Mayawati says arrests of 'Maoist sympathizers' is government terror
Lucknow, Aug 29: BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday slammed the Modi government for the arrest of Maoist ideology Varavara Rao, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj and human rights activists Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves and said this was yet another attempt of the BJP government to "terrorize the civil society".
"This is government-sponsored terror and height of misuse of government agencies," the Bahujan Samaj Party leader said in a statement.
She said the government was trying to intimidate poets, lawyers, activists, human rights advocates, professors and intellectuals.
The arrests, on charges that they were Maoist supporters, was a ploy to hoodwink the people and divert their attention from the failures of the BJP governments, the Dalit leader said.
She also alleged that instead of following the legal procedure against people who were named in the FIR regarding the Bheema-Koregaon violence, the NDA government was victimizing Dalit leaders whose lives were open books.
"The government is trying to arm twist, terrorize people running NGOs, social workers and it is indeed the height of misuse of government machinery," the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister alleged.
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Double-decker electric bus gutted in fire at Kurla BEST depot
Mumbai (PTI): An empty double-decker electric bus was gutted in a fire during servicing at a BEST depot in Mumbai's Kurla area on Sunday, officials said, adding that nobody was injured.
The blaze broke out inside the Kurla BEST bus depot near Kanakia Building at 4.14 pm, according to preliminary information from the Mumbai Fire Brigade.
The parked bus was unoccupied at the time of the incident.
Fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot and brought the blaze under control. The exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, they said.
No injuries were reported in the incident, officials added.
The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking has hired 50 electric double-decker buses from Switch Mobility in its fleet of around 2,700 buses.
