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The Delhi Police has got intelligence information that groups like Al Badar or Laskhar-e-Toiba could attack Parliament during the current session, taking advantage of the uncertainty created over the security environment in the VIP area in Delhi following the gunning down of Lok Sabha Member Phoolan Devi last week.
This had prompted the Delhi Police chief Ajay Raj Sharma to hold an urgent and under-the-wraps meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi at the Speaker's Parliament chamber office at 6.30 pm on Thursday.
In the long meeting, Sharma had sought the Speaker's cooperation to permit the police to run a check on his car when it enters Parliament. Sharma told Balayogi that any person travelling in the Speaker's car could easily get inside the parliament premises and attack VIPs.
The Speaker's car is never stopped or checked at the Parliament gate, even when the Speaker is not travelling in it, just as that of the ministers, or for that matter any car having a valid parliament sticker.
The Speaker had also asked the police chief for deployment of additional forces in and around Parliament. This however has been turned down by Home Minister L.K. Advani whose sanction is needed for diverting police forces for VIP security.
Advani's argument is that, of the 56,000 police force in Delhi, 6000 are deployed for the security of 300 VIP's. The remaining 50,000 are always under tremendous strain to ensure law and order for the over one crore population of Delhi. With Delhi already having a high percentage of murders, dacoity, rape and other criminal incidents, Advani proposed that instead of diverting more forces to VIP security, the strength of the forces should be increased in Delhi. But that would not take place immediately. Therefore, a stringent comprehensive security plan for the Parliament House complex that includes Parliament House Annex was worked out at a subsequent meeting on Saturday.
In the meeting, the Speaker also instructed the Parliament security to follow strict security rules. Under the new guidelines, the press is likely to be put under strict checking. Passes are to be examined everytime a mediaperson enters the Parliament building. This might even include some restriction on the entry of mediapersons' vehicles.
A large number of non-journalist staff from various media groups come to the Parliament to collect written questions and answers of Parliamentary documents and other documents. There may be a ban on their entry and media organizations could be asked to access the Net as all the information are now put up on the Net by the government.
A large number of visitors and these staff members are often seen mingling with journalists and other VIPs at lunch rooms or inside the corridors. There would be restriction on this.
A separate proposal is being considered to link the Annex with Parliament and sanitise the entire area. But this is only a long-term proposal.
A taste of the new security set-up was experienced by journalists on Sunday evening when even those with valid passes were not allowed to enter the Parliament Annex before 3 pm when the BJP was to hold a press conference following the conclusion of its national executive.
This was in contrast to the earlier
arrangement when journalists were allowed to hang around the conference
venue to get information from any member coming out of the conference hall.
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