NEW DELHI: An Indian anti-corruption activist has openly defied the Indian Parliament, defending his right to critique the country's topmost lawmaking body. Arvind Kejriwal, a former bureaucrat and a member of veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare's civil activists' team, had been issued privilege notices by four MPs for making disrespectful comments about parliamentarians. “There are 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?” Kejriwal said in his four page response to the privilege notice. Indian parliamentarians are protected by the principle of privileges, which can be invoked if their actions in parliament are questioned or are attributed motives to. Kejriwal who last week said that several parliamentarians had a criminal background, has now said that “those sitting inside parliament are insulting it and not those outside,” Kejriwal said. The activist further accused two of India's biggest national political parties of fielding more than 100 contestants with criminal background for the parliamentary session. “In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Congress fielded 117 candidates and BJP 116 people with criminal background, out of which 44 each won. Why did these parties give tickets to such people? What were the compulsions? Didn't they insult Parliament by doing so? Can't these parties be punished for this,” he has asked. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/zV7IU Tags: Corruption, featured, Hazare, India, Kejriwal, Parliament Section: Latest News, South Asia
