Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) expressed its solidarity with the Bus Marshals who have been staging a protest near the Lieutenant Governor’s (LG) House, on Thursday. A delegation of AAP leaders including Ministers and MLAs of Delhi visited the protest site emphasising the party’s commitment towards resolving the issue amicably. At the site, Senior AAP Leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj assured the Bus Marshals of complete support on behalf of AAP and Delhi Government. He also urged the LG to give time for a joint meeting over the issue with all MLAs. Delhi Cabinet Ministers Imran Hussain and Mukesh Ahalawat along with MLAs Kuldeep Kumar, Sanjeev Jha, Dilip Pandey, Bhawana Gaur, Haji Yunus, Shivcharan Goel, Akhileshpati Tripathi, Vishesh Ravi, Rajesh Gupta, Praveen Kumar, Rohit Mehraulia, Rajkumari Dhillon and Rajesh Rishi were also present at the protest.
Notably, the Bus Marshals have been demanding their reinstatement after their abrupt dismissal last year. Recently, the Delhi Legislative Assembly had unanimously resolved to pursue the reinstatement of the terminated Bus Marshals. During the session, the assembly had also decided that all MLAs of AAP and BJP will go and meet the LG on 3rd October to get their files cleared. However, neither the LG nor the BJP responded upon AAP’s request for a meeting on the issue today.
Addressing the matter, Saurabh Bharadwaj stated that the only purpose of the delegation’s visit was to extend support and pursue amicable resolution of the issue by getting the Bus Marshals reinstated. “We’ve not come here to fight. On September 26th, it was decided in the Delhi Assembly, the highest decision-making body in Delhi, that on October 3rd, the first day of Navratri, all AAP and BJP MLAs would meet with the LG. We are ready to sign any document the LG wants, and we will ensure that the Bus Marshals are reinstated.”
He criticised the delay in resolving the matter, urging that the Bus Marshals should not be treated like a “football” between political parties. “We are here in solidarity with the protestors, we are now waiting for the BJP to also come and extend support. He called for a unified effort to settle the issue, noting that the LG had played a direct role in the dismissal of the Marshals. “Everyone should sit together, sign whatever needs to be signed. We know the LG won’t give us time because his intentions are dishonest. He is the one who fired these Marshals,” he added.
Interacting with the media, Saurabh Bharadwaj reminded them that BJP MLAs had also voted in favor of the resolution to address the Bus Marshal issue and should follow through on their commitment. “We are in government, we are ready to sign whichever file the LG will ask us to. But the BJP controls the LG. We are taking responsibility to get the files cleared by the government, BJP needs to ensure LG follows through too,” he said, underscoring the urgency of a collective response.
It is noteworthy that the AAP has stood by the Bus Marshals and has remained committed to pursuing all necessary measures to ensure their swift reinstatement. Earlier on Thursday, Saurabh Bharadwaj wrote a letter to the LG following up on the proposed meeting. “The Assembly sent a copy of the resolution to the LG on the same day it was passed, but even today the LG has not given us time. He did not respond back then, and even today I wrote a letter to him asking him to meet us,” he said responding to a media query.
AAP MLA Praveen Kumar said that there was an extensive discussion in the Delhi Assembly regarding the bus marshals. “Just as we are sitting together here today, the BJP MLAs were sitting face-to-face in the Assembly. We told the BJP MLAs that the first day of Navratri falls on October 3, which is a very auspicious day, therefore, we will meet with the Lieutenant Governor on October 3 to regularize the Civil Defense Volunteers.”
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