Two intruders enter Indian parliament, throw gas canisters

NEW DELHI: Two men jumped into the Lok Sabha from the visitors’ gallery on Wednesday, triggering a massive security scare on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack.

According to Indian media reports, the members of parliament and security personnel caught the duo and handed them over to the Delhi Police, which is currently interrogating them. Not much is known about them or their motivation.

BSP MP Ram Shiromani Verma said the security personnel found an Aadhaar card with a Lucknow address on one of the two intruders.

Narrating the incident, he said the entire parliament was covered in smoke as one of the man opened a canister emitting yellow smoke. “All MPs beat him up and caught him and handed him to the security,” he said.

He also said that they were raising the “tanashahi nahi chalegi” (down with dictatorship) slogan. Verma said the man had stuffed the canister and a paper inside his shoes.

MP Hanuman Beniwal said he was among the first to catch hold of them. “When we caught hold of one of them, he took out something from his shoe, emanating smoke. Later the second person was also caught,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not in parliament at the time. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said the police have seized some material from them.

“A thorough investigation of the incident that took place during zero hour, is being done. Essential instructions have also been given to the Delhi Police. In the primary investigation, it has been found that it was just a smoke and there is no need to worry about the smoke,” he added.

Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, who caught hold of the two men who jumped down the visitors’ gallery into the House, narrated the incident.

“He had something in his hand which was emitting yellow-coloured smoke. I snatched it away and threw it outside…This is a major security breach,” he added.

BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal, who was presiding over the Chair of Speaker, narrated the incident. “We thought he might have fallen but when the second person started coming down, all of us became cautious. The person tried to open his shoes and took something out after which smoke came out,” he said.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said one of them was trying to run towards the Speaker’s chair.

“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,” he said.