Rahul flays Centre over arrest of activists
New Delhi, Aug 28 : Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday flayed the Modi government over raids and arrest of rights activists and said it wanted all NGOs to shut except the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
"There is place only for one NGO in India -- it's called the RSS. Shut all other NGOs. Jail all activists and shoot those that complain. Welcome to the New India," Gandhi said in a tweet.
Pune Police on Tuesday said it had arrested five human rights activists and alleged Maoist sympathisers, including Left ideologue Varavara Rao, in connection with the Koregaon-Bhima riots in Maharashtra on January 1.
The raids took place at 10 places in Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, Goa, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, and Haryana.
Those arrested include Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, and Gautam Navlakha.
Congress leader S. Jaipal Reddy said: "I condemn the arrests in qualified terms. No human rights activist should be arrested, for that matter no Indian can be arrested without a proper case."
Reddy said that he defended the rights of everybody, more particularly human rights protestors. "They are selfless NGOs, activists. They are obliged to fight in the enveloping darkness of dictatorial tendencie."
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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.
