Taking a strong view of the filming of Parliament complex by AAP MP Bhagwant Mann, lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday asked him not to attend the House till a decision is taken on the matter by a nine-member house committee which she announced while conveying a sense that the MP’s act had put “in peril” the Parliament security, reviewed extensively after terrorist attack in 2001.
The Speaker announced that a parliamentary panel, chaired by BJP member Kirit Somaiya, has been asked to submit its report by August 3, while Mann has time till Tuesday morning to submit his explanation to the committee.
Within hours of Speaker’s announcement, the AAP MP in Chandigarh accused the BJP, the Congress and the Akali Dal of joining hands to “suppress his voice” in view of the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls. He even went ahead demanding the suspension of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing Pakistan’s security agency access to the Pathankot airbase.
He claimed he has been “barred” from raising issues of public by being not allowed to attend the House proceedings. The MP said the “grand alliance” of the BJP, the Congress and the Akalis has hatched a “conspiracy against me as I am very active in the House and raise issue of the public”. “It has happened ahead of Punjab polls,” he claimed.
The Speaker, however, took a serious note of the filming of the high security parliament complex while announcing the setting of the probe panel.
“The act of the member of audio-visual recording of Parliament and posting it on the social media puts the security of Parliament in peril,” the Speaker said, adding that several members had expressed concern over the issue on Friday last.
The member is “advised not to attend the sittings of the House” until a decision is
taken in the matter, Mahajan said. Mann was not present in the House.
As the House assembled for the day, she informed it about the action being taken on the issue which had led to the adjournment of the lok Sabha proceedings on July 22.
“The enquiry committee shall probe into the serious security implications and related aspects...(and) suggest suitable remedial measures to avoid recurrence of such incidents in future and recommend appropriate action in the matter,” the Speaker said.
Apart from chairperson Somaiya, the panel has two other BJP members — Meenakshi lekhi and Satyapal Singh. Others are Anandrao Adsul (Shiv Sena), B Mahtab (BJD), Ratna De (TMC), Thota Narasimham (TDP), K C Venugopal (Cong) and P Venugopal (AIADMK).
The panel has no member from Shiromani Akali Dal. Mann represents Sangrur in Punjab. The Speaker said Parliament, which is the sanctum sanctorum, was attacked in 2001 and 13 security men and parliamentary personnel had sacrificed their lives.
“In view of the extreme gravity of the matter, I have discussed it with the leaders of political parties in the lok Sabha and all of them have unanimously agreed to the course of action I propose to take,” the Speaker said as she announced the setting up of the enquiry panel.