MPs re-live 2001 terror in Parliament bomb scare

Both houses adjourned at 11:52 am.

Gun-toting commandos rushed into the Parliament house and warning sirens rang out as MPs re-lived the drama of the 2001 terror attack on Parliament in a scary remembrance today. At 11:52 am, just as Company Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta was answering a question in the Lok Sabha, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee abruptly adjourned the House till 1 pm, as did Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Members of Parliament were taken aback by the order and tried in vain to get answers. "No hungama happened, so why has the house been adjourned?" said TDP's Yerran Naidu.

MPs and ministers soon found out the reason for the abrupt adjournment after they filed out of their chambers. The American consulate in Chennai was sent an anonymous e-mail that said a bomb was planted in Parliament.

The Speaker, not willing to take any chances, wanted the Parliament building sanitised. MPs and Parliament staff were locked into the smaller rooms of the House as commandos moved into the House for the first time after December 13, 2001.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had just finished a meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, was whisked away to his South Block office. Rahul Gandhi and Finance Minister P Chidamabaram were quick to follow.

As intrepid journalists followed Chidamabaram, pressing him for details of the prime minister's meeting with Jayalalithaa, the finance minister wanted to know how the meeting could be a bigger event than a bomb in Parliament.