‘Don’t beat us, we are here only to protest’: Intruders to MPs
NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MP Hanuman Beniwal, one of the first to respond as the intrusion drama unfolded in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, alleged that while two youths jumped into the chamber from the visitors’ gallery, one woman kept encouraging them from the box, and a fourth might have given the marshals the slip.
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Beniwal, who was among the MPs who caught Sagar Sharma and delivered a few blows to him before handing him over to the security personnel, told TOI: “About 150 MPs might have been inside the House at the time the two youths jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber.When we caught the boys and slapped them, they pleaded with us not to beat them as they were only there to protest. We asked them what they were protesting against but they did not clarify.”Beniwal also questioned the protesters’ choice of date – the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack. He said, “The smoke from the canisters made several of the MPs feel sick. There was pandemonium inside Parliament by this time… The men were purposefully moving towards the Speaker’s chair and we apprehended them before they could reach there.”
Congress’ Gurjeet Singh Aujla, who was praised for his daredevilry in tackling the situation, snatched the smoke canister and threw it out after confronting the second intruder who had jumped into the chamber. He later said he tried to lob the canister billowing yellow smoke as far as possible, as it was uncertain what it contained.
‘Big security lapse’: Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, who snatched gas canister from the man who jumped into Lok Sabha
“Since we moved into this new Parliament, we are facing this problem. The entry is common for all, there is a common canteen and all sit together. The old Parliament was not like this,” Aujla said.
Karti Chidambaram, who also witnessed the dramatic scenes unfold in Lok Sabha, said, “That these people were able to enter with canisters in their shoes points to the fact that both the frisking protocol and the equipment to detect plastic containers being smuggled into Parliament are inadequate. This could have easily transformed into a much bigger incident.”
Security personnel TOI spoke to attributed the lapses to shortage of security staffers and the very large volume of visitors who have been entering the new Parliament building.
Watch New video shows MPs punching, thrashing intruder on floor who protested with smoke canister inside Lok Sabha
