Twin security breach in Parliament triggers panic: 4 arrested

2 protestors emit smoke from canisters in LS chamber, 

2 others do the same in House premises 

Oppn leaders raise concern in meeting with LS Speaker, seek probe 

PTI, NEW DELHI, DEC 13, 2023 : The Parliament on Wednesday witnessed a horrific security breach as two persons jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by MPs.

The incident happened minutes after two people jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery and opened canisters that emitted a similar-coloured smoke, triggering panic among the MPs.

Around the same time, a man and a woman also sprayed coloured gas from canisters while shouting slogans "tanashahi nahi chalegi" outside the Parliament premises. All four have been detained by security forces. Two persons involved in the incident have been identified as Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan. Sharma had come to the visitor's gallery as a guest of Mysuru Lok Sabha member Prathap Simha.

Visitors at the public gallery of Lok Sabha on Wednesday said the two protesters who jumped into the House's chamber were sitting quietly and disrupted the proceedings "all of a sudden".

An eyewitness who was sitting at the public gallery said that while some Lok Sabha MPs were chasing the protesters, a smoke canister was thrown by one of them inside the House. "The protesters were not chanting any slogans while being seated at the public gallery and jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber all of a sudden," the eyewitness said. 

"The moment the protesters jumped into the House's chamber, the MPs tried chasing them. The protesters also threw a smoke canister there. During the incident, we were evacuated as per security instructions," he said. According to the eyewitnesses, around 30 to 40 visitors were seated at the gallery of Lok Sabha when the "security breach" took place. "It was shocking to see such kind of an incident inside the Parliament, despite five layers of security," another eyewitness said.

Opposition leaders Wednesday raised concern over the "major security breach" in Parliament and demanded a probe into the matter as well as the implementation of strict measures in the new building like that in the old one. Some TMC MPs compared the incident with the expulsion of their party colleague Mahua Moitra and demanded action against the BJP MPs who allegedly helped the accused get passes to enter Parliament. 

At an all-party meeting convened by Speaker Om Birla in the wake of the security lapse, some leaders pointed at shortcomings in the security protocol, driven in part by the shortage of parliamentary staff assigned to enforce it. Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, after the meeting, said the leaders of various parties demanded a thorough investigation into the incident. Chowdhury said it had been made public that a terrorist organisation was planning to attack Parliament on December 13 and this information was also available to the government.

"Still, why did such a lapse happen? Arrangements for visitors and security checks have not been made in the new parliament building. All, including MPs, security personnel and visitors are allowed (into the building) through one gate," Chowdhury said. 

Asserting that Wednesday's incident was a major security lapse, the Congress MP said, "Surprisingly, the two people were allowed to stay in the visitor's gallery even after their time has elapsed." 

The Congress leader said the Delhi Police takes care of outside arrangements and Parliament security takes care of internal security. "There are 150 vacancies for security personnel," he pointed out and said that the vacant posts should have been filled up before the new parliament building was inaugurated.

DMK's Tiruchi Siva said those who jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery were not wounded and "it seems that they were trained". He said the incident happened on the day Parliament was attacked by terrorists 22 years ago.

"It seems that someone is signalling something. This is a security lapse. Never has such an incident happened inside Parliament after Independence," Siva said. TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay alleged that proper attention was not paid to the security of the new Parliament building. 

"Today we are learning there are more than 130 vacancies of security officer in Parliament. Mahua Moitra was expelled for sharing Parliament login with an outsider, but today three MPs helped these people (accused) get passes. We have sought details of MPs who got them passes. Is this not a security lapse? "This is an issue of national security and we want to see what action is taken against those who helped these people get visitor passes... We will meet at (Congress chief Mallikarjun) Kharge ji's residence and will discuss the matter," he said.

Kalyan Banerjee, also of the TMC, said termed the incident inside Parliament a "terrorist activity" and sought to know if there was a Khalistani link to the security lapse.