Parliament breach: What social media posts of six conspirators reveal

The alleged brain of the Parliament security breach, Lalit Jha, has surrendered to the Delhi Police and he has been handed him over to the Special Cell.Four others -- Lucknow’s Sagar Sharma, Mysuru’s Manoranjan D, Hisar’s Neelam, Kolkata’s Lalit Jha, and Latur’s Amol Shinde -- are currently in police custody, while their accomplice Vicky, in whose house the accused stayed before reaching Parliament, has been detained from Haryana’s Gurugram.Based on reports, they come from different places, hold different political and ideological views, and have different levels of education.However, their digital footprints suggest a few similarities: their desire to make a lasting impact on society, a commitment to revolutionary ideals, and unemploymentHere’s all we know about them.The Bhagat Singh fan clubAll the accused were associated with the “Bhagat Singh Fan Club” page on Facebook. They met in Mysuru about one and a half years ago, the police sources said.According to India Today’s analysis, the accused’s social media profiles, all of them seem to be motivated by a shared admiration for the freedom fight Shadeed Bhagat Singh, opposition to populism and respect for martyrs.Neelam Devi, who has degrees in MA, B.Ed, M.Ed and has passed the NET and M.Phil exams, was a staunch believer of Dr BR Ambedkar. She has participated in several protests, including now-repealed farm laws, unemployment, inflation, wrestlers’ protests and more.Similarly, Sagar Sharma, who hails from Lucknow’s Manaknagar, appears to be inspired by left-wing ideology as he used to share similar posts from his two Facebook accounts.According to ANI, both the accounts have not been active for several months. His Facebook pages revealed that Sagar was also in contact with many people from Kolkata, Rajasthan, and Haryana.Amol Shinde, who accompanied Neelam outside the Parliament, also idolises Bhagat Singh, with pictures showing him wearing t-shirts carrying Singh’s picture. The 25-year-old, who frequently travels to Mumbai, aspires to join the Indian Army.The anti-BJP stanceLalit Mohan Jha, who hails from Bihar but is a resident of Kolkata, has been critical of the ruling BJP-government’s populist policies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US-led NATO alliance, mockery of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru’s non-violent methods and more.On social media, he is seen promoting various ideologies of Subhas Chandra Bose and Chandrasekhar Azad, Swami Vivekanand, J Krishnamurthi, and socialist poet Adam Gondavi.Lalit was previously a unit president of Samyabadi Subhas Sabha group, an NGO working on tribal education in West Bengal’s Purulia district, according to CNN-News18. The group reportedly advocates for the replacement of Mahatma Gandhi’s image with Netaji on Indian currency notes.The Lord Krishna inspirationSagar, one of the two intruders to barge into the House, calls himself a “silent volcano,” which refers to someone who is introvert and passively aggressive. His Instagram bio also add, “Simple living and high thinking. Writer, Poet, Philosopher, Actor, Thinker and Artist.”He frequently shares Lord Krishna’s quotes from Mahabharata. His latest reel shared two days ago read, “Jeete ya haare, par koshish to jaruri hai. Ab dekhna ye hai safar kitna haseen hoga. Ummeed hai fir milenge (Win or lose, but efforts are necessary. Now let's see how fun the journey will be. Hope to see you again).”The one with no social media presenceManoranjan D, the Mysuru-based engineering graduate who accompanied Sagar in the Lok Sabha chamber, is noticeably absent from social media sites.His father told the reporters that he is a bookworm with Guerrilla Warfare, Byculla to Bangkok, Water Wars, Art of War, and Oliver Twist in his collection.The Lok Sabha security breachParliament witnessed startling scenes on 13 December as two men barged into the Lok Sabha chamber and opened coloured smoke canisters.They were overpowered by some MPs and security personnel and taken away by the Delhi Police.Manoranjan, Sagar, Neelam and Amol were arrested and charged under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). An FIR has been lodged against them under several provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Sections 16 and 18 of the UAPA.