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{{EngvarB|date=April 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox terrorist attack
|image = 16th_Odisha_Assembly.jpg
|title=2001 Orissa Assembly attack
|location=[[Bhubaneshwar]], India
|target= Orissa Assembly building
|date=16 December 2001|time=
|timezone=[[UTC+05:30]]
|type=[[riot]]ing, arson, assault and damaging government property.
|fatalities=
|injuries=Many, including Biju Janata Dal legislator Ashok Panigrahi and some policemen.
|perps=
}}

The '''2001 Odisha Assembly attack''' was a high-profile attack by [[Bajrang Dal]], [[Vishwa Hindu Parishad]] and [[Durga Vahini]].

==Background==
On 16 December 2001, the activists of [[Bajrang Dal]], [[Vishwa Hindu Parishad]] and [[Durga Vahini]] who had been on a [[dharna|protest]] about 300 metres from the Assembly building, surged forth minutes after the House was adjourned for lunch. The protest was held to demand the handing over of the land in [[Ayodhya]] to the Ramjanmabhoomi Nyas for the construction of Hindu temple, the release of [[Giriraj Kishore]] and the withdrawal of "anti-VHP" comments made by some MLAs in the Orissa Assembly one day earlier.<ref name=VandalisminOrissa>{{cite web|url=http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1907/19070190.htm|title=Vandalism in Orissa|publisher=[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020603134947/http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1907/19070190.htm|access-date= 13 February 2013|archive-date=3 June 2002}}</ref>

==Attack==

The activists of these organisations stormed the Odisha Assembly building through the main entrance. Sporting saffron headbands and chanting "[[Jai ho (disambiguation)|Jai]] [[Rama|Sriram]]" and "[[Atal Behari Vajpayee]] [[wikt:zindabad|zindabad]]", the [[trident]]-wielding men rushed inside, indulging in [[vandalism]] for over 30 minutes. Armed with [[trident]]s and [[Fighting stick|lathis]], they beat up every individual they came across, including [[Biju Janata Dal]] legislator [[Ashok Panigrahi]] and some journalists and policemen. They broke glass doors and window panes, smashed flowerpots placed along the corridors, ransacked the library and the chambers of Ministers. The security personnel who were posted in and around the high-security complex did not control the mob.<ref name=VandalisminOrissa/>

==Aftermath==
The day after the unprecedented attack on the Assembly the State government suspended 20 police personnel for dereliction of duty. Sixty-seven people, including Bipin Bihari Rath, Pratap Sarangi, who was the then State unit president of the [[Bajrang Dal]], and nine women were arrested on charges of [[riot]]ing, arson, assault and damaging government property. The attack on the Assembly has further weakened the [[Biju Janata Dal|BJD]]-[[BJP]] coalition arrangement in Odisha which finally ended in 2009.<ref name=VandalisminOrissa/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/mar/07bjp-bjd-alliance-in-orissa-in-trouble.htm|title=BJD-BJP alliance splits in Orissa|publisher=[[Rediff]]|access-date= 13 February 2013}}</ref>

==Political reactions==
The [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] and Communists demanded banning of [[Bajrang Dal]] and [[Vishwa Hindu Parishad]]. From the [[Sangh Parivar]] whose frontal organisations are alleged to be involved in the incident, Balbir K Punj, [[BJP]] [[Member of Parliament|MP]], wrote on the website of the Hindu Vivek Kendra,a self-claimed resource center for the promotion of [[Hindutva]], that [[vandalism]], even though condemnable, could not be equated with terrorism. He asserted that 16 December attack on Odisha Assembly should not be equated with the [[2001 Indian Parliament attack|13 December attack]] as asserted by the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] and the [[Marxist]]s. He cited two similar incidents of Odisha Assembly attacks in the past – one by agitating students with Leftist leaning forcing into the State Assembly in 1964 when [[Biren Mitra]] headed a [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] Government in the state and another in 1978 when during the Chief Ministership of [[Nilamani Routray]] of [[Janata Party]] the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] activists stormed the assembly prompted by the arrest of [[Indira Gandhi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hvk.org/2002/0302/78.html|title=Look, who's talking!|author=Balbir K Punj|publisher= Hindu Vivek Kendra,a self-claimed resource center for the promotion of [[Hindutva]]|access-date=13 February 2013}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[List of attacks on legislatures]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odisha Assembly attack}}

{{#seo:
|keywords=Attacks on legislatures, Hinduism-motivated violence in India
|description=
}}

[[Category:Attacks on legislatures]]
[[Category:Hinduism-motivated violence in India]]

2001 Odisha Assembly attack - Revision history

MetaBOT at 16:21, 8 July 2023