Parliament security breach | BJP using diversionary tactics to shift blame: TMC

Kolkata, Dec 15 (PTI) The Trinamool Congress on Friday accused the BJP of using diversionary tactics to hide the alleged failure of the Union home ministry in preventing the "security breach" in Parliament.

Senior TMC leader and West Bengal minister Shashi Panja told reporters that instead of addressing the main question of the opposition why only 176 security personnel were present in Parliament on Wednesday instead of 300 on normal days, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP are focusing on the arrested, their home states and people they were allegedly in touch with.

"Shah is yet to take responsibility for the glaring failure which put the lives of Parliamentarians at risk. To cover it up, the BJP is resorting to all sorts of diversionary tactics and weaving a narrative around the arrested in the case. How come the government or ruling party of a state, where one of the accused lived or visited in the past, be held responsible for the incident," she asked.

In a major security breach on the anniversary of the deadly 2001 Parliament terror attack, two persons on Wednesday jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors' gallery, shouted slogans and released yellow smoke from canisters that triggered panic and chaos in the House.

Around the same time, two others, including a woman, raised slogans and released yellow smoke from canisters outside the Parliament premises, prompting the police to get into action and round up the duo.

About posts on ‘X’ by senior BJP leader and party's IT cell head Amit Malviya and BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar with photos of key accused Lalit Mohan Jha with a senior TMC MLA at a puja pandal, she said, "Many people pose with leaders at numerous events and post pictures in their social media accounts. What does that prove? Is it possible for a leader to know the antecedents of all people posing with leaders?" If the BJP is so sure about involvement of TMC in the breach, Shah or Prime Minister Narendra Modi should make a statement on the floor of the House instead of their IT cell weaving false narratives which will not help in proper investigation of the case and avert such incidents in future, she added.

Panja was referring to the post of Malviya on X where he said, "Mamata Banerjee can’t remain silent on Lalit Jha’s association with her senior party leader Tapas Roy. It is not a surprise that TMC MPs, scared of their party’s association emerging with those who breached Parliament security, were creating ruckus. This is a new low even by TMC’s standards." Malviya also re-tweeted a post of Majumdar which read, "Lalit Jha, the mastermind of the attack on our Temple of Democracy, has been in close association with TMC’s Tapas Roy for a long time…Isn’t this proof enough for investigation into the connivance of the leader?" The post also carried a purported photo of Jha with Roy at a puja pandal. PTI