New Delhi: Miffed over opposition's threat that it will not let the House function unless the picture of Tipu Sultan is removed from the gallery, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Wednesday dared Delhi BJP leaders to first remove page number 144 from the Constitution of India and accused them of habitually stoking controversies where there aren't any.
"...first remove page number 144 from the Constitution of India and then I will think about this (removing the portrait of Tipu Sultan). ...they (BJP) talk like a two-faced snake," Goel said.
Page 144, chapter 16, of the original copy of the Constitution bears the pictures of Rani Jhansi on one side and Tipu Sultan on the other. BJP, which has four members in the Delhi Assembly, has objected to the portrait of Tipu Sultan being displayed in the Assembly.
BJP MLA Majinder Singh Sira has allegedly threatened to physically tear down the portrait of the 18th century ruler of Mysore while leader of opposition, Vijender Gupta, rued that AAP government chose to stoke controversy as it did not consult him before installing Tipu Sultan's portrait in the assembly.
Clarifying the issue, Goel said that it was the nine General Purposes Committee led by the Speaker which had chosen the 70 revolutionaries who would find a place of honour in the Delhi Assembly. The General Purposes Committee did not have any members from the opposition and the names it chose were not shared either with the ruling party or the opposition.
“It is not necessary that the opposition four members would be repeated in every committee. Opposition members have been included in committees where there is a need for them but not in this one,” he added.
Goel urged Sirsa and Gupta to read the Constitution carefully and listen to President Ram Nath Kovind. The President, in his address to the Karnataka legislature on October 25 last year, had reserved high praise for Tipu Sultan.
"Tipu Sultan died a heroic death fighting the British, he was also a pioneer in the development and use of Mysore rockets in warfare. The Technology was later adopted by the Europeans," the President had said.
"If anyone wanted to raise an objection, they could have raised objections before they were formally unveiled. Though the list was not formally shared, the pictures were there for everybody to see", said Prassana K Suryadevara, Secretray of Delhi Assembly.
The Speaker also pointed out that one member had moved a motion of thanks in the sixth session of the Delhi Assembly on the same issue, but that not one member, not even Sirsa had raised any objection to the inclusion of Tipu Sultan.
On 26th January, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had formally inaugurated the gallery of revolutionaries which has seventy portraits, among them the 18th century Adivasi leader Tilka Majhi and the 18th ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan.
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