Deployment of CISF Personnel in the Well of Rajya Sabha Negates the Precedence Set by Vithalbhai Patel

The deployment of personnel of Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) in the well of the Rajya Sabha is unprecedented in the parliament in the post-independence period. 

Barring some past instances of deployment of unarmed marshals inside the House by its presiding officers, never ever have personnel of police or any other paramilitary force, including the CISF, been deployed inside the House.

Vithalbhai Patel’s legacy

The unacceptable and shocking sight of CISF personnel inside Rajya Sabha chamber reminds of the instance of deployment of police personnel inside the Central Legislative Assembly back in 1929, a day after Bhagat Singh and his associates threw a crude explosive inside the House, not to harm anybody but, in the words of Singh, “to make the deaf hear”.

When Vithalbhai Patel, the first elected president of that assembly (in today’s parlance, the Speaker) entered the House and saw police personnel taking positions, he had asked angrily by whose orders police entered the august chamber. When the then Home Member (now home minister) stood up and said that he had instructed the police to enter the House, Patel was so enraged that he asked him to withdraw the police or else he would order the Home Member to be withdrawn from the House. 

Immediately, the Home Member commanded the police to leave the chamber of the central legislative assembly. Later, Patel appointed a committee to deal with security issues inside the House, based on the recommendations of which, the ‘watch and ward’ staff, consisting of unarmed personnel, was set up. Its personnel were recruited by the secretariat of the presiding officer and they remained accountable to the incumbent person in that office, and not to the government.

It is tragic that the long-standing tradition of the associated services of the ‘watch and ward’ staff – later renamed as parliamentary security service – which remains accountable to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, has largely been made dormant by the present incumbent, Om Birla. 

Birla took a decision that the CISF personnel, who are part of the home ministry responsibilities, should be deployed to handle parliamentary security.

Earlier traditions

It may be mentioned here that earlier, when ‘watch and ward’ staffs were deployed inside the Parliament, the security outside the parliament was handled by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), who remained accountable to a senior officer of the Indian Police Service, who used to be posted on deputation in the Lok Sabha Secretariat and remained accountable to the Speaker. 

I have never heard of any presiding officers of either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha deploying police personnel inside the chambers of either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha.

Negation of Patel’s legacy and constitution

It is against the above mentioned historical backdrop and in the context of the outrage of Vithalbhai Patel after the British Home Member deployed police in the central legislative assembly during colonial period that one should appreciate the shock and astonishment expressed by Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge when CISF personnel were deployed inside the chamber. 

In his letter to the deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, Harivansh, Kharge objected to the manner in which CISF personnel were made to run  into the well of the House when the members were  exercising their democratic right to protest.

The Congress party’s chief whip in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh, also said: “After the sudden and unprecedented resignation of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Jagdeep Dhankhar), we are now seeing the takeover of the chamber of the Council of States by the personnel of the CISF”.

Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien, a Rajya Sabha MP,  described the incident “unprecedented”, and  stated that he never before saw CISF personnel pre-emptively barricading the Well of the House.

Today, in the Rajya Sabha, Kharge again raised the issue and asked whether home minister Amit Shah is running the House or the presiding officer. Tiruchi Siva of DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) recalled the aforementioned incident of 1929 when Vithalbhai Patel asked Home Member to ask the police force posted by him in the Central Assembly to withdraw failing which Patel would ask the Member to exit from the Chamber. He added that  Patel's authority in protecting dignity of the House prevailed when polce left the Assembly as ordered by Patel. Siva said so to counter Deputy Chairman, Harivansh who in the context of the deployemnt of CISF personnel stated that the legacy of Vithalbahi Patel was being followed by him.

An official of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, earlier serving as a senior official of the parliamentary security service, further said on the condition of anonymity that CISF officials were present in the well of Rajya Sabha.

Very strangely, deputy chairman Harivansh, who, as the presiding officer, is the custodian of the Rajya Sabha and represents its dignity and authority, has not said a word to explain with whose permission the CISF personnel were deployed inside the House. 

Even though the CISF personnel posted in the parliament remain accountable to the Speaker, Lok Sabha, they cannot enter the Rajya Sabha chamber without the express permission of the Deputy Chairman of the House. It is indeed inexplicable that Harivansh has not said a word about it, while parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said that some MPs moved “aggressively” in Upper House to prevent its proceedings, prompting marshals to prevent them. 

Rijiju asserted that it is not the government but for the respective Chair of the two Houses to take measures they deem fit.

Rijiju also highlighted that the CISF staff were drafted for dealing with security of Parliament after the incident of two intruders jumping into Lok Sabha and opening smoke canisters. He justified the deployment of CISF personnel around the well of  the Rajya Sabha on the ground that earlier some MPs even jumped over the secretariat table within the House. 

It is reported in the media that he assured opposition leaders that he would consult the deputy chairman to ascertain if he has any issue.

It is rather confounding that instead of the deputy chairman, Harivansh, the parliamentary affairs minister, who represents the government, is justifying the CISF deployment in the House. 

Such reprehensible action demolishes the tradition so courageously established by Vithalbhai Patel in late 1920s when India was still under British colonial rule. If he could take a bold stand and set up a glorious parliamentary tradition, and set an example of a fiercely independent presiding officer to safeguard the authority and dignity of legislature in face of the mighty British rulers ruling India, then it is a pity that the tradition is being demolished under the Modi regime.

The Constitution of India, in its Article 98, provides for an independence of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats from the executive and other organs of the State so that the autonomy of apex legislature and its functioning is safeguarded from the executive. 

The deployment of CISF personnel inside the House negates not only Patel’s vision but more importantly, that of the constitution, the 75th anniversary of which is being celebrated in 2025.

S.N. Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan and had a tenure as Joint Secretary, Rajya Sabha Secretariat.

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