New Delhi, January 3: BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Thursday alleged that he was assaulted by AAP legislators inside the Delhi assembly. Manjinder Singh Sirsa further claimed that his turban was forcibly removed by marshals when the Speaker Ram Niwas Goel asked them to throw me out.

Sirsa said cameras installed inside the Delhi assembly were turned off when he was being beaten up by AAP MLAs. "My turban was removed. I had to go to the washroom to wear it again. I was talking about Sikhs. Saurabh Bhardwaj and Jarnail Singh were present when my turban was removed," Sirsa alleged.

The BJP legislator also said he opposed the deletion of the demand asking the Centre to take back Bharat Ratna from former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi from the proposal approved by the House in the last meeting. "Arvind Kejriwal has sold himself to the Congress," Sirsa alleged.

A controversy erupted on December 21, when AAP MLA Jarnail Singh, after reading out the resolution for speedy trial of cases and justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, added a line demanding withdrawal of the Bharat Ratna given to Rajiv Gandhi, alleging that the late prime minister "justified anti-Sikh riots".

The AAP had said the demand of its MLA for stripping Rajiv Gandhi of Bharat Ratna was an amendment to a resolution which was not approved by the House. The Assembly Secretariat had also issued a three-page "brief summary of House proceedings" which showed that the resolution had sought to call the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as "genocide" and did not mention Rajiv Gandhi's name.

The Delhi Assembly had adopted the resolution by a voice vote. However, there was a doubt over whether the line was a part of the resolution. Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, the Delhi government and the AAP had maintained that the demand for the withdrawal of Bharat Ratna was not part of the resolution and that it was only a demand of an MLA, which can only be considered as a proposed amendment to the resolution.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 03, 2019 04:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).