- Make no mistake, the incumbent Union Government at the Centre has created a narrative of strong leadership whose wholesome emphasis on the security apparatus including the tough posture adopted towards the Western and Eastern borders is widely appreciated. We know how the Centre proactively retorted against the terrorists by crossing the line of control on the Western frontier by carrying out air attacks in the previous years. The Chinese aggression on the Eastern borders along the line of actual control was met with an equally aggressive retort by the Indian forces. All these actions indicated that the Centre was quite prepared to act rather than wait by posing stringent countermeasures against evil enemy designs.
PC: The Publish
- Undeniably, the Indian citizens were mightily impressed with those actions. As you are aware, the global community lives in a world that is surrounded by diverse groups of ideologically fundamentalist antisocial elements prepared to inflict major damage to lives, properties, the economy, and even peaceful existence at the drop of a hat. No wonder, governments across the world lay great emphasis on security aspects both internal as well as external threats emanating from known and unknown sources. As such, the recent Indian Parliamentary security breach must have come as a rude shock to the entire security establishment who must be wondering what would have been the scenario if the smoke emanating from the cans turned out to be toxic.
- The repercussions could have been unimaginable. Thankfully, the smoke eventually turned out to be non-toxic. Mind you, the Parliament is not only an iconic building but also an idea. India’s Parliament is deeply intertwined with India’s democracy. Children see its picture in their schoolbooks and the luckiest of them get to visit it too. When a couple of people from the visitor’s gallery interrupted Lok Sabha recently, even waving around a gas canister, it was a shocking breach of Parliamentary security. While MPs overpowered these two, Delhi police caught two accomplices outside the building. But what if something more dangerous had been smuggled in? Surely parliamentarians’ safety should not be in their own hands.
PC: Times Now
- Ironically, earlier on that day Parliament had observed a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the jawans who fell defending it 22 years earlier. Back then Pakistan-backed terrorists had breached the Parliament complex using a fake security sticker on their vehicles. This time there were no lethal weapons involved. What is of utmost concern is that despite its other improvements, the new building is yet to get the kind of security it deserves. It’s worth reminding that the regional and global security environment has only become more challenging for India since 2001. Fortunately, this time the intruders don’t seem to have any terror links.
- But the point is that until recently experts used to confidently say that another terror attack on our Parliament is impossible, and that belief certainly has been badly shaken. Parliament’s vulnerability worries citizens to the core not just because of what this institution means to them. It also makes them anxious about the safety of other institutions, as well as their own. Needless to say, all the potential lacunas in Parliament’s security apparatus must be thoroughly assessed and addressed accordingly by making it breach-proof. Otherwise, any next attack of a similar kind may end up resulting in catastrophic consequences.
