In a major security breach in Parliament, two unidentified men gained entry inside the Lok Sabha, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the House till 2 pm.
The unidentified men jumped from the visitor’s gallery and attempted to run towards the Speaker’s gallery before being overpowered by the MPs and security personnel.
In a video shared by news agency ANI, one of the men can be seen jumping on the seats in the Lower House as someone in the background shouts “Pakdo isko (catch him)”.
#WATCH | An unidentified man jumps from the visitor’s gallery of Lok Sabha after which there was a slight commotion and the House was adjourned. pic.twitter.com/Fas1LQyaO4
— ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2023
The men also carried canisters that emitted yellow smoke inside the Lok Sabha. All the MPs were safely evacuated.
Narrating the incident, Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said that two men, both in their 20s, jumped into the House form the gallery and carried smoke canisters in their hand.
” Suddenly two young men around 20 years old jumped into the House from the visitor’s gallery and had canisters in their hand. These canisters were emitting yellow smoke. One of them was attempting to run towards the Speaker’s chair. They were shouting some slogans,” he said.
“The smoke could have been poisonous. This is a serious breach of security especially on 13th December, the day when Parliament was attacked in 2001…,” he added.
Reacting to the incident, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Dimple Yadav said that it was a complete security lapse and anything could have happened inside the Lok Sabha today.
“All those who come here – be it visitors or reporters – they don’t carry tags. So, I think the government should pay attention to this. I think this is complete security lapse. Anything could have happened inside the Lok Sabha…,” she said.
The incident comes on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack in which 11 people were killed.