India: Police detains minister, AAP leaders during protest outside L-G house over Delhi bus marshals

Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, along with other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, was detained by the police in the Indian capital on Saturday (Oct 5) while protesting near Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena's residence. The protest was held to demand the reappointment of bus marshals who had recently lost their jobs.

This was the second time Bharadwaj had been detained in connection with his demand for reinstating bus marshals. More than 10,000 civil defence volunteers, who were serving as marshals on public buses, were removed last year. The civil defence directorate raised concerns, saying that these volunteers are intended for disaster management roles, not for transport-related duties.

Earlier that day, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi, along with AAP and BJP MLAs, visited Saxena’s office to present a note on the issue and seek his approval for reinstating the marshals. Later, Atishi criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing them of not pushing the Lieutenant Governor to approve 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.

Bharadwaj, also slammed the BJP, accusing the party of going back on their promise to regularise the bus marshals' jobs. "BJP has betrayed 10,000 bus marshals today," hesaid, referring to an earlier promise by BJP leader Vijender Gupta.

"Gupta assured us that once the resolution was passed by the cabinet, the marshals would be regularised through the LG," he added. Bharadwaj further claimed that both the Lieutenant Governor and BJP leaders have let down the bus marshals and the people of Delhi.

(With inputs from agencies)