Aam Aadmi Party lawmaker Bhagwant Mann on Thursday shot a video clip of his journey from home to Parliament House, including going past the various security pickets, and live streamed it on Facebook, drawing flak from various quarters for putting Parliament House’s security at risk.
According to sources, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumita Mahajan has taken cognizance of the matter and is likely to call the parliamentarian from Punjab on Friday. She is also likely to seek a detailed report from the Parliament security on the issue, said sources.
Ms Mahajan in her remarks earlier inside the House has said that it is the responsibility of every member to respect and maintain dignity of Parliament.
Hitting out at Mr Mann, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “One should not play with the security of Parliament. Making such videos viral is not the right thing to do.”
BJP lawmaker Meenakshi Lekhi said, “It needs to be verified if it was act of foolishness or was done under influence of some agencies.”
However, Mr Mann was unperturbed by the criticism and said that he would put another video on social media on Friday as well.
“Kya mere video se sansad khatre me aa gaya (Has Parliament come in danger by my video),” Mr Mann asked, when confronted by the media.
He said that he also wanted to show the public how questions for Zero Hour are sorted in the Central Hall before the day’s proceedings begin.
“Is it wrong to show to public how their issues are raised in the Parliament? They have elected us and they have a right to know all this,” he said.
He rejected the charge that his action has put Parliament House’s security in danger.
“There are so many big cameras around here. I will post a video again tomorrow (Friday), let me be served a notice,” he said.
In the video, Mr Mann is seen giving commentary as his vehicle crosses security barricades, while going to the Parliament. “I’ll today show you something you would not have seen earlier,” Mr Mann said at the beginning of the video.
Inside the Parliament premises, he goes into the room where the process of selection of questions for the Zero Hour is done. As he describes the process, a security official is heard telling him not to take photographs. “I’ll not take photo… will maintain confidentiality,” Mr Mann says in his reply.
In the video, he says that the process is entirely transparent and shows how the lucky draw is carried out to select the questions. At one point, he is also heard saying, “It is going live.”
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