New Delhi:
Members of Parliament have expressed their anger over offensive remarks after yoga icon Baba Ramdev said some MPs are "murderers and robbers."
A Lok Sabha MP from the Samajwadi Party has moved a privilege motion seeking action against people who make "derogatory" remarks against MPs.
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Without naming Baba Ramdev, Shailendra Kumar of the Samajwadi Party said such remarks made "openly on public platforms" equal breach of privilege of Parliament because they lower the dignity of the House.
"MPs were being openly bad-mouthed by these persons who were calling elected representatives a bunch of thieves, thugs, rapists and murderers," he said.
At a public function in Durg in Chhattisgarh yesterday, Baba Ramdev said that though there are some good members of Parliament, others are "murderers and robbers." Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janta Dal or RJD responded by calling the yoga guru "a mental patient."
In June, Baba Ramdev is holding a rally against corruption and to pressure the government to recover black money or undeclared income held by Indians in foreign bank accounts. Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare has agreed to share the stage with him.
Anna today said this evening that he phoned Baba Ramdev to ask him about his remarks and the yoga guru told him that he had made it clear that he was not attacking all politicians.
In February, Baba Ramdev had agreed with Anna's close aide Arvind Kejriwal who had said that members of Parliament include murderers and dacoits. Sushma Swaraj led a debate in Parliament that saw MPs registering their strong protest against the language used by Mr Kejriwal and another Anna aide, activist Kiran Bedi.
"There can be objection on the language or words used by Kejriwal but his contention is absolutely right," Baba Ramdev said.