The Leader of Opposition (LoP) Atishi called the suspension of 21 MLAs of Aam Aadmi Party an injustice to the opposition in her letter to Speaker Vijender Gupta. She also urged him to "protect the democratic values." To her letter, the speaker responded by saying that it is extremely surprising that the opposition is not aware of rules and regulations despite being in power for 12 years.
In her letter, Atishi wrote, “I am writing this letter with great pain and sorrow. The biggest strength of democracy is its fairness and equality. But whatever happened in the Delhi Assembly in the past few days is not only an injustice to the opposition MLAs but also a severe blow to democratic values.”
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She further wrote, “On 25 February 2025, during the address of Lt Governor, MLAs of the ruling party raised slogans of 'Modi-Modi,' while the opposition MLAs raised slogans of 'Jai Bhim,' respecting the views of Baba Saheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar. Unfortunately, no action was taken against any MLA of the ruling party, but 21 MLAs of the opposition were suspended from the House for 3 days for raising the slogan 'Jai Bhim'.”
Responding to her letter, Vijender Gupta wrote, “It is extremely surprising that the opposition is unaware of the rules and regulations related to the conduct of business in the House. Especially when the same political party was in power for the last 12 years.”
He further explained the chronological order of the events and wrote, “On February 24, 2025, when the election of the Speaker was held, it should have been a dignified process. But, unfortunately, the process was marred by sloganeering and disruption by opposition members. Despite this unruly conduct, I exercised restraint and did not take any disciplinary action against any MLA so that our new assembly term would begin in the spirit of democratic inclusion. On February 25, 2025, when the Hon'ble Lieutenant Governor delivered the inaugural address, the opposition MLAs again created disruptions, due to which the Lieutenant Governor could not complete his address in a dignified manner.”
He said that this amounts to a clear violation of the Schedule (Code of Conduct Rules).