Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel on Wednesday, 31 January, ruled out the possibility of the removal of Tipu Sultan’s portrait from the Delhi Assembly.

He accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to create controversy by raising an issue with the 18th century Mysore ruler’s portrait.

“Won’t remove the portrait at any cost. (The) BJP always creates controversies,” Goel said during an official meeting here.

He also said that strict action will be taken against anyone who tries to remove the portrait.

Tipu’s portrait was unveiled by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Republic Day. It was among 70 portraits unveiled in the Assembly on that day.

Others whose portraits grace the Assembly include freedom fighters Ashfaqulla Khan and Bhagat Singh, Birsa Munda, Rani Chennamma and Subhas Chandra Bose, all of whom contributed to nation-building and freedom struggle.

Goel told the media that the portraits were on display for two weeks before their formal unveiling.

“I never shared the list of 70 portraits, neither with the ruling party MLAs nor with the Opposition members. Also, I never received objection from the Opposition about the portrait of Tipu Sultan,” he said.

“The Constitution of India also carries a picture of Tipu Sultan on the page number 144 of Chapter 16. So either the people, who had written the constitution, were wrong or they (BJP) are,” the Assembly speaker said.

The portraits are two-and-a-half-feet long and one-and-a-half-feet wide and carry a brief description of the personality and their contribution to the country.

BJP alleges that Tipu Sultan was a “tyrant who forced four lakh Hindus and Christians to convert”.

Delhi BJP legislator Om Prakash Sharma had at the time of unveiling said that the AAP should not put portraits of controversial personalities in the assembly building.

In response, AAP’s Saurabh Bhardwaj had asked the BJP to suggest names from their party or RSS who had contributed to the freedom struggle but they “could not come up with any”.

Tipu Sultan has been at the centre of a slugfest between BJP and the Congress in Karnataka.

When the Congress government in Karnataka led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah decided to celebrate Tipu’s jayanti, the BJP opposed it by labelling the Mysore ruler a tyrant. BJP called Siddaramaiah’s decision to celebrate Tipu jayanti an act of minority appeasement.

The Congress believes that Tipu was a brave ruler who fought for freedom from the British.

In a letter Union Minister of State for Skill Development Ananth Kumar Hegde had asked that his name should not be included in the invites to programmes celebrating Tipu Jayanti.