The terrorist attack on our parliament in Delhi completed 22 years on 13th December 2023. To mark the fateful day, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, and  Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid their tributes to the martyrs & the victims of the terror attack. Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, Home Minister Amit Shah also laid floral tributes at the memorial for the martyrs. After the ceremony PM Modi was seen speaking with the families of the martyrs of the attack. He also expressed his grief and gratitude for the martyrs by tweeting “Today, we remember and pay heartfelt tributes to the brave security personnel martyred in the Parliament attack in 2001. Their courage and sacrifice in the face of danger will forever be etched in our nation's memory". The 2001 parliament attack was planned and executed by Pakistan-linked terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). On the morning of 13th December 2001, 5 terrorists wearing suicide vests entered the Parliament House Complex at around 11:40 am in a car with forged Home Ministry & Parliament stickers on its windshield. Feeling suspicious, the guards ordered the car to return. The terrorists then crashed their car into the then Vice President Krishan Kant’s car, got out and started shooting from their AK47 Rifles. The firing lasted for over 30 minutes. Despite the parliament session being adjourned 40 minutes before, more than a total of 100 MPs, major government officials and ministers were still inside the building including the then Home Minister LK Advani, and Vice President Krishan Kant. The guards, police officers and Vice President’s security personnel shot back at the terrorists. One gunman's suicide vest exploded when he was shot creating a blast and the other four gunmen were shot down. While the terrorists were successful in killing 9 people including a female police officer, security guard, gardener and a journalist and injuring more than 17 people, they couldn't enter the parliament’s building and all the politicians were able to escape unhurt.
As if to remind the world about the horrors of the 2001 Parliament Attack, a major security breach took place exactly 22 years later on 13th December 2023. Two unidentified men jumped & ran into the Lok Sabha chambers from the public viewing gallery number 4 during the ongoing session at around 1 pm. They both were carrying smoke canisters which were emitting yellow smoke. The CCTV footage has gone viral on social media. While the session was going on, Suddenly, shouts of "catch him, catch him" could be heard as one of the intruders was trying to reach the Speaker's Chair. One of the men, wearing a dark blue shirt, Sagar Sharma leapt across the desks in order to resist arrest and the second one D Manoranjan sprayed smoke from the visitors’ gallery. The two also raised slogans ‘Tanashahi Nahi Chalegi’, "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", and "Jai Bheem, Jai Bharat.” Both men were caught by Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla who were then handed off to the security staff and later arrested by Delhi Police. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Anupriya Patel were present at the time. At the same time two people identified as Neelam and Amol Shinde demonstrated outside the Parliament with similar color smoke. A visitor's pass was recovered after the two Lok Sabha intruders were caught; photographs of the pass indicate they were issued by the office of Pratap Simha, the BJP MP from Mysuru. Any visitor must clear multiple levels of security before being allowed inside Parliament. The Lok Sabha was immediately adjourned and resumed one hour later at 2 pm. Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said, "The gas could have been poisonous. One of the men was running to the Speaker's Chair. This is a serious breach of security especially on December 13, the day when Parliament was attacked in 2001." After resuming the session, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla addressed the agitated MPs and said “We are investigating the matter and have asked Delhi Police to join the inquiry”. Delhi Police sources said the two incidents - one of the 2 men entering the parliament and the couple protesting outside are likely related.

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• parliament attack
• pm modi
• lok sabha

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