Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal on Friday refuted the charge that he had lowered the dignity of Parliament through his words or action and declared that he respected Parliament and good members too, but was unable to honour some members.
Saying he only raised questions agitating peoples' minds, he offered himself for punishment if found guilty under law. “But before that, I should be allowed to present my case to members personally.”
In his reply to the notice of privilege served on him, based on complaints by Rashtriya Janata Dal members Rajneeti Prasad and Ramkripal Yadav, Mr. Kejriwal sought to know if the presence of members who had charges of corruption against them upheld the dignity of the House. “The dignity of members is not built upon what people outside say, but how they conduct themselves inside the House,” he said, reading out his lengthy reply at a press conference.
He even named some senior leaders who faced corruption charges against them, bringing a sharp response from Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh, who alleged that social activist Anna Hazare was surrounded by people with “criminal and corrupt” background.
Mr. Kejriwal said there were 162 MPs with criminal charges against them — 14 facing murder cases, 20 with attempt to murder cases and 13 for kidnapping. “Does this not give rise to the suspicion that till such people, with conflict of interest, are in Parliament, our criminal justice system will not be improved. How can I respect such people?'' he said.
Referring to the tearing of the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha on December 29, 2011 by Mr. Rajneeti Prasad, “with all members watching silently,” Mr. Kejriwal wanted to know why the member, who had violated parliamentary norm, was not censured.
Emphasising the conflict of interest “when industrialists enter Parliament to further their interests,” he asked if this did not “insult” the House.
Touching upon the cash-for-votes scam, horse-trading of MPs to save the government in power, unruly scenes involving pulling of mikes, hurling of chairs or tearing of Bills or “passing of important Bills in 18 minutes” or MLAs caught watching pornography in Assemblies, he asked whether all this behoved well for the elected members. “The country is besieged with problems of inflation, price rise and farmers' suicides but Parliament is silent on these issues as, we are told, there is no consensus. But when it comes to the raising the salaries of MPs there is complete unanimity.”
Another Team Anna member and lawyer Prashant Bhushan said parliamentary privilege involved breach if a member was prevented from freedom of speech in the House. Regretting that the Judicial Accountability Bill was passed in haste in the Lok Sabha, he said the Bill did not have provision to prosecute corrupt judicial officers.
