In a massive security breach, two men jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber on Wednesday during a Zero Hour session from the visitors' gallery causing a huge security breach.
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was present inside the House, revealed that one of the two individuals sprayed some kind of 'gas' which caused eye irritation.
The intruders also shouted slogans like 'tanashahi nahi chalegi' (dictatorship will not be allowed).
In a separate yet linked incident, Delhi Police reportedly detained two people for protesting outside Parliament who were carrying what looked like cans that emitted yellowish smoke. They were later identified as Neelam, 42, of Haryana's Hisar, and Amol Shinde, 25, of Maharasthra's Latur area were detained
According to PTI, All four have been detained by security forces. Two persons, involved in the Lok Sabha 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.
Additional forces were deployed at the Parliament following the incident. Delhi Police's Forensic Team collected samples in the Parliament premises.
Sansad TV has also captured the moment of the security breach.
BJP member Rajendra Agrawal, who was in the chair, adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.
"This is certainly a security breach because today we observed the death anniversary of people who sacrificed their lives in the 2001 (Parliament attack)," Chowdhury said.
Trinamool Congress leader Kakoli Dastidar told PTI, "I don't know, unknown people jumped from the gallery. More than one person. They started shouting slogans, and spraying some gas."
"Two people jumped from the public gallery and there was smoke. There was chaos all around. Both of them were overpowered by security officials," MP Danish Ali.
"Zero Hour was going on in the House, I was awaiting my turn to speak. Suddenly, it appeared that one person had fallen down from the visitors gallery. Then we realised that it was a deliberate act of him jumping into the well. There was another person, both of them pulled out canisters which were emitting yellow smoke," says Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram.
In a post on X, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said, "Saw two young men unleash foul smelling yellow coloured gas from canisters inside Parliament gallery. MPs rushed to grab these men. One person was raising some slogans. This raises serious questions on another aspect of the new Parliament building- security."
Members of Parliament question security measures
"Yesterday, I had raised the issue of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun's threat to attack the Parliament, but the issue was ignored. This is a massive security breach," says Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury raised the matter in the 2pm session, where he said, "On the same morning (of Dec 13) in 2001, the old Parliament was attacked. While we agree this attack is not the same as that one, does this not prove that necessary precautions were not taken?"
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a statement on the matter reportedly said, "Parliament security breach on solemn anniversary of 2001 attack an affront to our democratic values."
"These people (the arrested suspects) did something which may not have caused any major damage, but imagine it had been more serious. This is the anniversary of the assault on Parliament in 2001. Now we are seeing another breach of security on that anniversary. The Speaker has convened the floor leaders for a meeting at 4 pm, but I do believe that the matter is serious enough that Home Minister may want to explain to the nation about the security lapses and security arrangements," says Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Speaker Om Birla while addressing the session said, "The incident that happened during Zero House, that is being investigated by the Lok Sabha and Delhi Police has been given requisite directions regarding the same. However, the smoke, which was the reason of our worry, it has been found in preliminary investigation that it's not a matter of concern." Read more here.
Former Maharashtra CM and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said, "If it was an organisation that raised slogans there (at the Parliament), they might try to do something similar here (at the Maharashtra Assembly). The Chairman has stopped issuance of passes for today and only two people with each MLA are allowed in the Assembly."
The security breach occurred on the day of the anniversary of the Parliament Attack of 2001. Terrorists of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed outfits attacked the Parliament complex on this day in 2001, killing nine people. The House has reportedly been adjourned for safety reasons.
