New Delhi | After being denied entry to the Delhi Assembly premises on Thursday, Leader of Opposition Atishi and other AAP MLAs staged a "dharna" outside and the LoP also sent a letter to President Droupadi Murmu.
In her letter to the president, the former chief minister said the BJP is "crossing all limits of dictatorship" after coming to power in Delhi.
"The BJP government in Delhi has removed the pictures of Constitution maker Baba Saheb Ambedkar ji and Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh ji from various offices of the Delhi government. This is not only an insult to the brave sons of the country but also an insult to the Dalit, backward and deprived society," the letter said.
When the AAP opposed this move and tried to raise the issue in the Assembly, Speaker Vijendra Gupta undemocratically expelled 21 party MLAs from the meetings of the House for three days on February 25, it added.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs were suspended from the Assembly over disruptions in the House proceedings during Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena's address on Tuesday. The AAP said it was protesting the alleged removal of B R Ambedkar's portrait from the chief minister's office.
The AAP leaders staged the "dharna" outside the gate of the Assembly premises on Thursday.
With "dafli" beats in the background, they held placards with photos of Ambedkar and raised slogans against the ruling party, such as "BJP sun le, Jai Bhim, Jai Bhim" and "BJP ki tanashahi nahi chalegi (the BJP's dictatorship will not work)".
AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar told PTI, "We raised slogans of Jai Bhim (in the Assembly) and for that, were suspended for three days. Today, we were not allowed to enter the House. This is wrong. How can they stop the voice of the opposition? How can they bar the entire opposition from participating (in the House proceedings)?"
Another AAP MLA, Sanjeev Jha, said, "The speaker's order is strange. We were the ones who supported his appointment and now, he has expelled us. We are trying to reach out to the speaker, but he is not answering our calls. This BJP government hates Dr B R Ambedkar's ideology."
In her letter to the president, Atishi said, "Today, on February 27, when the MLAs of Aam Aadmi Party were going to Delhi Assembly, we were stopped outside the premises of the Assembly by heavy barricading by Delhi Police. Preventing elected representatives from reaching the Vidhan Sabha is the murder of democracy."
"We hope that you will take immediate cognisance of this very serious matter and please fix a time for the AAP MLAs to meet you on February 28," the letter added.
Defending the suspended legislators, Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan, the only one left in the House from the AAP, said, "It is unprecedented that MLAs have been stopped at the gates of the Delhi Assembly premises. You were also in the opposition in the past and have been marshalled out, but your people were never made to leave the premises. I request that you call the suspended MLAs back to the House."
Slamming the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Khan claimed that it is not fulfilling any of the promises it had made in its manifesto for the Assembly polls held earlier in the month. "I want to ask, why has it not implemented the promise of providing Rs 2,500 each to women." he said.
Earlier, in a post on X, Atishi said, "AAP MLAs were suspended from the House for three days for raising slogans of 'Jai Bhim'. And today, they are not even being allowed to enter the Vidhan Sabha premises. This has never happened in the history of the Delhi Legislative Assembly."
Twenty-one of the 22 AAP MLAs, including Atishi, were suspended from the House on Tuesday. The suspension of the MLAs came on a day when the Delhi government tabled a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the liquor policy in the House, further intensifying the face-off between the AAP and the BJP.
As soon as the LG began his address on Thursday, the AAP legislators started raising slogans against the alleged removal of the portraits of Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from the chief minister's office.
Minister Parvesh Verma moved a motion for the suspension of the opposition MLAs present in the House. Gupta suspended the 21 AAP legislators for disrupting Saxena's inaugural address to the newly-constituted House and issued orders to marshall them out.
Following their suspension, the AAP MLAs staged a demonstration within the Assembly complex, holding up portraits of Ambedkar. Atishi accused the BJP of trying to erase Ambedkar's legacy.
"The BJP has shown its true colours by removing Babasaheb Ambedkar's portrait. Does it believe Prime Minister Narendra Modi can replace Babasaheb?" she asked.
