New Delhi, Sep 5: Slapped with a breach of privilege notice, Team Anna Hazare member Arvind Kejriwal today asked Rajya Sabha Secretariat to provide him with tapes of his speeches and transcripts which some MPs found derogatory.
In a letter to Rajya Sabha Secretariat Director Mukuk Pande, Kejriwal said he would be able to provide a detailed response only after receiving the tapes and transcript of his speeches.
“I have carefully gone through the letter/notice and all annexures thereto. However, the words alleged to have been said by me and found to be ‘derogatory' by the Hon'ble Members of Parliament have not been intimated to me in the said letter/notice,” he said.
Kejriwal was served a notice on Saturday, becoming the third Team Anna member to receive breach of privilege notices for making “derogatory” remarks against Parliamentarians during Hazare's agitation in Ramlila Maidan here last month. Earlier, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan had received privilege notices.
“I would urge you to kindly provide me copies of the tapes of my speech along with the transcripts and indicate the word used by me in those speeches, which offended the MPs,” he said in the letter to Pande.
Kejriwal said Jesudasu Seelam, an MP, had complained that he and Bedi had used “abusive” language against MPS while Mohd Adeeb, another MP, has accused him of continuously using derogatory language against MPs and in effect denigrated Parliament.
Kejriwal also asked Pande to indicate which part of the extracts of the debate in Parliament annexed in the notice related to him.
Bedi had said that she will not “apologise” for her remarks against politicians, but intends to show a “bigger mirror” to the House on the conduct of lawmakers.
“If I get a notice, I would say I am sorry I will not be able to say sorry. If I get an opportunity I will go before the Committee and will show a bigger mirror to Parliament,” she had said.
She said whatever she had said was in reference to a situation, where it was needed to be said. “The truth has to be said. I didn't have any other option as we didn't know whether we would have a resolution,” she said.
The privilege notice against Bedi came as she accused politicians of wearing “several masks” at the same time, drawing the ire of MPs from both Houses.
Bhushan termed the the notice as “totally unjustified” and said “speaking the truth in public interest does not amount to breach of privilege”.
“If speaking truth in public interest amounts to breach of privilege, then time has come for the country to review the whole notion of Parliamentary privileges,” he said. PTI
