Opinion Parliament attacks have exposed shameful lack of security preparedness

That it occurred on the same day as the previous deadly attack on Parliament in 2001 only underlines this. Heads should roll and clear responsibility and accountability need to be fixed for the security breach

The government was quick to respond to the situation and has constituted a high-level inquiry committee to find out what had happened and what went wrong. (PTI)

D Sivanandhan

December 15, 2023 09:01 AM IST First published on: Dec 13, 2023 at 07:29 PM IST

In India, there are certain buildings, structures and installations which are fortresses and are among the most secure places, not only in India but, arguably, even in the world. The Parliament building is one of these. It is the temple of our democracy, a beacon of the strength and power of 140 crore Indians. The new Parliament building, inaugurated earlier this year, is believed to be more secure than the earlier one.

So, when on Wednesday, two people breached the entire security apparatus, intruded in the main hall of Parliament and almost reached the well, before they were overpowered by some Members of Parliament and the wards of the parliament security staff, they exposed a major flaw in a security system which is otherwise extremely robust.

The incident, which is an egg on the face of our security establishment, took place merely hours after the entire Parliament, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, paid tributes to the martyrs of the Parliament attack on December 13, 2001.

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Given the significance of the day, authorities would have expectedly thrown a security blanket in and around the Parliament house. That the two intruders managed to reach it, despite such a security cover, is a scathing comment on the security and intelligence services responsible for the task.

The government was quick to respond to the situation and has constituted a high-level inquiry committee to find out what had happened and what went wrong. Just like every other high-level committee, this one will surely find out what went wrong and corrective measures will then be implemented as per its recommendations. But the question that needs to be answered is how the breach happened in the first place. A more horrific and sinister incident had taken place in the past and an inquiry commission was set up then too, which had given clear suggestions and mandates with regards to how arrangements need to be made to ensure that there is no repetition. How, then, did a breach occur again? This is the main question. Those responsible should be punished. Heads will have to roll, and an entire overhaul of the security structure will have to be undertaken.

One can only imagine what kind of havoc might have been created had these intruders been in possession of dangerous materials, gases and other substances.

This is clearly a collective failure of intelligence agencies and police and security agencies responsible for parliament security.

As per the preliminary information available through the media, a total of four persons have been arrested. One is a person by the name of Amol Shinde, a native of the Chakur village in Latur district of Maharashtra. Another is Sagar Sharma – an entry pass for the visitors’ gallery bearing his name and signed by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) from Mysore was reportedly found on him. Apparently, it was based on this that he got entry into the gallery.

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If this is true, how did these intruders manage to get an entry pass signed by an MP from Mysore? How did two youngsters manage to hide tear gas canisters in their shoes and enter the building and almost reach the sanctum sanctorum of India’s democracy?

It is normally believed that whenever an attack or security breach happens, the establishment, authorities and security apparatus wake up and take corrective measures so that the same type of attack or intrusion does not take place again. And, in a majority of the cases, it never does, but this time the irony virtually wrote itself, because the incident happened on the very day on which the dreadful Parliament attacks took place 22 years ago. It is not only shameful, but is also a clear statement on the preparedness of our security agencies.

The writer is the director general of Police (DGP) (Retired), Maharashtra, former police commissioner of Mumbai & Ex-chief of the elite Mumbai Crime Branch. This article was written on the basis of information that was available on the day of the attack