Overview

• Speaker Vijender Gupta cited 1912 architectural drawings and National Archives maps during a guided tour on August 6 to assert the room was built as a tiffin service area with a pulley lift, not an execution chamber.
• BJP leaders have called on Arvind Kejriwal to apologise for what they term a “false narrative,” proposed a censure motion and urged registration of an FIR to recover nearly ₹1 crore spent on the 2022 renovation.
• Opposition AAP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Atishi, were marshalled out after protesting the Speaker’s declaration and have demanded an Archaeological Survey of India survey to authenticate the room’s original purpose.
• The chamber was renovated and inaugurated in August 2022 by then chief minister Kejriwal with murals and a plaque marking it as a colonial-era execution site to commemorate the Quit India Movement.
• The dispute highlights the growing politicization of colonial heritage and the reliance on archival evidence, historian testimony and even AI references in legislative battles over India’s past.