India’s parliament was plunged into chaos on Wednesday when two men jumped into the chamber, shouting slogans and spraying four-smelling coloured smoke from canisters. The incident took place on the 22nd anniversary of an attack on the parliament in which 14 people died.
Television news channels covering the parliamentary proceedings relayed images of one young man, dressed in a black jacket, jumping some 10ft from the visitors’ gallery into the MPs sitting area in India’s new parliament building.
He jumped from table to table, and within seconds was joined by another intruder who was also wielding a gas container. Shouting slogans such as “dictatorship is not acceptable”, the two men sprayed white and yellow smoke before being overpowered by MPs and parliamentary security staff.
Both intruders were handed over to Delhi police who identified them as a 27-year-old resident of Lucknow in north India and a 34-year-old engineer from Mysuru in the south.
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They had entered parliament on a visitor’s pass issued by an MP from prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party. The smoke cans were reportedly hidden in their shoes.
Officials said a similar incident occurred outside parliament when a man and a woman shouted similar slogans and released coloured smoke from containers. Police said they were also detained and identified, and they tracking two other people who were part of the conspiracy but fled the scene.
Senior security and intelligence officials said it was a “well-co-ordinated scheme” but for now are ruling out terrorist links. They were also unable to ascertain the motive behind the incursion.
Parliament speaker Om Birla said the gas released in the chamber was not harmful. Both houses were suspended for a short period after the incident, before sessions resumed later.
“Two people jumped from the public gallery and suddenly there was smoke all round in the House,” Opposition MP Danish Ali told reporters outside parliament. There was chaos and bedlam for a few minutes before the intruders were apprehended, he added.
This intrusion took place on the day that MPs were observing the 22nd anniversary of the attack by five gunmen on India’s parliament on December 13th, 2001 in which 14 people, including the attackers, were killed.
Opposition MP’s questioned the four-tier security in place in the new parliament building that includes searching visitors and checking all their belongings. Cell phones, handbags, pens, water bottles and even coins are not permitted inside parliament.
Visitors also have to pass through three full-body scanners, but officials were silent on how the intruders managed to sneak in their smoke containers
“It’s a very serious security breach and the government needs to be accountable for it and provide answers on how it occurred” said Congress Party MP S Jothimani. Confidence in parliament’s security apparatus needs reaffirming, she added.
Opposition Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha told India Today television that Wednesday’s attack struck at the heart of India’s democracy. “The intruders, in the guise of visitors, managing to smuggle in gas cans is disconcerting to say the least,” he said, hinting broadly at the horrific 2001 attack on parliament.
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