The sharp-eyed BJP MP Anurag Thakur sensed something with his keen, pointed nose that even the state-of-the-art fire-alarm systems in the newly built Indian Parliament failed to detect — the vapour of an e-cigarette.
A few days back, the sharp-witted and fiery Anurag Thakur—known for his scorpion-like stings in speeches and puns—appeared to have triggered a fire alarm during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament. He accused a Trinamool Congress MP of smoking an e-cigarette inside the House during proceedings.
The sudden allegation left the entire Opposition benches nonplussed, and the TMC both embarrassed and agitated. The TMC might have thought they could stub it out, but Thakur today officially lodged a written complaint with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking action against a TMC MP for allegedly smoking an e-cigarette inside the House during proceedings.
Thakur, in his complaint, stated that it was clearly visible to several MPs that a TMC member was openly using an electronic cigarette —a banned substance and a prohibited device inside the Lok Sabha—while seated in the House. He termed the act a breach of parliamentary decorum as well as a cognisable offence under laws enacted by Parliament. He demanded exemplary action to uphold the sanctity and dignity of the House, warning that such behaviour could set a dangerous precedent.
The controversy refuses to fade, as fresh whiffs of smoke draw more politicians into the firing line. While it remains unclear who actually smoked inside Parliament, another veteran TMC MP, Saugata Roy, was seen puffing away on the Parliament premises. He even exchanged light-hearted remarks with Union Ministers Giriraj Singh and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on the subject of smoking in a public place. Meanwhile, TMC MP Kirti Azad grew visibly agitated and threatened to sue a journalist who asked whether he was the MP named in Anurag Thakur’s allegation.
Whether the Lok Sabha Secretariat steps in or MPs decide to enforce self-discipline remains to be seen. But this is not the first time an MP has risen against his fellow MPs for their smoking habits. In 2013, Naveen Jindal — then the Congress MP from Kurukshetra and now with the BJP—wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee urging a complete ban on smoking in Parliament, calling it unacceptable that lawmakers smoked inside an institution that had itself outlawed the practice. However, the then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, who owned a tobacco and bidi business, brushed aside Jindal’s activism as merely a case of “garam khoon”.
The present smoking row has certainly reminded us of those politicians who loved their cigarettes as much as their politics. India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, loved smoking—a habit he found hard to quit despite doctors’ advice. There are countless stories about his favourite brand, State Express 555, a Westminster-based cigarette originally manufactured in the United Kingdom by the Ardath Tobacco Company. Fact or fiction, there is a tale that when Nehru was on an official visit to Bhopal, a special plane was flown to Indore to fetch his preferred cigarettes.
The former Union Finance Minister and President of India Pranab Mukherjee was also fond of smoking. Mukherjee, until his 50s, had a soft corner for smoke—strictly pipes, never cigarettes. In those days, he and a few like-minded MPs ran a small “smokers’ club” inside Parliament, well before the anti-tobacco wave swept in and outlawed smoking in most areas, including the iconic Central Hall.
Eventually, Mukherjee stubbed out the habit for good and adopted a Spartan diet. It was Congress leader Devakanta Barua who had gifted Mukherjee a pipe, a gesture that sparked the habit. During his presidency, he received more than 500 pipes as gifts, which he later handed over to the Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah once admitted that he had been a heavy smoker until about three-and-a-half decades ago, quitting only after realising how badly it was affecting his life.
Whether seated on the treasury benches or the Opposition side, Parliament’s smoker MPs have long shared an informal camaraderie—a sort of cross-party “smokers’ alliance” that puffed together regardless of political divides. In 2015, the then Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was both surprised and amused when MPs from both the ruling and Opposition parties united to protest the closure of a special room informally designated for smokers. Those frequently spotted in the smoking chamber that time included Sitaram Yechury of the CPI (M), Saugata Roy and Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, and Union ministers Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Kiren Rijiju.
Raju, a self-confessed heavy smoker, was known to be a regular fixture in the chamber. As Civil Aviation Minister, he once stirred controversy after openly admitting that he carried his own cigarettes and matches on flights.
(By Vijay Deo Jha)
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