Taking full responsibility for screening of the video clip showing revenue minister and Youth Akali Dal president Bikram Singh Majithia hurling abuses at Congress MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh in the assembly, at a public rally at Muktsar on Sunday, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh today said that the Punjab assembly Speaker’s order of expunging it from the assembly records or banning its display was irrelevant since it was already in the public domain. He said, since it was broadcast live on news channels like the PTC with Speaker’s permission only, how can it be expunged now.Questioning the impartiality of the Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal on the issue, Capt Amarinder pointed out, it was more than obvious and clearly audible what Majithia had said in the assembly. All the members present in the house, the journalists in the media gallery and everybody heard what Majithia said and still he (the Speaker) was claiming that he did not hear anything.
Referring to the Speaker exploring the options of taking legal action against the Congress MLAs for screening the video and seeking opinion from constitutional experts, the PCC President said, he (the Speaker) should better examine his own role and constitutional duty first. Moreover, he told the Speaker that he had ordered the screening of the video and none of his MLAs should be held responsible for that. “If you have any problems you deal with me and do not harass my MLAs”, he told the Speaker.The PCC President said, if the Speaker really did not hear anything then what made him to expunge the remarks from the records and suspend the Congress MLA and let off Majithia. Moreover, he pointed out, before taking any such decision it is the duty of the Speaker to verify everything himself and convince himself about the decision he was taking.
He asked the Speaker as why he was not prepared to take any action against Majithia even now when the whole world knows what he has spoken inside the august chamber he (the Speaker) presides over. “Just because you have volunteered not to listen and watch yourself what Majithia said does not mean others should also be forced not to listen and see”, he said.The PCC President told the Speaker that he cannot escape his Constitutional duty by volunteering to be ignorant about what happened very much in his presence. He said, it reflects so badly upon the functioning of the Speaker that he is deliberately feigning ignorance about an incident whose existence has been proved beyond doubt in front of the whole world. Moreover, Capt Amarinder said, Majithia in so many newspaper interviews after the incident has admitted that he did abuse Rana Gurjeet in the floor of the house and how is it possible that the Speaker did not get to read those newspapers.