We experienced moments of terror today, said a relieved-looking BSP MP from Bijnor, Malook Nagar, who showed exceptional presence of mind and bravery to confront one of the two intruders in Lok Sabha, an incident that shocked the nation on the 22nd anniversary of the parliament terror attack.
“I was filled with fear, thinking whether I will die on the anniversary of the Parliament attack as the coloured smoke coming from an canister held by the intruder looked ominous,” Nagar said, narrating details of the incident at Manch 2023, a three-day political discourse event being organised by ITV Network here.
There was a loud thud sound and we saw that a man had fallen on the ground and another man was hanging from the visitors’ gallery, preparing to jump, while there were just five minutes left for the conclusion of zero hour, said Nagar.
The visitors’ gallery in the new parliament is a few feet away from the last row of MPs’ seats but had this incident occurred in the old building, the intruders would have definitely landed on the desks of MPs, he recalled.
“The man who had jumped first, got up and tried to jump over a couple of rows of MPs’ desks took out the smoke canister from his shoe. Me and Hanuman Beniwal (RLP MP) tried to block his way at the end of the seating row and overpowered him,” he said, adding that some of the angry members even thrashed the culprits.
Nagar said his accomplice probably injured himself on falling on the Lok Sabha floor from the visitors’ gallery and could not move at all. He was overpowered by the security personnel who rushed into the house amid the commotion.
While calling the incident a big security breach, Nagar said while we are trying to talk about our brave act now, the truth is I was very scared at that moment but decided to follow my impulse to minimise possible harm from the “attack”.
“The bigger question in my mind was whether the intruder was carrying a bigger weapon and if that was the case we should overpower him quickly so that he does not get time to take out a bigger weapon and cause a bigger damage or loss of life,” he said.
Even after hours of the incident there was a burning sensation in the nose and at the time of the dramatic intrusion we were all worried if the yellow smoke being spread by the intruder was poisonous.
Nagar said the security breach should be investigated and the MP who facilitated the entry of the intruders should also be held responsible. “How was such a smoke canister carried into the House without getting detected?” asked a baffled Nagar.
The incident shocked the nation as it came on a day when Khalistanterrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in a video, threatened to attack Parliament to mark the anniversary of the terror strike on the old building in 2011 that left 14 people dead. Delhi Police later said the incident involved six people, including two who entered parliament and two others who protested outside the House and carried coloured smoke canisters. Four people have been detained.
While two conspirators went inside the House, two others protested outside Parliament raising slogans like “save the constitution, stop atrocities against women”, “high-handedness will be opposed” and “we need jobs”. One of the woman protester declared the she was not associated with any political outfit.
