Parliament witnessed a major breach of security on Wednesday, December 13, on the 22nd anniversary of the Parliament attack. Two men, who were in the Visitors Gallery jumped into the House and set off yellow smoke from canisters. One of the men attempted to run towards the Speaker’s chair when he was overpowered by members of parliament (MPs). The two reportedly shouted the slogan, “Tanashahi nahi chalegi”, meaning ‘Dictatorship will not work’. The two people were detained immediately.
Visuals of the House proceedings show a man in a blue jacket jumping across the benches, before he is cornered by MPs. Initial reports suggest that the men had hidden the canisters in their shoes. “The fact that there were two people who could come into the visitor’s gallery with canisters, the smoke could have been toxic, it could have been poisonous, it could have been smoke bombs. We don't know. But it emitted yellow smoke and it is a serious breach of security, especially on December 13, the day in which parliament was attacked in 2001,” said Congress MP Karti Chidambaram.
After the security breach in Parliament, two other protesters - a man and a woman - set off the gas canisters at Vijay Chowk near Parliament. They too shouted slogans such as, “Bharat Mata ki Jai, Tanashahi bandh karo (stop the dictatorship), Tanashahi nahi chalegi (dictatorship won’t work), Jai Bheem Jai Bharat, Save Constitution”. Visuals from the ground show that the two protesters were carrying a canister filled with coloured smoke.
"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 a complete security lapse. Anything could have happened inside the Lok Sabha,” said Samajwadi party MP Dimple Yadav.
BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal, who was presiding over the Chair of Speaker at the time of the attack, said, “There is a loophole for sure. When the first person came down, we thought he might have fallen but when the second person started coming down, all of us became cautious. The person tried to open his shoes and took something out after which smoke came out. Action will be taken against this. The Speaker and responsible people will make the decision on this. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also reached the House when all of this happened…”
Also reacting to the attack DMK MP Senthil said, “Two persons jumped from the Lok Sabha visitors gallery into the Lok Sabha house while proceedings were going on during zero hour.
They started advancing and rushing towards the well of the house and they lit smoke sticks.”
Wednesday’s attack incidentally comes on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 terror attack on the Parliament that cost the lives of six Delhi police officers, two parliamentary security personnel and a gardener. At the time, Pakistani terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were accused of the attacks, but LeT, however, denied their involvement. The 2001 attack was carried out by five armed assailants forty minutes after both houses of Parliament had been adjourned for the day. Police and the assailants were locked in a 45-minute gun battle at the time before all of the attackers were killed.
The last instance of someone jumping into the chamber from the gallery occurred when the House approved the bill for the formation of Jharkhand.