajiv Gandhi in the resolution,” Mr. Sirsa said.
When the House reconvened, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that Mr. Sirsa had “created a drama” by “removing his own turban” and that marshals had dithered in removing him from the House. While Mr. Bharadwaj demanded Mr. Sirsa be suspended for two sessions, the Speaker handed over the matter to the Privileges Committee.