Amid gallows versus tiffin room controversy, Delhi Chief Minister (CM) Rekha Gupta on Wednesday charged that Phansi-ghar (execution room)on Delhi Assembly premises is nothing but AAP's lies and sought a probe into the claims. She said every penny spent on renovating it should be recovered.
Earlier, Speaker Vijender Gupta conducted on Wednesday a guided tour of Phansi-ghar for mediapersons at Delhi Assembly and said the structure, renovated and inaugurated in 2022 by the then CM Arvind Kejriwal, was actually a tiffin room and not a site for executions during the colonial era. "There is no such history. It was actually a tiffin room, and there was a misconception that it was used to hang freedom fighters during the British Rule," he said.
The Delhi Assembly witnessed high drama on Wednesday as the BJP and the AAP sparred over the controversial execution room on its premises, leading to the marshalling out of Leader of Opposition Atishi and other MLAs of the Opposition party amid noisy protests.
Replying to the debate under Rule 271 on Authenticity of Phansi-ghar, the CM said Rs one crore was spent on decorating the so-called Phansi-Ghar, and the amount should be recovered. There should be an inquiry into the matter.
The CM clarified that the Assembly building was constructed in 1912 and served as the venue for sessions of the Imperial Legislative Council from 1913 to 1926. The area now being falsely portrayed as the execution room was originally a service staircase, constructed for British officers, primarily used for tiffin service and logistical purposes. In contrast, the actual site of the old Delhi jail, where executions took place, was located at what is now Maulana Azad Medical College.
In a jibe at Kejriwal, the CM said the AAP national convener "has multiple degrees, in drama and psychology". She claimed that the former CM was "adept" at playing with people's emotions.
The CM urged the Speaker and the House to immediately remove the misleading signage referencing the execution room from the Assembly premises. She emphasised that this rectification is especially critical ahead of the All India Speakers' Conference scheduled for August 24-August 25, so that dignitaries from across the country are not presented with a falsified version of history.
Meanwhile, the Assembly speaker said that two tiffin rooms equipped with pulley-operated lifts were part of the building. The Assembly building was constructed after the coronation of King George V in 1911. A map of the building specifying each room, including the tiffin rooms, is kept at the National Archives, he said. Displaying a 1912 map of the Assembly complex, he said there was no documentation or evidence indicating that the space was used for executions.
In 2022, Kejriwal, the then CM inaugurated the room in question. Subsequently, a plaque dated August 9, 1942, was installed and visitors were told this was a place of blood and sacrifice, where the British hung revolutionaries.
The present Assembly chamber, he noted, was constructed in 1912 and completed in a record span of eight months under the supervision of contractor Shri Faqir Chand. Designed by British architect E. Montague Thomas, the building was initially intended for the Imperial Legislative Council and later housed the Central Legislative Assembly after 1919. The original architectural drawings are preserved today in the National Archives of India.
In a debate in the Assembly on Tuesday, the BJP MLAs hit out at the AAP for misleading people on the issue.
During the tour, the Speaker highlighted distinctive features of the structure, including two identical colonial-era lift shafts positioned at equal distances from the Speaker's Room—both designed to deliver tiffin boxes to members. These service rooms, he emphasised, have been incorrectly portrayed as gallow house — a claim without any archival basis.
He, however, expressed serious concern over the fact that crores of rupees in public funds had been expended in erroneously projecting this heritage structure as something it never was — an act he described as both misleading and wasteful, undermining the very principles of historical accuracy and responsible stewardship of public resources.
AAP MLA Sanjeev Jha defended the claim and said several such execution rooms built during the British era were never officially documented. "This <phansi ghar></i> was made by the Britishers. Many historians have noted that not all hangings were recorded. There are also varying views among historians about where Bhagat Singh threw the bomb — in this building or Parliament," he said. Jha pointed out that, according to the 1912 map, the only double-storey structure on the premises was the one identified as the <phansi-ghar></i>.
Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said the claim was "proof that Delhi was ruled by an uneducated chief minister". "Nobody from the freedom movement era, including Babasaheb Ambedkar, objected to any such use of this site. The shaft in the room is just 2.5 feet wide, and the rope used was for a service lift - it couldn't have been used for hangings," he said. Speaker Vijender Gupta said the House would take action on the matter on Thursday.