Suspended Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore jibes at govt over Union HM's "silence" on Parliament security breach
Dec 15, 2023
New Delhi [India], December 15 : Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah over their "silence" on the security breach inside Lok Sabha, Congress leader Manickam Tagore on Friday said that the then Bharatiya Janata Party government in 2001, gave statements within days of the terror attack in Parliament.
The Congress leader is among the 14 MPs-- 13 from Lok Sabha and 1 from Rajya Sabha-- suspended for the remainder of the Winter Session on Thursday for unruly conduct.
The MPs were suspended amid ruckus inside both houses of the Parliament after the Opposition demanded a statement by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday's security lapse.
Taking to social media platform, X, the suspended Lok Sabha MP said that the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressed the nation on the night of the terror attack.
The security breach happened on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack. Two people--Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D--jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted anti-establishment slogans before being overpowered by the MPs. Outside it, in another incident, two protestors -- Neelam (42) and Amol (25) -- protested outside the Parliament with similar gas canisters. However, all four were sent to seven-day custody of Delhi Police Special Cell on Thursday.
Earlier, 14 Lok Sabha MPs were suspended, but later Pralhad Joshi clarified that one member was mistakenly included in the list of MPs suspended.
Following his clarification, a formal request was made to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to exclude one member, who wasn't present at the Well of the Lower House during the disruption, from the list of suspended MPs.
The number of suspended lawmakers was, thus, revised to 13 from 14 as was erroneously mentioned earlier.
The motion for suspension of nine opposition MPs - Benny Behanan, VK Sreekandan, Mohammad Jawed, PR Natarajan, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, K Subrahmanyam, SR Parthiban, S Venkatesan and Manickam Tagore - was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.
The MPs were suspended soon after the House met at 3 pm following its adjournment earlier. The House was later adjourned for the day.
The opposition has been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.
