A man jumped into the lawmakers’ area of India’s parliament, shouted slogans and set off a smoke can on Wednesday, in a major security breach on the 22nd anniversary of a deadly attack on the complex.
The parliament TV channel showed a young man wearing a black jacket and dark trousers jump from the visitors’ gallery into the lawmakers’ seating area in the lower house while a member was speaking, climbing over tables and entering the aisles. He was surrounded by security staff and law-makers and caught in an aisle as he set off a smoke can in his shoes, releasing dense white and yellow smoke, lawmakers said. Four people, including the man, were arrested, authorities said.
“It all happened in half a minute or one minute,” Rajendra Agarwal, a lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party who was presiding over the house, told CNN News 18 TV channel, adding he saw a second person in the visitors’ gallery also trying to jump into the lawmakers’ area.
“There is no doubt it was a major security lapse,” he said. Lawmakers said the intruder shouted slogans they could not make out and there was a sound and some smoke.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not in par-liament at the time.—Agencies
