A defiant VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi on Wednesday said she stood by her comments that there were terrorists in the Parliament even as she offered a conditional apology before the Rajya Sabha Privilege Committee. The panel, however, asked her to tender an unconditional apology, which she refused to do.
The panel also decided to seek an explanation from HRD Minister Smriti Irani over her remarks made during a Rajya Sabha debate on the JNU row and dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide.
The committee, headed by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien, had summoned Prachi to appear before it following a complaint by Opposition MPs. Speaking at a public meeting in Roorkee, Prachi had earlier slammed those who had opposed the hanging of Yakub Memon, the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict.
After the privilege committee meeting, Prachi told mediapersons, “I am a daughter of the country. I won’t backtrack. I am being pressurised to apologise. They (the committee members) shouted me down. I said I also have the right to speak.”
Sources said in the meeting, the Panel Chairman asked her to tender an apology multiple times but she kept on talking of some kind of “conditional apology” while members wanted her to tender an unconditional apology.
Sources said Prachi, who appeared before the panel along with her lawyer, said that she was “not insulting Parliament as an institution” but stuck to her remarks that there are some terrorists in Parliament.
The matter was referred to the Committee in October last year under Rule 203 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajya Sabha for examination, investigation and report.
The panel examining CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury’s privilege motion against Smriti Irani decided to seek an explanation from her over her remarks made during the RS debate on the JNU row and dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide.