‘Remarks’ on Sikh Gurus: Assembly panel seeks Atishi’s reply by Jan 19

The Privileges Committee of Delhi Assembly on Thursday directed Leader of Opposition (LoP) Atishi to submit a written reply on her alleged statement against Sikh Gurus during the proceedings of the house on January 6.

The committee directed her to make the submission before or on January 19.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Thursday alleged that the entire matter is an organised attempt to prove a lie as truth.

He further claimed that this case is State vs Meta, not against individuals whose social media accounts are being scrutinised. Despite this, the police presented a list of several Facebook, Instagram, and X (Previously Twitter) accounts in court, but none were made parties to the case.

He questioned why, if the intention was to bring out the truth, the accused individuals were not made parties to the case.

Sirsa said the report nowhere specifies which part of the video, from which second to which second, was tampered with. Merely stating that “the video is doctored” is not forensics but storytelling.

He mentioned that since the incident, Atishi has not come forward publicly, appeared in the Assembly, or clarified her statement. “Registration of an FIR by the police before the independent forensic investigation initiated by the Assembly Speaker shows fear of the truth emerging,” he said.

An official communication from the Assembly Secretariat stated, “The Chairperson, Committee of Privileges, has directed that your written statement about the incident should be submitted to the undersigned on or before January 19.”

“Despite the Speaker’s repeated requests that discussion on pollution had been listed for the next day, you continued to defy the requests. While doing so, you had allegedly made derogatory remarks against the Sikh Gurus which led to pandemonium in the House and disturbed the proceedings,” it read.

“Keeping with the principles of natural justice, the Speaker requested that you attend the sitting and clarify the true position. However, on January 8, after you failed to attend the sitting of the House and explain your statements, the matter was referred to the Committee of Privileges,” it read.