New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP MM Abdulla has complained to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar over some security personnel allegedly asking the purpose of his visit to the Parliament.
In a letter to the Chairman, copies of which were also sent to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju and the Rajya Sabha Secretary General, Abdulla, a DMK MP from Tamil Nadu, said he was stopped by CISF personnel around 2:30pm Tuesday, when he was entering the Parliament House Estate in a Parliament Provided Ferry Vehicle (battery buggy).
Abdulla said he was stopped before the Boom Barrier and was asked the purpose of his visit and where he was headed inside the premises.
“I am appalled by this behaviour of the CISF Personnel who questioned me on the Purpose of my visit to the Parliament, a place where I represent the interests of the People and the State of Tamil Nadu. Such an Unprecedented misbehaviour has never happened earlier while the PSS was in charge of security,” he wrote in the letter.
“I strongly believe that Members of Parliament can enter the Parliament even if they do not have any official engagements and even if I have any engagements, I am liable to disclose it to and answerable only to My Chairman, who is the Custodian of the Rajya Sabha.
“I am still unable to comprehend the manner in which I was questioned by the CISF Personnel today and the incident has deeply affected me,” he said.
Abdulla said the Chairman, as the Custodian of the Council of States and its Members, should take cognizance of the “unprecedented misbehaviour” by the CISF personnel, take action against them, and uphold the dignity of the Rajya Sabha and its members.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor slammed the alleged overreach of the Executive.
“The subordination of Parliament to the control of the executive is an assault on the very assumptions behind our constitutional system, which did not envisage the supremacy of the Executive, but instead provided for clear separation of authority and powers among the three branches of government,” Tharoor said in a post on X.
“This unilateral assault on the Constitution has taken place while the nation’s political representatives were in the midst of a hotly-contested election campaign. The usurpation of Parliament security by the Home ministry should not be allowed to stand,” he said.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale also backed Abdulla, saying Parliament is not the private property of Amit Shah, The Union Minister of Home Affairs, which oversees the paramilitary.
“An MP cannot be asked why they’re going to Parliament. As Members of the House, it is our right to be in Parliament,” Gokhale said in a post on X.
“Is this why CISF has replaced Parliament Security Services? To obstruct INDIA MPs from carrying out their duties? Home Minister Amit Shah should smell the coffee. There’s no ‘400 paar’ or even ‘300 paar’ anymore. Parliament is not Modi or Shah’s personal property that they can stop & interrogate MPs,” he said.
Gokhle said the incident warrants a probe, and accused the paramilitary personnel of acting as a private army.
“You’re there for the security of Parliament & not as Amit Shah’s personal militia,” he said.
PTI