Business piles up as House witnesses 4th day of chaos

Even as legislative business continued to pile up, the Winter Session of the Delhi Assembly descended further into disarray on the fourth day, with nonstop sloganeering, MLAs rushing into the Well of the House and repeated adjournments leaving proceedings paralysed for much of the day.

- Paras Singh

The flashpoint on Thursday remained the alleged remarks made by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Leader of Opposition Atishi, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs demanding action against her for allegedly “disrespecting Sikh gurus”. Atishi was absent from the House for the second day ina row.

After three adjournments, meetings with senior leaders from both BJP and the AAP, and representations from the parties, Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta ordered a forensic examination of a video clip allegedly showing Atishi’s remarks, which lies at the centre of the confrontation. Gupta said the clip had been sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Delhi. “Instructions have been issued to the Assembly secretariat to provide the concerned video clip to the forensic department, and the forensic examination report has been sought within 15 days,” he said.

The AAP has alleged that the video clip had been “tampered with” and said it had itself sought a forensic probe. “In view of this, and with the consent of the ruling party, the said video has been sent for forensic examination. Despite being repeatedly called to the House, the Leader of the Opposition, Ms Atishi, has not yet presented her version before the Assembly. Therefore, this inquiry is being conducted to ascertain the factual position,” Gupta said.