Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Raghav Chadha, on Friday, 3 April, slammed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for allegedly stopping him from speaking in Rajya Sabha.
The video statement comes a day after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced that it has written to the Rajya Sabha secretariat seeking the removal of Raghav Chadha as its deputy leader in the Upper House.
“Whenever I get a change to speak in Parliament, I speak on public-centered issues. I raise issues that are usually not taken up in the Parliament. Is speaking on public issues a mistake. Have I done something wrong?,” Chadha asked in the message shared on his social media.
Chadha alleged that AAP had asked the Rajya Sabha secretariat to stop him from speaking in the House. The party has denied the allegation, saying replacing a leader of the Upper House was not unusual.
Chadha, who has been a Rajya Sabha MP since 2022, has been replaced by Ashok Mittal, another party MP from Punjab and the founder and chancellor of Lovely Professional University
“I am saying this today because AAP has asked Rajya Sabha secretrait to prevent me from speaking. Why would someone stop me from speaking. I speak on aam aadmi, airport food, Zomato, Blinkit workers, middle class tax burden and strike on content creators….and raised issues. These issues helped common people. How does it affect AAP. Why would someone want to silence me,” Chadha said.
Hours after his replacement, amid speculation about his alleged differences with the party’s top leadership, Chadha took to social media and posted snippets from his speeches in the upper house of parliament.
“I have a message for those who snatched my right of speaking,” Chadha said, in the video ending with a couplet ”Meri khamoshi ko meri haar mat samajh lena, mein woh dariya hun jo waqt aane par sailan banta hai (Do not mistake my silence for defeat; I am a river that turns into a flood when the time comes)’
Chadha has remained an active parliamentary voice, frequently raising social and economic issues.
Last month, the AAP MP highlighted concerns about the practice of “sarpanch pati” or “panchayat pati”, in which women elected to reserved seats are often reduced to figureheads while male relatives exercise authority. He called for stricter enforcement of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment to ensure genuine empowerment.
Once a close confidante of Arvind Kejriwal, Chadha has not reportedly been on good terms with the AAP leadership of late. Some reports suggested he was on the way to joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, though there has not been any official word on this.
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