Man disrupts symposium at Marathi literary meet

A man was detained by the police after he climbed on stage during a debate about fraudulent religious leaders at the 93rd All India Marathi Literary Meet at Osmanabad in Maharashtra on Saturday. The debate had to be stopped for some time because of the disruption.

Jagannath Patil, a resident of Latur, climbed on stage when a symposium on "Growing influence of charlatan religious leaders (`Buwa-baaji')" was underway. Patil demanded that he be given the opportunity to speak.

The organisers said he could not intrude upon the proceedings in this way, following which the policemen present at the venue took him away. He was released later. "I have no objection to the literary meet. I wanted to say something on the subject that was being discussed," Patil told reporters..