Delhi Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, AAP leaders, and as many as 27 people were detained from outside Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s residence in north Delhi on Saturday while they were protesting over the issue of bus marshals.

“Bus marshals and people of Delhi have been cheated,” said Delhi Minister and senior AAP leader Bharadwaj after being detained.

“All civil defence volunteers were there in the meeting with us at Delhi Secretariat in the morning. They all saw what happened there… However, L-G sent all the bus marshals out. What is he hiding from them? He did it so that they can’t know about the conspiracy by him to rob them of their rightful share,” the Delhi Minister said.

According to police, the AAP leaders were detained as they did not have permission for the protest and taken to a police station. They will be released soon, police added.

Over 10,000 civil defence volunteers deployed as marshals in public transport buses were removed last year after an objection was raised by the directorate of civil defence that they are meant for disaster management duties.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, accompanied by the AAP and BJP MLAs, went to Saxena’s office to submit a note on the issue of reinstatement of bus marshals and get his approval on it. The note was earlier passed in a meeting of the cabinet.

BJP MLAs met Atishi over the issue of reinstatement of bus marshals and the Chief Minister appealed to them to join a delegation that will submit the note to the L-G for his approval.

However, Atishi slammed the BJP alleging that it did not say anything to L-G about the passing of the proposal.

“The BJP demanded a Cabinet proposal to be passed in the meeting. We called an emergency Cabinet meeting and signed the resolution that was passed in Delhi Assembly to regularise the jobs of bus marshals. We have a provided a copy to BJP as well, but they were exposed. First, the BJP was not ready to go to L-G House. Once they did, they did not say anything to L-G about passing of the proposal. Delhi government took the Cabinet decision to making bus marshals jobs permanent, now the ball is in the BJP’s court,” Atishi told reporters.

A minor girl who had left home to attend a coaching class has been allegedly kidnapped and murdered in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, triggering massive protests. The body of the girl was found in a canal. Her family and villagers have alleged that she was raped before her body was thrown into the canal. 

Reportedly, the girl was returning home from her classes when she went missing. Her family approached the local police station to file a complaint, but alleged that instead of receiving assistance, they faced harassment from the police. 

After the girl’s body was found in the morning, the villagers gathered in large numbers, expressing their outrage over the incident. They accused the police of failing to take timely action, which they believe led to this tragic outcome. Later, the police arrested the accused, an 18-year-old youth.  

Reportedly, a 200 person-strong mob ransacked the Mahishmari police outpost and set it on fire. In an effort to bring the situation under control, a large contingent, including the Rapid Action Force (RAF) was deployed. Furthermore, the police had to resort to lathi charge and fire tear gas to disperse the mob. 

Superintendent of police of Baruipur police district told media that they received information around 9 pm on Friday and a case was registered. He added that the accused has been arrested and he has confessed to the crime. He asserted that when the police went to the village around 3:30am on Friday, villagers staged a protest.

Meanwhile, the BJP has claimed that it was a case of rape and murder and slammed the Trinamool Congress led government in the state. Union Minister and BJP State President Sukanta Majumdar claimed that the girl was raped, and called for Mamata Banerjee’s resignation. 

CM Mamata Banerjee and her government is already under fire over their alleged mishandling of rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday unveiled a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Kolhapur city of western Maharashtra. The Congress leader slammed BJP over the collapse of the statue of the warrior king at Rajkot Fort in Sindhudurg district more than a month ago and said the party’s ideology is not right.

Addressing a public meeting before unveiling the statue, Gandhi said there was no use of bowing before the Maratha icon after scaring people, destroying the Constitution and institutions in the country.

The Congress leader said, “BJP made a statue of Shivaji Maharaj, which broke and fell down within a few days. This was the message that if we make a statue of Shivaji Maharaj, then we will also have to protect his ideology. Because… BJP people fold their hands in front of Shivaji Maharaj’s statue but work against his ideology 24 hours a day.”

“The way Shivaji Maharaj lived his entire life and the things he fought for, we should also fight for those things,” he said.

His comments were apparently targeted at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had apologised to Shivaji Maharaj and those hurt by the collapse of his statue. “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is not just a name or a king. For us, he is our deity. Today, I bow my head at his feet and apologise to my deity,” Modi had said on August 30 during his visit to Maharashtra.

The 35-foot statue, which fell on August 26, was unveiled by the PM on December 4, 2023, on the occasion of Navy Day. Gandhi said Chhatrapati Shivaji’s message to the world was that the country belongs to everyone.

“Shivaji Maharaj was an embodiment of courage, compassion and justice – Congress Party and INDIA are protecting the ideology of Shivaji Maharaj by following the path shown by him, because his thinking is embedded in the Constitution of India,” the Congress leader said in a post on X.

He said the BJP is trying to destroy the Constitution by standing against the same ideology. Gandhi added that due to such difference in intentions, even the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj made by him got broken and left him.

“I carry the thoughts of Shivaji Maharaj in my heart – I will continue to fight for the protection of the country’s constitution, institutions and the poor. Hail Bhavani, Hail Shivaji,” the former Congress chief said.