By South Asia correspondent Avani Dias, Meghna Bali and Som Patidar in New Delhi
Members of Parliament protest in New Delhi on 21 December, against the suspension of 141 opposition members belonging to an opposition grouping of 26 parties dubbed INDIA - the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance - formed to fight general elections slated for early next year. Photo: AFP
India's parliament gets hundreds of visitors every day, hoping to watch the so-called largest democracy in the world in action.
So last week, when two young men entered the building during the current sitting of parliament with authorised security passes, it seemed like standard procedure.
They walked up to the visitor's gallery to look down on the lower house chamber, known as the Lok Sabha.
They stood observing until about 1.00pm, when they began wreaking havoc on the parliamentary session below.
One of the men jumped from the gallery into the chamber, while the other climbed over the railing.
They had hidden canisters in their shoes that they set off, releasing yellow smoke into the room as they chanted the slogan "dictatorship will not prevail".
Two intruders and the Indian Parliament! Modi has 10,000 members force for his personal security but they have left the Parliament for anyone to enter and smoke bomb it. pic.twitter.com/58Cat39GTT
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) December 13, 2023
It turned into a chaotic scene as members of parliament and security started chasing the men as they jumped over tables and chairs, eventually catching and taking them out of the building.
Another man and a woman were outside causing a similar disruption by spraying gas from canisters.
According to a report by The Hindu newspaper, the intruders wanted to raise awareness about regional conflicts and regularly made online posts about their grievances against the policies of the government.
The breach happened on the anniversary of a deadly terrorist attack on India's parliament in 2001, making it more than a rogue violation of parliament.
There was more fallout the following day, when 14 MPs were barred from the chamber for protesting the security breach.
A screen grab as the men jumped over tables and chairs in the Indian parliament chased by security guards and parliamentarians. Photo: Screenshot / Sansad TV
Prominent opposition member Dr Syed Naseer Hussain said parliamentarians had the right to know who was responsible for the chaos in parliament.
"We've got more than 700 members of parliament from both houses, if they are not secure, then how do you think that the government is [providing] security for the people of the country?" he told the ABC.
Now, 143 MPs from India's opposition grouping of 26 parties dubbed INDIA - the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance - have been suspended until the current session ends later today, after shouting slogans inside parliament and demanding Interior Minister Amit Shah resign.
India's parliamentary breach sparked a week of confusion
A week on from the chaos inside India's parliament, Dr Hussain can no longer enter that very chamber where he was once free to roam as an elected official.
He's one of the 143 opposition politicians suspended from parliament by Modi's party, leading to accusations the prime minister is fronting an assault on democracy.
"This is undemocratic behaviour, it's 'my way or the highway' here … They are making a mockery of parliamentary democracy in our country," Dr Hussain told the ABC.
"I think this has to be resisted and opposed … The people of this country should understand that the democracy we have is hard-earned, we need to protect it, we need to save it."
On Monday, opposition members like Hussain demanded a statement from Modi and his deputies in parliament about how the security breach was able to happen.
The BJP speaker of the house accused the MPs of disrupting parliament by protesting and calling for a debate on the issue, which he said was not in the remit of the government.
"There is no need to debate this, there should be a detailed investigation into this," Modi told Hindi newspaper Dainik Jagran in a rare interview.
The government has said a high-level inquiry has been ordered into the incident.
Amit Shah, India's home minister, has accused the opposition of creating a political spectacle out of the security breach.
"Why do we have a parliament? And why does the parliament meet four to five times in a year to discuss, debate and pass bills?" Hussain said in response.
"If the parliament is in session, it is the responsibility of the government, and it has been the convention that has been followed for the past 75 years, for the concerned minister or the prime minister to go to the Houses of Parliament and make statements there.
"But this government has failed to do that."
The ABC asked the Modi government for comment but was told that this was a matter for parliament, not the government.
'The government is totally anarchist right now'
With 141 opposition members unable to enter parliament this week, the government passed three bills and introduced three others without enough politicians to stop or debate them.
One of the bills is crime-related and looks to change the definition of terrorism in India.
Protests were held in the capital, New Delhi, by the youth wing of the main opposition party, Congress, which described this as a "black day on democracy in India".
"If you've suspended the MPs from the parliament, who will debate issues and who will represent those not in government?" Rahul Raj, national spokesperson of Indian Youth Congress, told the ABC.
"The government is totally anarchist right now, it doesn't want any interruption from anyone."
Indians are due to vote in a national election next year, where Modi is looking to win another term that would give him a total of 15 years in power.
The suspended politicians are mostly from the INDIA Alliance, a coalition hoping to defeat Modi in the vote.
During his decade as prime minister, Modi has gained major popularity around the country on a platform of empowering ordinary Indians while elevating the status of the nation globally.
But his critics accuse him of silencing dissent, threatening democracy and enacting laws that have marginalised minorities.
What does the future hold for India's opposition?
In March, main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi from Congress was sentenced to jail in a case brought by a BJP politician over a comment he made that was deemed insulting to Modi and others with the same last name.
Gandhi lost his parliamentary seat after the conviction, barring him from running for the upcoming election, but India's top court suspended the verdict.
The BBC's offices in India were also raided by authorities after it released a documentary on Modi's treatment of Muslim people during his time as the chief minister of the state of Gujarat.
And the homes of activists and journalists have been consistently raided, while some have been jailed.
But the opposition faces a tough fight if it wants to beat Modi, who continues to gain popularity with economic and social policies that appeal to millions of Indians.
The BJP won a formidable 300 of 543 seats in the lower house of parliament in the 2019 election, the chamber that was breached last week.
In a rare moment in the country's history, 26 opposition parties united to form the alliance against the BJP.
They are discussing sharing seats and election campaigning while they decide on their candidate for prime minister.
The INDIA Alliance has vowed to hold nationwide protests on the weekend against the suspensions.
"Only the people can punish us, the government doesn't have a right to stop the public representatives, to stop the elected representatives from entering the parliament," Hussain said.
"They think that they can have their way, but the people are watching and we're taking this issue to the people."
- This story was first published by the ABC
