Canisters in shoes, raising of slogans: Eyewitness recall how intruders attacked Indian Parliament

The members of the Indian parliament who witnessed a massive security breach on Wednesday (Dec 13) recalled how the incident unfolded. The two men, who were sitting in the visitors’ gallery, had jumped into the Lok Sabha which led to a massive security scare on the 2001 Parliament attack’s anniversary. The two men were caught by the MPs and security personnel and detained by the Delhi Police, who are currently interrogating them. 

Recalling the security scare, BSP MP Ram Shiromani Verma said an Aadhaar card with a Lucknow address, which belonged to one of the two intruders, was found by the security personnel. 

Speaking about the incident, Verma said that the entire parliament was filled with smoke after one of the men opened a canister which emitted yellow smoke. “All MPs beat him up and caught him and handed him to the security,” he added, as reported by Hindustan Times. 

He added that the intruders were raising the “tanashahi nahi chalegi” (down with dictatorship) slogan. Verma stated that the canister was stuffed by the man in the shoes along with a paper.

MP Hanuman Beniwal said that he was among the first people who caught 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,” the MP said. 

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that some material had been seized by the police 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 said.

Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla, who had caught the two men when they jumped from the visitors’ gallery into the House, narrating the incident, said, “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.”

Watch: 2001 Indian Parliament Attack: PM Modi, other leaders pay tribute to attack victims

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in parliament when the attack took place.

Speaking to ANI, BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal, who was presiding over the speaker’s chair, said, “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.” 

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said that one of the intruders tried to run towards the chair of the speaker.

“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 narrated.

(With inputs from agencies)