Tamil Nadu Rajya Sabha MP M M Abdulla was allegedly “stopped” and “questioned” by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel when he was on a routine visit to Parliament premises on Tuesday. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP wrote a letter to Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday, accusing CISF personnel of “questioning” his “purpose of visit” to Parliament. “Such an unprecedented misbehaviour has never happened earlier…,” Abdulla said in his strongly worded letter. “I am still unable to comprehend the manner in which I was questioned today by the CISF personnel and the incident has deeply affected me,” Abdulla wrote. Saying that he believes that members of Parliament (MPs) can enter Parliament “even if they do not have any official engagements”, Abdulla added that he was liable to disclose the purpose of his visit only to the chairman and custodian of the Rajya Sabha. The MP has asked the Rajya Sabha chairman to take action against the CISF personnel for their “misbehaviour”. While Abdulla was unavailable for comment, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai confirmed the incident to The Indian Express. “He was stopped and questioned. This is unacceptable,” Annadurai said. In May this year, the CISF took over security arrangements at Parliament from the Parliament Security Service (PSS) and Delhi Police. The takeover was on account of a security breach that took place in December last year when two people jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour and released coloured gas from canisters they had smuggled into the building. The CISF is now in charge of security at the new and old Parliament buildings. Sharing The Indian Express's report, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor wrote in a social media post, "The usurpation of Parliament security by the Home ministry should not be allowed to stand." "The subordination of Parliament to the control of the executive is an assault on the very assumptions behind our constitutional system, which did not envisage the supremacy of the Executive, but instead provided for clear separation of authority and powers among the three branches of government. This unilateral assault on the Constitution has taken place while the nation‘s political representatives were in the midst of a hotly-contested election campaign," he said on X. This is not the first time that MPs have raised concerns over the CISF’s actions since the security force took over Parliament security on May 20. Parliament sources said DMK MP Tiruchi Siva was stopped and asked to show his ID to the CISF personnel last month. Reacting to the development, TMC MP Saket Gokhale said on X on Wednesday: “An MP CANNOT be asked why they’re going to Parliament. As Members of the House, it is our right to be in Parliament. Is this why CISF has replaced Parliament Security Services? To obstruct INDIA MPs from carrying out their duties?” A spokesperson for the vice-president’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Dhankhar is on a visit to Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.
