Terming the breach of Parliament security during the Winter Session that concluded on Thursday as “serious”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed confidence that corrective measures will be taken thereof.
These remarks were reportedly made by Prime Minister Modi at the customary meeting over tea with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and leaders of different political parties at the end of the session. It was then that the he also made a note of the incident of a civilian sitting among the MLAs in the Assembly in Congress-ruled Karnataka. According to the sources, he remarked that such a massive security breach had not received any prominence.
The incident being referred to took place during the Budget presentation in the Karnataka Assembly by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in July, when a person had managed to enter the chamber and sit on an MLA’s chair for some time, before being identified and removed.
Follow live updates from Parliament Winter Session on December 21, 2023
The remarks by Prime Minister Modi gain significance in the light of the Centre’s insistence that Parliament’s security was in the domain of the Lok Sabha Secretariat and that it will implement whatever guidelines issued by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Opposition MPs had been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on this issue, protests on which led to the suspension of 147 MPs from both Houses of Parliament.
In a recent interview to a Hindi daily, Prime Minister Modi had said that the seriousness of security breach in Parliament “cannot be underestimated”, adding that everyone should avoid politics over such an issue, in a reference to the Opposition’s protests in the two Houses over it.
Opposition leaders, most of whom have been suspended, kept away from Thursday’s meeting.
Among those present at the meeting were Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) Bhartruhari Mahtab and Shiv Sena’s Rahul Shewale, besides Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Pralhad Joshi.
While Shiv Sena is an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the BJD maintains a neutral stand but has been supportive of the government over its key decisions.
