'What is benchmark of corruption? What we are deciding, does our benchmark extend to people who are on bail, chargesheeted or absconding?'
NEW DELHI: Maneka Gandhi (BJP), Shailendra Kumar Mahato (JMM) and Ranjeeta Ranjan (Lok Janashakati Party) were the three most vocal against sting operations and the media during the debate on the motion to expel the 10 MPs in the Lok Sabha. But it was Maneka Gandhi's comparison of the House committee as "kangaroo court" which seems to have raised the hackles of the Lok Sabha secretariat.
Speaking on the motion, Maneka Gandhi asked, "What is the benchmark of corruption? What we are deciding today, does our personal benchmark extend to people who are on bail, chargesheeted or absconding?"
Faulting the decision of the House committee to recommend expulsion of the tainted members, Maneka Gandhi said, "A kangaroo court of four days" came to a hasty conclusion.
Maneka Gandhi cited the instance when Indira Gandhi was expelled from the House.
"I remember when I was 22 years old, Indira Gandhiji was expelled from this very House and we all were very sad. While going back home she had hummed a song which meant something like somebody has been hung without a proper trial.
"Indiraji had then said this will have a huge shadow on the House. This is exactly what has happened," the BJP member said.
Opposing the move to expel the tainted members, Maneka said, "If it is on TV, it must be correct. So much rubbish has been written about my husband (Sanjay Gandhi). Do we take them all to be true? Nothing can be accepted as perfect truth unless we know the background.
She said no FIR has been filed against the MPs shown on TV. "Suppose parties give them tickets and they get re-elected?" Gandhi questioned the accuracy and correctness of both the electronic and the print media and documents like the Volcker and Mitrokhin Archives.
Jailed independent MP Pappu Yadav's wife, Ranjeeta Ranjan (LJP) questioned the very motive behind the TV expose. "Was it to uncover corruption or increase the TV channel's earnings and TRP rating? I am not accusing the electronic media because they are after my husband Pappu Yadav," she said.
Sunil Kumar Mahato (JMM), the party which was in the dock for bailing out the Narasimha Rao government, asked the House to give a chance to the members to present their version and defend their case. He also sought introduction of regulations to prohibit sting operations.
"I am scared of meeting anyone here, even my relatives," he said. He assailed the bureaucrats who go scot-free even after getting caught with Rs.40 to 50 crore and media persons, "who were riding bicycles and are now owning big cars, farm houses…"
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