AMN / WEB DESK
India today remember and paid homage to the martyrs who sacrificed their lives defending Parliament House in the terrorist attack on 13th December in 2001. A function to pay floral tributes to the martyrs will be organised today at Parliament House complex.
Vice-President of India and Chairman, Rajya Sabha, M. Venkaiah Naidu; Lok Sabha Speaker,Om Birla and Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Harivansh led the nation today in paying tributes to the martyrs who laid down their lives while defending the Parliament from the terrorist attack on 13 December 2001.
Raj Nath Singh, Minister of Defence; Pralhad Joshi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Minister of Minority Affairs, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister of Jal Shakti, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha also paid floral tributes.
Among others who paid tributes were Members of Parliament. The Secretary-General, Rajya Sabha, P. C. Mody and Secretary-General, Lok Sabha, Utpal Kumar Singh and other senior officers of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha Secretariats also paid tributes to the martyrs. The family members of the martyrs were also present on the occasion.
It was on this day in the year 2001 that nine persons namely, Shri Jagdish Prasad Yadav and Shri Matbar Singh Negi, both Security Assistants of Rajya Sabha Secretariat; Smt. Kamlesh Kumari, Constable, CRPF; Shri Nanak Chand and Shri Rampal, Assistant Sub-Inspectors, Delhi Police; Shri Om Prakash, Shri Bijender Singh and Shri Ghanshyam, Head Constables, Delhi Police; and Shri Deshraj, Gardener, CPWD, had sacrificed their lives while defending the Parliament against the terrorist attack.
Home Minister Amit Shah has saluted the courage and valor of all the brave security personnel who made supreme sacrifice to protect the pride of the nation in the cowardly terrorist attack on the temple of Indian democracy. In a tweet, Mr. Shah said, their unparalleled valor and immortal sacrifice will always inspire people to serve the nation.
Paying tributes to those brave security personnel who sacrificed their lives during attack on the Parliament House in 2001, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, the nation will remain grateful for their courage and supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.
On this day 20 years ago in 2001, five heavily-armed terrorists, stormed the Parliament complex and opened fire indiscriminately.
The attack lasted for about 30 minutes and all the five terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad were neutralised outside the building itself. Two persons from the Parliament Security Service of the Rajya Sabha Jagdish Prasad Yadav and Matbar Singh Negi, five Delhi Police Personnel Nanak Chand, Rampal, Om Prakash, Bijender Singh and Ghanshyam and a woman constable of the Central Reserve Police Force Kamlesh Kumari laid down their lives while preventing entry of terrorists inside the Building. A gardener of CPWD Deshraj also lost his life in the attack on the temple of democracy. A journalist Vikram Bisht who sustained injuries died later. About 100 members of parliament were present in the building during the horrific incident.