New Delhi: The government’s response a day after the breach of security in Parliament was a bundle of contradictions, as it tried to send out a message that it was business as usual in Parliament. The Speaker and the ruling party, officials and even the media are calling it a security breach. Yet the five arrested have been booked under the draconian anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and could even be booked for sedition. There is no evidence so far of the accused having links with any terror organisation.
The Lok Sabha Speaker was at pains to point out that the security of Parliament is his responsibility. Yet the government has ordered a high-level probe, headed by Anish Dayal Singh, CRPF chief. Incidentally, perimeter security of Parliament comes under the paramilitary force that Singh heads. The probe panel includes the Delhi Police, which is responsible for frisking visitors to Parliament House.
As Members of Parliament refused to let both Houses function, 14 opposition MPs have been suspended, including Derek O’Brien from the Rajya Sabha. So far, no action has been taken against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mysuru MP Pratap Simha, who issued the visitors gallery pass to the two men who intruded the Lok Sabha. Many pointed to the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP, Mahua Moitra, for sharing her credentials for the Lok Sabha website with her staff. The number was initially 15 till the Speaker’s office realised that one of the MPs was not even in town when he was suspended for disrupting the proceedings.
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Sivaganga MP Karti Chidambaram said, “For this government, it is business as usual. They are behaving as if we are hallucinating and nothing really happened. They are trying to underplay the gravity of the situation. The gas could have been lethal. The fact is, this was meticulously planned. They beat the system and the so-called foolproof security. And now it’s a knee-jerk reaction. Ban visitors, ban journalists is their answer as is banning MPs, one of whom wasn’t even present there. This government cant recognise one Tamil from another.”
So far, eight persons on deputation to the Lok Sabha Secretariat have been suspended and security beefed up. The makar dwar used by visitors and MPs alike is out of bounds for journalists, and visitors are banned altogether, as is the staff of MPs. Access control to the complex has been tightened with pass holders being allowed in only from the transport bhavan side and Delhi Police could be seen frisking bystanders near the complex.
Yesterday (December 13), in the presence of a robust contingent of RAF and other paramilitary and security forces, one of the accused, Neelam Verma ‘Azad’ released smoke from a canister and shouted slogans.
While four of the six have been placed in police custody, the location of the sixth person, Lalit, was found to be Neemrana, from where he sent the video of yesterday’s incident, which he filmed, to a friend. He was arrested in Delhi this evening (December 14).
Influenced by revolutionary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh who, too, had thrown a bomb from the old Parliament building’s Lok Sabha visitors gallery, the accused wanted to draw the attention of the government, they said, to issues of unemployment, the Manipur issue, farmers’ crisis, and autocracy.
In its remand application, Delhi Police told the court that the accused wanted to give a pamphlet to the prime minister calling him a “missing person”. The pamphlet also offered a cash award from a Swiss bank. The canisters were bought from Mumbai and the shoes from Lucknow, the police told the court as it sought a custody of 15 days to uncover a possible terrorist angle. The police said such an attack would have had the backing of a larger organization. The court granted a weeks custody.
Interestingly, full body scanners will now be part of the security protocol, a move that the present government had staunchly opposed while in the opposition. Issues raised about individual privacy was one reason a proposal to install scanners at all airports had then been shelved but was later revived quietly three years ago.
The opposition has said they will not allow Parliament to function till the home minister or prime minister made a statement in the House, took action against Simha, and held a discussion on the security breach. Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said amidst loud protests, “I have received 28 notices for discussion under Rule 267. So far, I do not find merit in admitting them.”
Rule 267 of the Rajya Sabha is to discuss a matter of urgent public importance, suspending all other listed business of the House.
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In the Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla was equally categorical in rebuffing demands for a discussion. “Parliament security is the responsibility of the Lok Sabha secretariat. I will discuss the security measures with you all. The government will not interfere with the functioning of the House. I will not let the government interfere.”
Summing up the situation, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “What happened in the Lok Sabha was deeply worrying. What happened today in the Lok sabha is totally bizarre. A MP from Tamil Nadu who was not even present in the House and was in fact out of New Delhi got suspended for disrupting proceedings! Meanwhile, the MP who facilitated the intruders faces zero consequences.”
What happened yesterday in the Lok Sabha was deeply worrying.
What happened today in the Lok Sabha is totally bizarre.
A MP from Tamil Nadu who was not even present in the House and was in fact out of New Delhi got suspended for disrupting proceedings!
Meanwhile, the BJP MP…
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) December 14, 2023
