The Prime Minister's "attitude" has become a concern for Opposition MPs who feel the government is duty-bound to make a statement in both Houses of Parliament after two men jumped into the Lok Sabha from the visitors' gallery on Wednesday and released smoke from canisters, marking a serious security breach.

Opposition members are aghast that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor home minister Amit Shah attended the Houses on Thursday to explain the circumstances behind Wednesday's incident, particularly as a BJP Lok Sabha member seems to have facilitated the intruders' entry.

They felt that Thursday's suspension of Opposition members from both Houses, amid the demands for answers over Wednesday's incident, betrayed an undemocratic trait and a lack of regard for the principle of accountability on the part of the government.

"The Prime Minister’s attitude is disconcerting. Jaise koi lena dena nahin: jo ho gaya so ho gaya (as though he has no concern: what has happened, has happened)," the Congress's leader of the House in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Chowdhury, said.

"It was a serious security lapse and an intelligence failure. But the government doesn’t want us to raise questions. Parliament is not a BJP office; it belongs to all. Don’t we have the right to ask questions?”

Months ago in August, a united Opposition had brought a no-confidence motion when the Prime Minister refused to speak on the Manipur unrest. There are at least two other issues on which the Opposition has over the past several sessions criticised the Prime Minister for being silent: the Chinese intrusions in Ladakh and the Adani controversy.

It's this silence that has prompted the Opposition to question the Prime Minister’s attitude. Many Opposition MPs say that while Modi often hypes up minor issues, he seems not to believe in answering serious questions or in the principle of accountability.

Chowdhury said national security had become hollow from inside amid the lofty talk about India’s rising power and security capabilities.

RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha said: “MPs don’t fight for personal interest. Why does this government go silent on national security — internal and on the border — even as we have to hear the boasts of robust and uncompromising security all the time?”

Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP K.C. Venugopal said: "The MP who facilitated the entry of the attackers is sitting in the Lok Sabha and those who raised concerns about the breach of security have been suspended.”

The intruders carried visitors’ gallery passes issued by the BJP member from Mysore, Pratap Simha.

"They are turning India into a banana republic. Will MPs be suspended now for demanding statements from the Prime Minister or the home minister? How can you tolerate this?" Venugopal said.

Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said: "It’s the obvious responsibility of the government to explain the circumstances in which this breach happened. But they run away from responsibility and take action against Opposition MPs who asked questions. This is tanashahi (dictatorship).”

Independent MP Kapil Sibal said: “This is the culture they have developed. The moment you oppose them, they will either not allow you to speak or suspend you, expel you.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge too criticised the suspension of Opposition members.

"Having endangered national security and the safety of the temple of our democracy — Parliament — the BJP is now shooting the messenger. The suspension of 14 Opposition MPs from Parliament because they wanted a discussion on the grave security breach is suspension of democracy," he said.

“What is their crime? Is it a crime to urge the Union home minister to make a statement in the House? Is it a crime to want a discussion on the perilous security breach? Does it not invoke draconian shades of dictatorship, a hallmark of the present dispensation?”

Congress member Pramod Tewari, deputy leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said: “Why do we come to Parliament if we are not supposed to ask questions?”

Karti Chidambaram said: “What happened yesterday is a colossal security and intelligence failure. We want the home minister to inform the House (on) what actually happened. But they suspend MPs who ask questions. One MP who was not even present gets suspended.”

That a BJP member had provided the passes to the intruders increases the home minister's responsibility to provide answers, DMK member Kanimozhi said.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor contested the perception, being promoted by the BJP, that there was no serious security lapse because nobody was hurt and only a canister of coloured smoke was smuggled in.

“That’s not the question. If you can smuggle in a smoke canister, you can smuggle something far more serious like a bomb or a grenade. The security lapse is the issue. The government is not taking it seriously,” Tharoor said.

“It goes beyond a security officer there (at the entry point). It goes to the concept of security in the new Parliament (building). It goes to the arrangements for access, to the way in which the building was conceived, designed and built.

“The government is accountable; they are the ones who are behind this entire change (of Parliament building). The new Parliament has major deficiencies, which became (clear) yesterday. The MPs are feeling very intense and vulnerable. They want the government to fix accountability.”