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Parliament breach: Papers profile unemployed suspects, Sudhir, Arnab say terrorists, andolanjeevi

8 0
14.12.2023

It was a security breach at the Parliament complex on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament attack, and it was also a protest against “dictatorship”. While some voices, such as BJD MP Bhartruhari Mehtab, cautioned that the incident could not be compared to the terrorist attack, hawkish faces on television couldn't help but play to the galleries.

On Wednesday, Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami termed it a “well-planned terrorist attack” and hit out at “perpetual anarchists”. On Aaj Tak, Sudhir Chaudhary offered a similar take. “These people have raised the hopes of terrorists, have given them a new idea, and have encouraged them,” he said, insinuating a link between one of the protesters and Khalistan proponent Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who had warned of a Parliament attack. How? Because the protester and Pannun had both backed the farm protests, Chaudhary suggested. “How dangerous would be the toolkit of this conspiracy,” he told viewers to wonder.

In Parliament, 15 MPs were suspended on Thursday as they disrupted proceedings while trying to corner the government over the breach and demanding a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah.

Meanwhile, the accused have now been booked under the UAPA. Five of them are in custody, and searches are underway for the sixth, who the police suspect to be the “mastermind”. Most of the accused are unemployed, hail from different states, and reportedly got in touch with each other through Facebook – where their posts suggest they were deeply influenced by Bhagat Singh.

On Wednesday, Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D had released coloured smoke from canisters in the Lok Sabha and raised slogans. Neelam Azad and Amol Shinde also shouted slogans against “taanashaahi (dictatorship)” outside the Parliament building with gas canisters. The fifth accused, Lalit Jha, dropped them outside the complex before leaving with their phones. And a day before the incident, all of them had stayed at the Gurgaon residence of sixth accused Vishal Sharma.

While various teams continue to probe the incident, here’s what newspapers told us about the protesters.

Manoranjan D, engineering graduate from Mysuru

Manoranjan D is a 33-year-old engineering graduate who earlier worked in an IT firm in Bengaluru and was now helping his father with farming since he was unemployed, according to The Indian Express report on the front page which was headlined “they were frustrated over not getting jobs, say families of accused”.

Manoranjan’s father Devaraj D told the paper: “If he has done something wrong, he is not my son. But let me tell you, he is good… I was unaware he is in Delhi. He was a student leader in his college days, but I do know about his affiliations. I condemn his act.”

Manoranjan is unmarried and his father said he would travel to Delhi and Bengaluru often.

“He used to read a lot of books, especially by Swami Vivekananda. I am not aware of his political leanings. He was a student leader and even to this day he wants to bring reform in society,” Devaraj told The Indian Express.

The Times of India, on its........

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