Minister lists past incidents of security breaches, asks Opp not to politicise issue

He said Speaker Om Birla has already written a letter to the Home secretary seeking a high-level inquiry and the probe has already been initiated.

In the past, such matters have been dealt with under the direction and guidance of the Honourable Speaker. This incident is a grave Contempt of the House and this House has the liberty to deal with this issue as per the Constitution, from the point of view of the violation of… pic.twitter.com/BsIZaobFnE

— Pralhad Joshi (@JoshiPralhad) December 14, 2023

“Everyone should appreciate that Speaker Om Birla promptly held a meeting with all the floor leaders and listened to the suggestions for further strengthening the security on the Parliament premises,” said the minister, adding that some of the suggestions are already being implemented and in future, more measures will be taken to strengthen security of Parliament.

Giving details of security breaches witnessed by the House in the past, Joshi said, on April 11, 1974, one person, Ratan Chandra Gupta, shouted slogans from the visitors’ gallery; he was carrying two pistols, one object looking like a bomb and some pamphlets. On July 26, 1974, a person named Biplab Basu was caught carrying a dagger while trying to enter the visitors’ gallery. On November 26, 1974, one Satenderjeet Singh was caught carrying explosives and a dagger to the visitors’ gallery. On January 9 and 10, 1999, two persons, Badri Prasad and Pushpendra Chauhan, were caught after they jumped from the public gallery to the chamber of the Lok Sabha.

Joshi said unfortunate incidents such as shouting slogans, throwing papers, pamphlets and even jumping from the galleries of the Houses have been happening “since the beginning”.

“I am not comparing the past incidents and defending today’s incident, but we have to learn lessons from our past to bring a bright future,” said the minister.

“In my opinion, this matter concerns us all and we have to speak in one voice on such a grave national issue. No politics is expected to be done by anyone on such issues. We (should) work on this matter rising above party politics,” Joshi said.

“I am sorry to say that it has become a habit of some members to politicise all the issues. I once again request them not to politicise this (security breach) issue,” he said.

Calling the recent incident a grave contempt of the House, the minister emphasised that in the past such matters have been dealt with under the direction and guidance of the Speaker.

He said from the point of view of other violations, appropriate agencies will be dealing with the incident as per the law of the land.