Parliament Security Breach: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government has reacted to the Opposition parties demand for Union Home Minister Amit Shah's statement in the House over the Lok Sabha security breach. Speaking on the matter, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Saturday that the Opposition parties should look back at history; no Home Minister has ever given a statement on such an incident in Parliament. He further highlighted that a security breach of the Lok Sabha is the prerogative of the Speaker of the House.
"Incidents like this has happened before as well. They must look at the history that the Home Minister never gave a statement on such incidents in Parliament in the past. The security of Lok Sabha is the prerogative of the Speaker. Therefore, to order an enquiry, make a statement is the responsibility of the Speaker," Shekhawat said, as quoted by PTI.
BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla said that there should be no politics on a matter as grave as the security of the nation and the Parliament. Speaking at a press conference, he stated that there should be no problem accepting and acknowledging that the incident that occurred within Parliament was an unfortunate one.
"Politics should not be played on an issue as grave as security of the nation and the Parliament. There should be no problem in accepting and acknowledging that the incident of December 13 within Parliament was an unfortunate one and there must be no compulsions in any of our minds to resonate in one voice and condemn that incident without ifs and buts," Poonawalla said.
In a major security breach inside the Lok Sabha on Wednesday on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack, two people jumped from the audience gallery into the chamber and hurled gas cannisters.
On Saturday, Police have arrested one more accused in the incident. This is the sixth arrest in the case. Other accused -- Sagar Sharma, Neelam Devi, Manoranjan D, Amol Shinde and Lalit Jha have already been nabbed by the police.
BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said that the Union Home Minister has already said that the matter will be probed thoroughly and the Opposition is creating ruckus in Parliament despite that.
"Union Home minister (Amit Shah) has already said that the matter will be probed thoroughly. Despite that, they (opposition) are creating ruckus in the Parliament. This means that their intentions are not good," the BJP leader said, as quoted by ANI.
'We Didn't Politicise': Congress's KC Venugopal On Parliament Security Breach
Congress fired a fresh salvo at the Centre over the security breach issue. Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal on Saturday said it wasn't the Opposition members but Delhi Police that politicised the incident after labelling it as a terror attack.
Addressing a media briefing at the AICC headquarters in the national capital, the leader of the grand old party said Delhi Police, which reports to the Union Home Minister, called the security breach on December 13, Wednesday, a terror attack.
"Delhi Police called it (parliament security breach) a terror attack. It comes under the Union Home Minister, doesn't it? We (Opposition members) didn't politicise the incident, we didn't call it a terror attack. We only put forward our concerns over the glaring lapse in security from the government side," Venugopal said, as quoted by ANI.