Lok Sabha: INDIA parties to plan floor strategy on Lok Sabha | India News
NEW DELHI: Opposition INDIA parties will be meeting on Thursday morning, before the House opens for the day’s proceedings
Opposition MPs demanded an explanation from home minister Amit Shah after two visitors jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors’ gallery and opened canisters that emitted coloured smoke, triggering panic among members, on Wednesday.The main allegation from the members was that security arrangements in the newParliament building were insufficient.
In Rajya Sabha, many Opposition members while demanding an explanation from Shah on the security breach in the lower House demanded adjournment of proceedings of the Upper House and finally staged a walkout when it was not granted.
“INDIA parties walked out of the Rajya Sabha this afternoon on the issue of the extraordinary events in the Lok Sabha today and the refusal of the Home Minister to make a statement on the matter, especially after such a huge breach of security on the very same day Parliament was attacked 22 years ago,” Congress MP Jairam Ramesh posted on X, on behalf of the opposition parties.
Amid slogan shouting from opposition benches, Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked wanted the House to continue after message of the LS incident was reported in the Upper House, on the pretext that LS was back in business after the incident. On that Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said, “You allowed the House to function but this is a very serious problem. It is not just a question of the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. The question is how two people managed to intrude in the presence of such a large security apparatus.”
Ramesh said, “The Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha kept accusing INDIA parties of ‘politicising’ the shocking and apalling breach of security WITHIN the Lok Sabha today. He had no answers to serious questions being raised on how such a breach could take place in a building heralded by the PM for its technological marvels, and how the intruders had come as visitors thanks to a high-profile sitting BJP MP from Karnataka, referring to Union minister Piyush Goyal.
Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee (TMC) said, “Amit Shah should resign immediately. There is no security planning. The gallery is right above us… If Parliament security can be breached this way, how can the country be secure… It could have been a repeat of the 2001… what is the intelligence department doing? Nothing. The home minister is delivering big speeches when he cannot maintain security in Parliament,” he said.
RLP MP Hanuman Beniwal, among MPs who caught the intruders, said it should be investigated who endorsed the visitors’ passes for them. “More than 150 MPs were present during Zero Hour … They (intruders) tried to come to the speaker’s chair. They had something in their shoes… It should be investigated whose guests were they… we are protesting, we do not have any (other) purpose, they said… They thought they will become heroes… we taught them a lesson,” the MP from Rajasthan said.
RSP MP N K Premchandan said, the security lapse was very serious as there was a threat by Sikhs for Justice chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun to attack Parliament. “It is an attack on Indian democracy. It is a great lapse on part of the home ministry. Two weeks ago, a threat was there from Khalistani Pannun. Security personnel say they had ratified the threat and said ‘we are on alert’,” the member from Kerala said.
RJD MP Manoj Jha said, concerns about security were raised by several MPs during the special session in September when several visitors resorted to sloganeering inside the House. “Doubts were expressed over security arrangements in this building. The day the women’s reservation bill was passed, there were visitors shouting slogans hailing the PM. We said tomorrow someone may shout ‘murdabad’ slogans…someone may throw things… we are seeing the result… There is a security lapse,” he said.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said she raised concerns over security during the last session as well but those were ignored. “In the special session, I had written to the (RS) chairman that the way sloganeering was on, it should be probed which MPs had enabled them to come inside. Yesterday, I raised the issue of threat by Khalistani terrorists to attack Parliament…it was ignored… The number of visitors that come and are given no instruction on what should be done and what should not be done, it shows this is a security breach,” she said.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said the incident raises several questions, adding that they have learnt that a ruling party MP endorsed the intruders’ passes. “It raises a number of questions. They were brought in by a ruling party MP, so we need to find out more details. Despite existing security precautions, they were able to smuggle in smoke pistols that were used to fire yellow smoke, which created panic among some members,” he said. “Many people feel the arrangements in the new Parliament building for security are very much less satisfactory than the old Parliament building, he added.