The shocking scenes in Parliament on Wednesday could have been worse but for the quick thinking and bravery shown by two Members of Parliament, Gurjeet Singh Aujla and Hanuman Beniwal, who caught two intruders and pinned them down.
Aujla, the Congress MP from Amritsar, showed News18 his yellow-stained hand which was a result of one of the intruders spraying the canister on him after being caught. Aujla had overpowered the second intruder who jumped in after the first one who was caught by Rashtriya Loktantrik Party MP Hanuman Beniwal. “If I had not caught him in time, he in all probability would have reached the Speaker’s chair as no MPs were sitting in front of me,” Beniwal told News18.
Aujla said that he went after the second intruder as he saw Beniwal had pinned down the first one. Beniwal also said that there were a total of four intruders, two of whom jumped into the House with gas canisters hidden in their shoes, and another man and woman who were sitting in the visitors’ gallery.
MPs across party lines have said this was a serious security lapse in the new Parliament.
Seems to be a conspiracy: Beniwal
“I was about to speak in the Zero Hour when I heard that MPs sitting behind me were shouting. I saw a man hanging from the visitors’ gallery and another had jumped from there into the House amidst the MPs and was moving ahead shouting slogans,” Beniwal told News18. “I was sitting towards the front. I quickly went behind and caught hold of him. The other boy had some spray and he was spraying this in the air. The boy I caught was later being dragged out by other MPs when he also took out a canister from his shoes and started spraying. He was the leader of the lot and was not easy to hold. Defence minister Rajnath Singh was there inside too.”
If the intruders had brought in some poisonous gas, there would have been a serious incident, said Beniwal. “This is a big lapse. So much money has been spent on the new Parliament and we are not secure here. 22 years ago, there was a Parliament attack and these people chose the same day for this attack – there seems to be a conspiracy. Did they come in on a BJP MP recommendation – there will be an inquiry and there should be tough action,” he told News18.
There was panic amongst the MPs, he said. “It was my duty to catch him. I pinned him down but we had not checked his shoes or he would not have been able to take out the spray. A woman and a boy were there in the gallery too – there were a total of four people. But the man I caught was their chief and the boss – when he fell and was caught, the other boy surrendered but he still sprayed the gas. There was too much smoke inside. There was panic. Many women MPs were there too. When an MP will now speak in parliament, he will surely look up at the visitors’ gallery,” Beniwal told News18.
I just acted: Aujla
Aujla too narrated his experience. “I had just finished speaking and the House was about to adjourn after Zero Hour. Some MPs shouted – and I saw that two people had jumped in and one was moving towards the Speaker. My counterpart MP Hanuman Beniwal had caught the first person so I went after the second,” he told News18. “The intruder took out the smoke bomb from his shoe and started to spray it. We had a scuffle with him. The spray was warm. There was not much to think, I just acted. I did not know what he had, but I did it for the country and the tricolour. I am happy that I nabbed him as it could have been any gas. Bravery is in the blood of Punjabis. That person was going towards the Speaker, he could have done anything there. I am happy that the Speaker and other MPs congratulated me and Beniwal.”
MPs call it serious lapse
Rajendra Agrawal, the BJP MP who was in the Speaker’s chair in the Lok Sabha at the time, said he initially thought a person had fallen from the visitors’ gallery but he soon realised it was deliberate. “In one minute it was over. MPs acted very quickly and caught him. A probe should be done on the lapses. Security changes should be made. It is a serious lapse. They hid the canisters in their shoes…so frisking should be changed by the security officials with more precautions,” Agrawal told News18.
Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar was also in the House and she told News18 that the Parliament security officials were not quick to act and it was the two MPs who caught the intruders before other counterparts overpowered them. “These intruders were shouting slogans…we thought they were taking out weapons from their shoes. It was some yellow gas and it was a serious lapse in security. The government must explain how these people could get inside. It seems there is no security as more than one person could get inside,” Dastidar told News18.
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