Security breach in Parliament

Two intruders jump from gallery, spray gas

New Delhi: In a major security breach coming on the anniversary of the dastardly Dec. 13, 2001 Parliament attack, two men entered Lok Sabha this morning and opened canisters emitting a yellow-coloured smoke.

Television footage showed them jumping from desk to desk and appeared to be headed towards the Well of the House. MPs later told reporters that they were chanting slogans such as ‘tana shahi nahi chalegi’ (dictatorship won’t be accepted). They have been detained.

West Bengal BJP MP Khagen Murmu was speaking in the Lok Sabha when the intruder was spotted inside. The proceedings were suspended and the MPs started coming out. There was a commotion as the intruder — wearing a blue jacket — was found roaming inside. The MPs and the security caught hold of the man and started interrogating them. As the MPs came out, they said the intruder(s) were spraying some kind of a gas.

Footage from the House’s CCTV showed one man, wearing a dark blue shirt, leaping across desks to evade capture, while the second man was in the visitors’ gallery spraying smoke. Visuals showed a Lok Sabha official reading to the House seconds before the chaos. Suddenly, voices can be heard shouting, “Catch him, catch him”.

Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali told reporters that a visitor’s pass was recovered after the scuffle and that it had been issued by Mysuru-Kodagu BJP MP Pratap Simmha’s Office. Irrespective of who issues a pass, any visitor must clear five levels of security before being allowed inside Parliament.

Reports later said that one of the passes were signed by Pratap Simmha and the other one had the pass signed by Danish Ali — the suspended BSP MP. Security personnel found an Aadhaar card with a Lucknow address from one of the intruders.

Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha (LS) Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “Two young men jumped from the gallery and something was hurled by them from which gas was emitting. They were caught by MPs, they were brought out by security personnel. The House was adjourned till 2 pm. This is certainly a security breach because today we observed the death anniversary of people who sacrificed their lives in 2001.”

MP Karti Chidambaram said that the canisters were emitting yellow smoke, and raised concerns that it could have been poisonous. 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.

Two other individuals — a man and a woman — were detained outside Parliament, also with coloured smoke canisters that exploded and spewed red and yellow smoke. Delhi Police sources said that the two incidents are likely related.

Serious questions are already being questioned about the security breach, which comes on the 22nd anniversary of the terror attack on the old Parliament building. In fact, hours earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a tribute to the nine soldiers who were killed.