The BJP Speaker of the Delhi Assembly has issued privilege notices to four Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs—merely for proposing that a portrait of India’s first woman teacher and iconic Dalit reformer, Mata Savitribai Phule, be installed in the House. Condemning the move, former Deputy Speaker and senior AAP leader Rakhi Bidlan lambasted the BJP’s casteist and patriarchal mindset, charging the BJP with disrespecting Dalits and women by treating such a historic demand as a punishable offence.
“This is not just political arrogance—it is a direct insult to the legacy of India’s first Dalit woman educator,” she said, vowing that AAP will not allow the BJP’s disdain for social icons to prevail.
Senior AAP leader and former Deputy Speaker of the Delhi Assembly, Rakhi Bidlan, along with AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar, strongly condemned Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta at a press conference held at the party headquarters on Friday. The condemnation follows the issuance of privilege notices to AAP MLAs who demanded the installation of a portrait of Mata Savitribai Phule in the Delhi Assembly.
Rakhi Bidlan said, “Recently, a meeting of the General Purposes Committee (GPC) of the Delhi Assembly was held, in which the installation of portraits of prominent Indian figures was discussed. During this meeting, AAP MLAs demanded the installation of a portrait of Mata Savitribai Phule. In response, privilege notices were issued to them.”
She added, “When our MLAs tried to take this issue to the public through the media, a dictatorial attitude was adopted and four MLAs were served notices. Mata Savitribai Phule is not an ordinary personality. She was the country’s first woman teacher, who opened the first school for girls in 1848.”
Rakhi Bidlan emphasised, “Mata Savitribai Phule is revered as India’s first Dalit woman teacher. It is due to her pioneering efforts in education that today, women in India are serving as Prime Ministers, Presidents, legislators, ministers, engineers, and even fighter pilots. Sending privilege notices to MLAs for demanding the installation of a portrait of such an iconic Dalit woman educator shows the BJP’s blatant disregard for Dalits and women.”
She further asserted, “The BJP’s anti-Dalit and anti-women mindset is well known. Be it Dalit icons, religious leaders, or the nation’s first female teacher, the BJP respects none. This incident proves the BJP’s hostility not only towards Dalits and women but also towards those who laid the foundation of education in India. The BJP continues to showcase its regressive and narrow-minded mentality.”
Rakhi Bidlan rebuked the BJP, saying, “The very Constitution that BJP leaders swear by when assuming office, and through which they come to power via democratic elections, was drafted by Babasaheb Ambedkar. Yet their leaders repeatedly talk about changing the Constitution. Adopting a dictatorial approach over the demand to install a portrait of Mata Savitribai Phule in the Delhi Assembly is deeply saddening and shameful. AAP will strongly oppose this. We demand that Speaker Vijender Gupta immediately install a portrait of Mata Savitribai Phule in the Assembly premises.”
Meanwhile, senior AAP leader and MLA Kuldeep Kumar added, “A few days ago, we held a press conference stating our demand to install a portrait of Mata Savitribai Phule, who opened the first school for girls and advanced women’s education in India. But everyone knows the BJP’s mentality. Apparently, demanding the portrait of a Dalit woman teacher in the Assembly is such a grave offense that we were served privilege violation notices. Perhaps, in the BJP’s eyes, this is a crime punishable by hanging.”
Kuldeep Kumar elaborated, “When Mata Savitribai Phule opened the first school for girls, she was pelted with mud, assaulted, her school was vandalised, and she was threatened with social boycott. Still, she never gave up. Today, the BJP is trying to intimidate us just as they once tried to silence Mata Savitribai and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. But we will not be silenced. This is the same BJP whose parent organisation RSS has always insulted the Constitution. To this day, they have never appointed a Dalit or a woman to any major position within their core leadership.”
He added, “The BJP’s regressive mindset was also evident when President Droupadi Murmu and Ram Nath Kovind were not invited to the Ram Mandir foundation stone ceremony or inauguration, simply because they are Dalit and tribal. Recently, even a film based on the lives of Mata Savitribai Phule and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule faced opposition. Everyone knows who opposed that film. The same mindset is now opposing the installation of Savitribai Phule’s portrait in the Assembly.”
Kuldeep Kumar noted, “There are many films the central government has made tax-free. But not the one on Savitribai Phule. How many BJP ministers have even watched that film? They want to erase her struggle from public memory.”
He asserted, “The BJP is trying to suppress us by issuing privilege notices, but we are not afraid. When there was an attempt to remove Babasaheb Ambedkar’s portrait from the Delhi Assembly, we protested and were thrown out. Now, we are being served notices for demanding the installation of Mata Savitribai Phule’s portrait. This dictatorial behaviour proves the BJP’s opposition to Babasaheb Ambedkar and Mata Savitribai Phule. AAP asks: what objection does the BJP have to her portrait?”
Kuldeep Kumar urged the BJP to come to its senses and immediately install a portrait of Mata Savitribai Phule in the Delhi Assembly. “She is a source of inspiration for the nation’s women and Dalits. The BJP must shed its anti-Dalit mindset and do this without delay.”
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