This is the second time in two decades that the security of Parliament has been breached. Nevertheless, the two incidents are distinctly different from each other in nature and probably in intention. The first was planned by terrorists “to wipe out the entire political leadership of India,” to quote the then home minister L K Advani. In that attack at least eleven persons had lost their lives.
But today’s attack does not appear to be inspired by any terrorist idea or intention. The two intruders, including one woman, Neelam, who were arrested outside the Parliament house were shouting: “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, “Inquilab Zindabad”, “Jai Bhim”, “Tanashahi Nahi Chalegi” (we would not tolerate dictatorship). It is a known fact that the word tanashahi is being used by opponents of Narendra Modi for him.
Neelam, the only woman, who was protesting outside the Parliament, claimed to be a student. She said she was unemployed. Her family members told the media that she was angry because she had no job, though she was highly qualified. They said she had also taken part in the 2020-2021 farmer protests. Neelam outright denied that she was affiliated to any party or organisation. This is nothing unusual. There are number of educated youths who are angry with the administration, but are not with any organisation. They belong to the angry young men/women genre, a role which the superstar Amitabh Bachchan assayed in countless films.
Nevertheless, the intrusion of two youths and using smoke bomb inside Parliament is undoubtedly the most audacious and alarming act of protest, justified or otherwise. Just after the incident, the police claimed that it was a meticulously and well-coordinated incident carried out by six people, all of whom were in contact with each other over Instagram and other social media platforms, where they hatched the plan.
However, after some hours, a police officer said: “A preliminary probe has revealed that Sagar Sharma, D. Manoranjan, Neelam Devi and Amol Shinde knew each other. They had become friends on social media and hatched the plan.” But Neelam and Amol claimed they had no links with Manoranjan and Sagar, the officer said.
Though police is trying to discover an‘anti-national’ angle to the incident, it cannot absolve itself of the responsibility of utter failure. The police owe an explanation to the country as to how could the two persons entered the Parliament House, despite the building having an extremely tight security. Moreover, it remains to be ascertained how the BJP’s Mysore MP Pratap Simha issue could pass for the two persons without verifying their antecedents. Usually an MP or MLA issues passes only to the persons who are known to them. Incidentally, the BJP MPs and MLAs are most judicious in this matter.
The most important revelation of the police is: “They had the same ideology and hence decided to give a message to the government. The security agencies are trying to ascertain if they were instructed by anyone or any organisation. During interrogation, Amol said they were upset with issues like the farmers’ protest, Manipur crisis, unemployment, that’s why they committed this act”.
In the backdrop of this revelation, the role of the BJP MP comes under the scanner, given that Mahua Moitra has been expelled from the Lok Sabha for merely sharing her login id to the businessman Hiranandani, citing national security threat. Obviously, the BJP MP Pratap Simha must have been aware of their protesters’ ideology and the organisation to which they belonged. The police also did not elaborate the content of the message, which it claims, the intruders wanted to give to the government.
Though the police is trying to look through the narrow prism of a broader conspiracy angle, they have failed to clarify why they did not take security warnings seriously. The day was close to the anniversary of the terror attack on Parliament on December 16, 2001, obviously it called for highest order of security alert. Moreover, America-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu had already warned of an attack on Parliament on this day. In this backdrop, the role of police comes under scrutiny. It is unthinkable how they managed to carry smoke sticks and break into the Lok Sabha, despite security checks and scanners inside the building.
There is one more lacuna. Initially, the police said that five of them stayed at Vikram’s residence in Gurgaon/Gurugram before coming to the Parliament. Later it said that they had stayed at the Gurgaon residence of Lalit Jha. Even police officers confess that the motive behind their action is still unclear. Of course, it is certain that they were disillusioned with the prevailing situation in the country. Two youths even claimed themselves as “deshbhakts (patriots)”.
Neelam said: “We are common citizens. Atrocity is inflicted on us by this government of India. When we try to talk about our rights, we are lathicharged and put in jails. We are jobless. I’m a student and not linked to any organisation. We didn’t have any other way to make our voice heard”. A section of the Godi media tried to compare the incident with 93-year-old incident of the iconic youth revolutionary Bhagat Singh and his friends throwing bomb in the British colonial parliament to make them listen to the voice of the people.
Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge rightly said that “security breach that took place in Parliament today is a very serious matter. We demand that the home minister should come to both the Houses and give a statement on this.”
The most important part of the entire story had been the Speaker of Lok Sabha, Om Birla seeking to play down the security breach, saying the youths had released “sadharan and sansani failaniwali dhuan” (normal smoke, meant to create panic), and told the MPs that there was nothing to worry. Usually, the political class becomes too aggressive in such cases. But Birla, on the contrary, was trying to play down.
An insight into the whole episode would make it explicit that it was an attempts of the intruders to draw the attention of the people of the country towards the autocratic functioning of Modi and having little or no concern for the people, especially the unemployed youths.
Manoranjan’s father Devaraj Gowda from Mysore said his son was an engineer who graduated in 2014. In absence of any job, he used to assist his father in farm. He said: “My son is an ardent follower of Swami Vivekananda. No one has perhaps read as many history books on Vivekananda as my son. He used to travel to different places for any celebration related to Vivekananda.”
The intrusion of Parliament by unemployed youths exposes the claim of Modi that India does not face the problem of unemployment. Exactly a month back, the Congress had accused Modi of leaving a legacy of record unemployment as India’s jobless rate reaches a two-year high. It is a fact that growing “economic crisis” continues to spiral out of control. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge took a swipe saying that amidst recession and inflation, the Modi government has organised such an “unemployment fair” which is forcing crores of youth to wander from door to door.
The condition of rural India is bad. The fact is government’s Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data itself says that the unemployment rate among graduate youth is 13.4%. Kharge said: “Now your false advertisements and new tricks to divert attention will no longer work. Be it the elections of five states or the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the youth of India will definitely take revenge from those who have wronged them. Only the unemployed youth of the country will sound the bugle of the countdown of the BJP rule’s end. CMIE data shows that unemployment rate in India is now at above 10%, the highest in over 2 years — when it already was the highest ever in five decades. Rural unemployment is 10.8%.” (IPA Service)
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