New Delhi: Life comes in full circle. It has turned true as BJP’s Vijender Gupta, who was once ‘thrown’ out of the Delhi Assembly amid fury over allegedly derogatory remarks by a party colleague, OP Sharma, against the then-AAP MLA Alka Lamba, returns to the same House as its speaker ten year later.
When AAP had 67 MLAs in the Delhi Assembly, the then Speaker, on Kejriwal’s instructions, had BJP MLA Vijender Gupta dragged out of the House.
Today, he has been elected Speaker, while both the former Speaker and Kejriwal are no longer part of the Assembly. pic.twitter.com/pGE4JCp0gN
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) February 19, 2025
Visuals dating back to 2015 from within the Delhi Assembly show Gupta being lifted, shouting and twisting, by half-a-dozen marshals. As seen in those visuals, he had even held tightly onto the furniture, resisting the exit. But the wheel of fortune turned and he became the Speaker after retaining the Rohini seat—that he has held since 2015—in the recently-concluded Delhi polls.
“I am thankful to the party for giving me this responsibility… to be Speaker of the Delhi Assembly. I will fulfill my responsibility. I hope we will have healthy discussions in the House,” he told PTI. “Maintaining the decorum of the House is our responsibility. It is the temple of democracy and our goal is to maintain its dignity…” he told the ANI.
His return may bring more trouble for a battered AAP. Earlier, he had promised that 14 pending reports by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, or CAG, about the former AAP government would be tabled in the House. He also claimed that such reports would expose how AAP misled Delhi people with false promises and engaged in graft.
What Happened In 2015?
On November 30, 2015, BJP MLAs had allegedly created ruckus over the alleged derogatory remarks. Ram Niwas Goel, then the Speaker, asked Vijender Gupta to leave the House till 4 pm. When he refused to go, the marshals were called in and despite his resistance, the staff evicted him.
Before his eviction, Gupta accused the Speaker of being partial towards the AAP.
