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'When a person entered Lok Sabha with pistols': BJP MP's tweet creates row
Nishikant Dubey said when similar breaches happened in Parliament in 1974 and 1994, the PM or the home minister was not questioned.
As both houses of Parliament saw a massive uproar on Thursday and Friday over Wednesday's security breach in the Lok Sabha -- resulting in the suspension of over a dozen MPs, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Friday asked why the opposition leaders were hell-bent on getting a statement from PM Modi or Home minister Amit Shah while the government is not responsible for the Lok Sabha security. "The security of the Lok Sabha is the responsibility of the Lok Sabha secretariat and not the government, why will the home minister answer on this," Nishikant Dubey said.
When in 1974, a person entered the Lok Sabha with two pistols, the then-opposition Jan Sangh did not make it an issue and the names of the PM and the home minister were not even mentioned because Lok Sabha security is only the responsibility of the Lok Sabha secretariat, Dubey tweeted.
The BJP MP also referred to a 1994 incident when an intruder jumped inside the Lok Sabha from the visitors' gallery and went near then PM Narasimha Rao. "Have some shame. Congress. Bad politics is not good," the BJP MP wrote.
Nishikant Dubey's tweet drawing a parallel to the December 13 security breach with past such incidents triggered a strong reaction from the opposition leaders.
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said it is not appropriate to get into precedents. "So many precedents in Parliament are getting violated today. I mean, the Prime Minister hardly attends the House. Let's not get into precedents. Something very serious happened on the 13th of December. Accountability has to be fixed. I was in the House. It could have gone wrong had the intruders had more lethal substances in the canisters. Let us not minimise the seriousness of the incident and it is only incumbent on the government to give a statement," Karti Chidambaram said.
"Don't know what power Nishikant ji now has that whatever he says becomes the truth. Such a major thing happened in Parliament. People have questions about the security of the Capital, of the country. We are just thankful that none of the accused is from the minority community, otherwise the matter would have become something else. Also, it was a BJP MP who sanctioned the passes. Had it been an opposition MP, this would have become something else..." Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said.
December 13 Lok Sabha security breach: What happened?
Two men identified as Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D jumped inside the Lok Sabha where the proceedings were being held and started spraying yellow gas. They shouted slogans before they got overpowered by the MPs and the security personnel. Outside Parliament, Amol Shinde and Neelam Azad were protesting. All four were arrested and charged under UAPA. No link to any organisation has been found so far. The investigation led the cops to Lalit Mohan Jha-- believed to be the mastermind of the plan. Lalit was arrested on Thursday night after he gave the cops a slip on Wednesday.
