They died so we could come out alive

It's the day the country's leaders gather to thank a handful of men and women who foiled what could have been the one of history's most dramatic moments of terror. As it has done for the last three years, Parliament paid homage on Tuesday to the security personnel who died thwarting the terrorist attack on December 13, 2001.
MPs and other Parliament staff members paying homage to the martyrs of the Parliament House attack, on the 4th anniversary of the day, at Parliament House in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: PTI)
All prominent leaders were present, except Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is on a visit abroad.

Four years on much has happened in the bizarre Parliament attack case. Bizarre because the unthinkable happened when five terrorists casually drove into the premises of a building that houses the nation's top political leadership. The building that houses democracy.
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This year, the Supreme Court confirmed death sentence for accused Mohammed Afzal in the case, and condoned death for Shaukat Hussain Guru, sentencing him instead to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment.

Hunted down after the shocking attack, the two men were convicted exactly a year after the incident along with Delhi University lecturer, S A R Geelani and Shaukat Guru's wife Navjot Sandhu alias Afsan Guru. Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar and two others were tried in absentia.
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All the men were found guilty of waging war against India. The lone woman Afsan, was found guilty of not disclosing details of the conspiracy to attack Parliament and kill top leaders of the country. The Delhi High Court later acquitted Geelani and Afsan and the Supreme Court upheld that judgment.

The five men who actually carried out the attack are all dead. They were gunned down the same day in an intense battle with security men at the Parliament premises.
At the end of two terror-filled hours five Delhi Police personnel, one woman constable of the CRPF, two staff members of the Parliament Watch and Ward were dead. And a Parliament gardener. An electronic media journalist was wounded and died later.
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The events of that day are drawing room conversation for those who were in the Parliament premises when the terrorists struck. The kind of conversation that gets a desultory bunch to sit in rapt attention, mouths agape. This was after all the Indian Parliament that was attacked.

December 13, 2001 would have been just another winter day, perfect for a stroll in the mild afternoon sun once the Parliamentarians were done with their business for the day. That business got done sooner than expected.
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Latecomers -- like this writer - and only by a few minutes, were informed while walking in through security checks that both Houses had been adjourned for the day.
Many turned back. Some - like this writer - decided to go in anyway and find out what was cooking at an Opposition leaders' meeting in Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's office in Parliament

Cars of MPs were already being called for at gate no 1 in a steady drone perfected to an art. A few MPs slapped each other on the back and chatted, friends again now that they were not glaring at each other across party lines.
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The cars drew up, they left. The Vice-President's cavalcade waited at the Rajya Sabha gate. All was well with the world.
That changed within minutes. Soon the morning air was rent with the smell of gunpowder and the sound of gunshots. Strangers in the world of the well-protected Indian Parliament.

The alertness of the often maligned Delhi Police and that of the gentlemanly Watch and Ward staff still astounds. That moment would have caught most people off guard.
But within seconds, as the five heavily armed terrorists drove into the Parliament complex and opened fire, these brave men were pushing stragglers in and clanging closed the heavy doors. BJP leader, Madanlal Khurana was the last surprised person pushed in before the terrorists reached gate No.1 with torrential fire.
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In the hours of speculation that followed the attack, it was argued that the terrorists, who managed to breeze into the Parliament premises, were in fact a rather ill-informed lot.
If they had happened to check whether proceedings were on they'd have known that far less people than usual would be present when they struck. Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had not come in that day, for instance.

Nevertheless, had the five terrorists succeeded in what they came to do, they would have had as sitting ducks more than 200 people, including then deputy prime minister L.K. Advani and a pantheon of union ministers. And many then MPs, now ministers.
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Some years later, some moments stand out. Like UP leader Ajit Singh trying his best to grin when it was all over, but it would just not happen. Like a feisty verbal fight between BJP MP Kirti Azad and now Congress minister Renuka Choudhury, who was not in Parliament at the time of the attack but came in later only to do loud battle with Azad.
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Like a stream of bewildered MPs coming out of the Central Hall sweating on a December day with the knowledge that they had been within touching distance of a violent death. Like veteran Left leader Abani Roy whose sangfroid did not flag through the two hours of incarceration.

There are so many stories to tell. Like the moments of sheer terror. As people were pushed into various rooms all over the huge complex, a rumour spread. That in fact there were six men and one had managed to get inside the main building loaded with explosives.
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Two hours after the attack began, when people inside were allowed to troop out into the compound, many stole more than a peep at the dead, mangled bodies of the assailants, if only to make sure none had gotten away.

None did because of the men and women who stand guard at the gates, often at the receiving end of glares and surly behaviour because they've done a thorough job of checking someone. It's a thankless job most times.
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Just as this writer was walking in through the gates on that fateful day, a woman CRPF constable stationed to carry out security checks, one of the regulars, commented on how she had not had a single day off for several weeks and clothes for washing had piled up at home.
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That casual comment stands out too as we salute the men and women who put their lives on the line to ensure that the rest of us came out of there alive.