In a major security breach in Parliament on Wednesday (December 13, 2023), two men jumped from the visitors gallery into the area where MPs sit in the Lok Sabha. The incident took place at 1:02 PM when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Khagen Murmu, who represents Maldaha Uttar (West Bengal), was speaking during Zero Hour. BJP MP from Meerut Rajendra Agrawal was in the Speaker’s Chair.
After landing, the two men carrying smoke canisters from which yellow coloured smoke was comin out, ran into the Lok Sabha chamber as security personnel tried to stop them.
The video footage of the incident shows a man who was not identified leaping from the Lok Sabha’s visitor’s gallery, followed by a small disturbance. Taking a serious note of the security breach, Lok Speaker Om Birla issued a statement which read, “We are investigating the matter and have asked Delhi Police to join the inquiry.”
“Suddenly two young men around 20 years old jumped into the House from the visitor’s gallery and had canisters in their hand. These canisters were emitting yellow smoke. One of them was attempting to run towards the Speaker’s chair. They were shouting some slogans. The smoke could have been poisonous. This is a serious breach of security especially on 13th December, the day when Parliament was attacked in 2001,” Congres MP Karti Chidambaram said.
Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav alleged a “complete security lapse”. “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 complete security lapse. Anything could have happened inside the Lok Sabha,” she said.
“Two young men jumped from the gallery and something was hurled by them from which gas was emitting. They were caught by MPs, and they were brought out by security personnel. The House was adjourned till 2 pm. This is certainly a security breach because today we observed the death anniversary of people who sacrificed their lives in 2001 (Parliament attack),” Chowdhury said.
The incident comes on the 22nd anniversary of the terror attack on Parliament, which then used to function from the old building. The attack on 13 December 2001, was carried out by terrorists from Pakistan-funded and trained Jaish-e-Mohammed group