New Delhi: There was high drama in both houses of parliament on Thursday, December 14 – a day after there was a security breach in the Lok Sabha – which saw the suspension of 15 MPs as opposition members in both houses raised slogans and demanded a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah.The opposition MPs wanted to discuss the matter, but the chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the speaker of the Lok Sabha did not agree. As the treasury benches attempted to proceed with other business, opposition MPs insisted that the matter be taken up for discussion – entering the well and raising slogans.In the upper house, TMC MP Derek O’Brien was suspended for the remainder of the session for “disrupting the proceedings of the house in utter disregard to the authority of the chair and having been named by the chair”.Additionally, 13 Lok Sabha MPs were suspended, also for similar reasons. Those who were suspended were Congress MPs T.N. Prathapan, Hibi Eden, S. Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose, Manickam Tagore, Benny Behanan, K. Sreekandan, Mohammad Jawed; CPI(M)’s P.R. Natarajan and S. Venkatesan, DMK’s Kanimozhi and K. Subbarayan of the CPI.Initially, CPI’s S.R. Parthiban was also suspended, but parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said later that his name was removed since the MP was not in the house at the time.Kanimozhi, speaking to the news agency ANI, asked why no action was taken against Simha, the BJP MP who gave passes to the men who jumped into the Lok Sabha.“No action has been taken against that MP. Whereas we saw what happened in Mahua’s case. Without even the inquiry being complete, she has been disqualified and this MP is not even suspended. He’s inside Parliament with us. And when we protested and we want the PM and the Home Minister to come and give a statement in the House, they’re not prepared to do that. And when we protested, they are suspending all the opposition MPs. First suspended five, then they suspended nine people. So how is this democracy?” she asked.Earlier eventsIn the Lok Sabha, defence minister Rajnath Singh termed the security breach as “unfortunate” and called for all parliamentarians to exercise caution in issuing passes while opposition MPs moved to the well of the house chanting slogans of “shame, shame” and demanding a statement from the home minister.On Wednesday, December 13, two men jumped from the public gallery into the Lok Sabha hall and opened smoke canisters, causing House proceedings to be interrupted. The security breach occurred on the anniversary of the 2001 attack on the parliament, then housed in a different building. The two who entered the Lok Sabha had received their entry passes from BJP MP Pratap Simha and shouted slogans but did not attempt to harm anyone in the hall. Amid protests from opposition MPs, Singh rose from his chair and said, “The incident is quite unfortunate, there is no doubt about it. You (speaker) took immediate note of the incident and ordered a probe. I believe that all MPs both from the opposition and the government need to maintain caution. So that passes are not issued to people who then go ahead and spread anarchy in the house. You have already ordered a probe and other precautionary measures that can be taken in the future will be done as well,” he said.Amid concerns raised by opposition MPs over the security measures in the new parliament building, Singh said that such incidents had also taken place in the old parliament.“I also want to inform you that the old parliament building also saw similar incidents including throwing papers into the well of the house as well as jumping. All MPs should condemn the incident. Since a probe has been ordered and future measures are being looked into, there is no need to spread anarchic conditions inside the house,” he said.The Delhi police have arrested five people in total: Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D, the two men who entered the house; as well as two others who protested outside parliament, identified as Amol Shinde and Neelam; Another individual, Vikram, was arrested as a suspected accomplice. As sixth person, Lalit, was on the run.Derek O’Brien suspendedIn the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, opposition members demanded a short-term discussion on the security breach the day before.Rajya Sabha chair and vice president Jagdeep Dhankar informed the house that he had received 26 notices – including from leader of the opposition Mallikarjun Kharge – demanding suspension of business to discuss the security breach but said that he did not find merit in the notices.Both houses were adjourned within an hour of proceedings starting. When the Rajya Sabha resumed proceedings at noon, Dhankar accused TMC MP O’Brien of “gross misconduct” and “gross defiance of the directions of the chair.” He was suspended for the remainder of the session after a motion was moved by the leader of the house and BJP MP Piyush Goyal.Goyal said that the house “having taken serious note of the misconduct of Shri Derek O’Brien member who has entered the well of the house and has been continuously shouting slogans, gesticulating aggressively at the chair thereby disrupting the proceedings of the house in utter disregard to the authority of the chair and having been named by the chair” be suspended.Amid sloganeering from opposition members after O’Brien’s suspension, Dhankar adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.Earlier, opposition members of the INDIA bloc also held a meeting before the session started to discuss the security breach. The parties demanded a detailed statement by Shah in both houses of parliament, as well as strict action against the BJP MP Pratap Simha – who provided the visitor passes to the intruders.The INDIA parties are demanding:1. A detailed statement by the Home Minister in both Houses, followed by a discussion on the very serious and shocking security breach witnessed in the Lok Sabha yesterday.2. Strict action against the BJP MP Pratap Simha who provided the…— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) December 14, 2023“The Modi government’s refusal to accept these perfectly legitimate and reasonable demands has led to the adjournment of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha today morning,” Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh wrote on X (formerly Twitter).13 Lok Sabha MPs suspendedWhen the Lok Sabha proceedings resumed at 2 pm, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi accused “some members of politicising” the issue, before moving a motion to suspend five Congress MPs.He said that while he agrees that “the unfortunate incident” raised concerns about the safety and security of MPs, he said that there is a need to “appreciate the fact that the honourable speaker promptly held a meeting with all floor leaders and listened to their concerns regarding the security of the parliament premises.”“Some of the suggestions given have already been implemented. As the speaker observed this morning also that in the future, further measures will be taken to strengthen parliament’s security. In my opinion, this matter concerns us all and we have to speak in one voice on such a grave national issue. No politics is expected to be done by anyone on such grave issues. We have to rise above politics,” he said.Joshi then went on to list the previous incidents of security breaches in the Lok Sabha.“In the past many such incidents have taken place. I am not comparing past incidents and defending today’s incident but we have to learn lessons from our past to bring a bright future. On April 11, 1974, one person named Ratan Chandra Gupta one person shouted slogans from the visitors’ gallery while carrying two pistols. In July 1974, Biplab Basu was found carrying a dagger hidden on his person and tried to enter the visitors’ gallery. On November 26, 1974, Satyajit Singh carried explosives and a dagger hidden on his person to the visitors’ gallery. On January 9 and 10, 1999, Badri Prasad and Pushpendra Chavan jumped from the gallery to the chamber of Lok Sabha. As I have already said we are not comparing but these kinds of unfortunate incidents have been happening since beginning-shouting slogans, throwing paper and jumping from the gallery. I have many such incidents [to list]. We all understand that parliament is for protecting the immunity and efficient discharge of functions. Internal security is under the speaker. In the past, such matters have been dealt with by directions of the speaker.”He said appropriate agencies would be dealing with the incident as per the law of the land and that the speaker had already written to the home secretary for a high-level enquiry which has already been initiated.“The government is also very sensitive to these matters so I urge you to allow the proceedings of the house to take place.”However, he added that it has become “the habit of some members to politicise issues.”He then moved a resolution to suspend five Congress MPs T.N. Prathapan, Hibi Eden, S. Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose for “utter disregard” of the house and undermining the authority of the chair.When the house resumed at 3 pm, Joshi moved a resolution to suspend eight more opposition MPs.The Lok Sabha was then adjourned for the day.Note: This article was updated after it was published.