NEW DELHI, Dec 23: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has denied that there was any lapse on its part leading to the clashes between political parties at Parliament’s “Makar Dwar” on December 19.
It said it chooses to keep mum when MPs make such allegations, even as both sides accused the other of manhandling, pushing and shoving. “There was no lapse on part of CISF, If by lapse you mean weapons were allowed, then no weapon was allowed,” said DIG (operations) Srikant Kishore on Monday.
The Congress had alleged that sticks attached to posters were used by BJP leaders. “The MPs were carrying sticks. The RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) has a historic relationship with the stick. Today, it has reached inside Parliament. This was never allowed before,” Congress MP Manickam Tagore said.
The CISF, which is in-charge of parliamentary security, said the rule book does not allow the screening or search of MPs. But, it conceded that what happened at Makar Dwar was unexpected and unprecedented. “It is not part of the SOP (standard operating procedure) to screen any MP,” Kishore said.
Asked if there was an attempt to divide the Makar Dwar entry for the members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and INDIA bloc, he said there was no such physical partition between the two protesting groups. “No one expected this kind of a situation…so no such measures were taken,” he said.
Senor Congress leader and the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is facing an FIR linked to the scuffle between the ruling and opposition MPs at “Makar Dwar” leading to the injury to two BJP MPs. The ruling party has claimed that Mr Gandhi pushed” the BJP MPs causing head injuries to Pratap Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput. The CISF said it was carrying out its own internal assessment of the incident. The Delhi Police are likely to record the statement of the two injured MPs and seize CCTV footage to probe the charges against Mr Rahul Gandhi.
(Manas Dasgupta)