Questioning the silence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other top opposition leaders over the security lapse during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Punjab visit, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday said that the silence says a lot about their intention. He was speaking at Doordarshan's two-day conclave in Lucknow.

"People are very wise and understand why Sonia Gandhi ji, Rahul Gandhi ji, Priyanka Gandhi ji and other important leaders of the opposition are silent. This is a major lapse in the security of the Prime Minister of the country because of a state government, Thakur said.

“Is it a planned one? Was the government sleeping or the system was allowed to become defunct,” he asked.

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The Information and Broadcasting minister raised questions while lamenting "absurd" statements of the Punjab Congress leaders over the sensitive matter. "Security is the responsibility of the state where the PM is visiting and the leaders of that state have given absurd statements. This shows the mentality of the Congress, the minister said.

“The people have a right to know the reason behind the silence of all of them. The silence of the top leadership of the Congress says a lot on what was behind the security lapse of the Prime Minister, why was it allowed to happen and what was the intention behind it, he said.

"Strict action should be taken against whosoever is behind it, this is the demand of the people of the country," Thakur said.

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The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has constituted a three-member committee to probe the serious lapse in the security arrangements of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Punjab visit.

Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) has constituted a committee to enquire into the serious lapses in the security arrangements during Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s visit to Ferozepur, Punjab on 05.01.2022,which led to the exposure of the VVIP to grave security risk.

— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) January 6, 2022

Earlier on Thursday, Union Minister Anurag Thakur had said that the Home Ministry is collecting information on the security breach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will take tough decisions in the matter.

(With inputs from agency)

(Edited by : Priyanka Deshpande)

First Published:Jan 7, 2022 5:33 PM IST