Assembly slams 'removal' of Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh photos from Delhi CMO

The Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday unanimously passed a motion condemning the alleged removal of photos of Dr BR Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh from the office of the Delhi Chief Minister.

The main opposition party Congress supported the motion.

While moving the motion, Cabinet minister and AAP president Aman Arora said the removal of photos had exposed the anti-Dalit face of the BJP as national heroes had been insulted.

Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema expressed concern over the BJP's "intentions to alter fabric of the nation's constitution". Drawing attention to a recent attempt to desecrate the statue of Dr Ambedkar in Amritsar, Cheema said swift action was taken against the accused.

MLAs Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi and Nachhattar Pal Singh also spoke on the matter.

Joining the issue, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said the BJP did not wait even for a day to remove the photos of the national heroes. In the same breath, Bajwa sought a unanimous resolution recommending Bharat Ratna for late Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.

As the motion was being debated, there were a heated exchange between the treasury bench and the Congress MLA when Arora questioned Bajwa for not opposing Rahul Gandhi when the latter had in 2013 torn copies of an ordinance brought by the then Manmohan Singh-led government to protect convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification.

Alleging that Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan had gone back on his word, Bajwa alleged Arora was prodded by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to rake up an irrelevant issue as the AAP government did not want to bring a resolution supporting Bharat Ratna for Dr Singh.