It was 13th December again in Indian Parliament! BJP MP Khagen Murmu was going through his Zero Hour submission in the Lok Sabha around 1 pm when two youths jumped into the chamber from the visitors’ gallery, and rattled the whole House with their mystery yellow gas.
Mr Rajendra Agarwal was in the Chair. While some MPs got up to see the commotion, quite a few cornered one of the two intruders as he was jumping forward on the benches towards the Chair. He was caught but not before the two took out small gas canisters from their shoes and sprayed the yellow gas in the House.
As Mr Agarwal adjourned the House for a break, none could fathom the harm potential of the gas. There were some Ministers in the House at time, including Railway and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. Among the prominent Opposition leaders was Mr Rahul Gandhi of the Congress.
The incident in Parliament’s new building took place barely four hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Speaker Om Birla and others paid floral tributes to martyrs of the 13th December, 2001 attack on Parliament at the close-by Old Parliament House building.
It came to light soon after that the two youth in the Lok Sabha visitors’ gallery had secured their entry passes on the recommendation of BJP’s Karnataka MP Pratap Simha. MPs rushing out of the Parliament building from its Makar Dwar said apparently none was harmed, but it could have been much worse.
Before jumping from the first floor gallery, the two intruders first hung on to a pillar, and then jumped on the empty last row benches of the chamber. While some MPs said the youth shouted some slogans, a few said they could not hear in the melee what they were saying.
But it was sure they were all worried and wondered how the security lapse took place and that too on the anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attack on Parliament in which nine security and other personnel of Parliament died in the encounter.
Parliament adopted a liberal policy towards visitors some years back and they have been coming in large numbers all through Parliament sessions and intersession periods.
MPs wondered whether it was right policy to allow visitors to enter the new building from Makar Dwar which is primarily meant for Ministers and MPs. The new building has quite a few entry gates, including Hansa Dwar, Shardul Dwar and Garud Dwar.
Addressing the House after an adjournment, Speaker Birla described the incident serious, and said like in 2001, Parliament staff and security personnel had collectively caught the intruders and a high-level inquiry was ordered by him. After the inquiry findings are available, there will be a comprehensive review of security arrangements to make them fool-proof. He said he had called a meeting of floor leaders and would take suggestions of all parties.
Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the party leaders had told the Speaker how the two visitors in the gallery had stayed there even beyond the time that was allotted to them. He said the party leaders told him that the security lapse had taken place even when there were reports in the media that some terrorist organisation would attack Parliament again on 13th December. There was apparent lack of coordination between Parliament Watch and Ward staff and Delhi Police, he said.
The Opposition in the Rajya Sabha demanded a statement from the Government on the incident. The Opposition leaders plan to seek time to meet President Droupadi Murmu.