Phansi Ghar row Delhi Assembly Speaker directs inquiry by privileges committee Kejriwal to be summoned

New Delhi, Aug 7 (PTI) Asserting that there was no 'Phansi Ghar' on Delhi Assembly premises, its Speaker Vijender Gupta said on Thursday that the matter will be referred to the Privileges Committee for an in-depth investigation that will summon former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with others.
     Gupta also said it was decided that the foundation plaque bearing the names of Kejriwal and others be removed.
     The Speaker had earlier told the House that the structure, which was renovated and inaugurated in 2022 by then chief minister Kejriwal as a "Phansi Ghar" (execution room), was actually a "tiffin room" as per records. There are two such rooms.
     Displaying a 1912 map of the assembly complex, he had said on Wednesday that there was no documentation or evidence indicating that the space was used for executions.
     Giving directions on the matter on Thursday, Gupta said he is referring the entire issue to the Privileges Committee of the House for an in-depth investigation.
     "The Committee shall summon Arvind Kejriwal, the then chief minister, Ram Niwas Goel, then speaker of the Assembly, Manish Sisodia, then deputy chief minister, and Rakhi Birla, then deputy speaker.
     All of them were present and oversaw the inauguration of this so-called execution room on August 9, 2022, he added.
     Tampering with a heritage building, misrepresenting a historical structure as a gallows or a tunnel, and attempting to falsify history constitute an unforgivable crime against the truth, he said.
     "This House, in the strongest possible terms, condemns this grave act of distortion and deceit," he said.
     The Speaker said Aam Aadmi Party, which was the ruling party at the time this "misrepresentation" occurred, was requested to present concrete evidence justifying the construction of such a structure.
     However, despite being given three days, they failed to provide any logical or factual justification, he said.
     Their continued silence has further strengthened the conclusion that this was a "deliberate and fraudulent" act.
     "The heritage structure of the Delhi Legislative Assembly building shall be restored to its original form.
     "In both of the rooms (originally designated as tiffin rooms), the 1912 architectural map of the Assembly building shall be prominently displayed to ensure that no one can ever again distort or undermine the historical dignity of this institution," he announced in the House.
     The foundation stone plaque, installed on August 9, 2022 to mark the inauguration of the 'phansi ghar' bearing the names of Kejriwal and Sisodia shall be removed immediately, he added.
     There was no immediate reaction from AAP.
     Gupta, who was among the opposition members during the AAP rule, said that when the Kejriwal government had announced that there was an "execution room", they used to revere it as a site of martyrdom.
     At the inauguration ceremony in 2022, coinciding with the commemoration of the Quit India Movement on August 9, "my own emotions-along with those of fellow opposition members -- were stirred with patriotic sentiment", he said.
     Citing authenticated documents received from the National Archives of India, including a 1912 map of the Assembly premises, he said that crores of rupees were spent on constructing a fake gallows and disseminating "misleading" advertisements.
     The research conducted by various esteemed institutions such as the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), historians from Delhi University and JNU, the MCD Heritage Cell, Delhi Archives, and other independent historians, has confirmed that no gallows ever existed in this building.
     "This revelation deeply hurt my sentiments. I felt deceived. Like me, thousands - perhaps millions- of citizens who had believed this false narrative now feel betrayed and misled," he rued.
     He also said there was no tunnel leading from the Assembly premises to the Red Fort.
     Delhi's environment minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said it was "highly condemnable" that a place where people would have consumed non-vegetarian food was called 'Phansi Ghar', where freedom fighters attained martyrdom.
     Earlier, AAP had said that the BJP was trying to shield the British by saying that there was no execution room.
     The Delhi Assembly building, located on Old Secretariat Road, was built in 1912 for the Imperial Legislative Council when Delhi became the capital.
     After various administrative uses post-independence, it became the seat of the Delhi Legislative Assembly in 1993.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)