eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE ‘I had to detach a part of my personality’ NEWDELHI,LATECITY MAY5,2024 Cricketer Shubman Gill on how he deals with success and failure FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT 16+4PAGES,`7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, ` 12 SRINAGAR) DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA DECISION 2024 ● In Bihar’s Yadav belt, RJD’s caste arithmetic set to face the Modi test ● Kshatriya stir to Patidar dominance to KHAM: A look at key groups in Gujarat GROUNDREPORT ● In BJP quest to win South Goa, one taluka holds the key ● Cong’s Puri candidate pulls out of LS race: ‘Party denied me funds’ PAGES 6, 7 THIRD ATTACK IN PIR PANJAL REGION IN TWO WEEKS 1 Air Force personnel killed, 4 injured as convoy attacked by terrorists in Poonch Search operation involving Army and RR launched to flush out terrorists ARUN SHARMA & AMRITA NAYAK JAMMU, NEW DELHI MAY 4 AN AIR Force personnel was killedandfourothersinjuredina terror attack in Jammu’s Poonch district on Saturday evening. Accordingtomilitarysources, twovehiclescarryingtheIAFpersonnelcameunderfirefromterrorists around 6 pm when they were near Shahsitar. The area falls between Surankote’s Sanai TopandMendhar’sGursairegion in the border district. The injured personnel were evacuated to Udhampur for treatment on IAF choppers, where one of them succumbed. An IAF detachment is collocated with the 37 Rashtriya Rifles (RR) in the Mendhar region. In a statement, the IAF said, “In the gunfight with terrorists, In relief for Maharashtra onion belt before polls, ban on exports lifted Nepal map on currency note to have Indian areas, EAM speaks out YUBARAJ GHIMIRE & SUJIT BISOYI KATHMANDU, BHUBANESWAR, MAY 4 FOURYEARSaftertieswithIndia dived when Nepal included the areas of Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura in its new map, the government in Kathmandu has decided to come out with a Rs-100 currency note that depicts the country’s map with the areas under Indian control. The decision on the new currency note, according to Nepal government spokesperson and Minister of Communication Rekha Sharma, was taken Thursday at a meeting of the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’. Kathmandu’s decision drew a sharp response from India Saturday with External Affairs MinisterSJaishankarsayingthat Nepal’smovewillnotchangethe situation or the reality on the ground. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Reasonably comfortable rabi crop, good prospects for kharif season, says Govt PARTHASARATHI BISWAS & HARIKISHAN SHARMA PUNE, NEW DELHI, MAY 4 DAYS AHEAD of polling in Maharashtra’s onion belt, the Centre has lifted the ban on export of the bulb with “immediate effect”. “The export policy of Onions is amended from ‘prohibited’ to ‘free’…with immediate effect and until further orders,” a notificationissuedbytheDirectorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) stated Saturday. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. PTI WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM Why the ban was ● enforced THE BAN, enforced last December to boost domestic availability in view of an estimated 20% decline in kharif and latekharif crops, helped stabilise prices until arrival of rabi crop. It should meet monthly consumption requirement until arrival of the next kharif crop. LADAKH Shahsitar Poonch At the site of the attack in Poonch district on Saturday. ANI Jammu the Air Warriors fought back by returningfire.Intheprocess,five IAF personnel received bullet injuries,andwereevacuatedtothe nearest military hospital for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KARNATAKA SEX ABUSE CASES SIT arrests Revanna, seeks Interpol alert on son Prajwal AKRAM M & KIRAN PARASHAR BENGALURU, MAY 4 H D REVANNA, JD(S) MLA from Holenarasipur and father of Hassan Lok Sabha candidate Prajwal Revanna who has been bookedforallegedsexualassault of several women, was arrested Saturday after the People’s Representative Court denied him relief in a kidnapping case filed against him. The Special Investigation Team, which is probing cases against Revanna and Prajwal, arrested the MLA from the Bengalururesidenceof hisfather and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda. A kidnapping case was filed against Revanna at K R Nagar in Mysuru district by the son of a THE POLICE investigation into the suicide of University of Hyderabad PhD student Rohith Vemula was focused not on investigating the circumstances around his death but on ascertaining his caste, the closure report into the case shows. The report also suggests that the police made little effort to look into the role of the accused — University of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor P Appa Rao, Secunderabad MP Bandaru VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA NEW DELHI, MAY 4 TelanganaCMRevanthReddy with Rohith Vemula’smother and brother inHyderabad. PTI Dattatreya, MLC N Ramchender Rao, and Union Minister Smriti Irani. In fact, the police CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE 29-YEAR-OLD Master’s student at Columbia University relocated from India to the US two years ago. A Delhi University (DU) graduate, she's no stranger to the buzz of campus protests and the heavy-handed response of authorities at institutions like Jamia Millia Islamia and JawaharlalNehruUniversity.But LIZ MATHEW, AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA & P VAIDYANATHAN IYER NEW DELHI, MAY 4 NOTING THAT a voter turnout of 66-67percentcannotbetermed low, Union Defence Minister RajnathSinghsaidtheOpposition alliance has not been able to enthusetheirsupporterstocometo the polling booth and vote and that they seemed to have lost faith in the Congress-led Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance as an alternative. Having addressed 51 public meetings and covered 54 constituencies since elections were announced, Singh accused the Congress for spreading rumours that the BJP would change the Constitution.“ItisunderCongress rule that 85 amendments were made to the Constitution. They changed the Preamble, the soul of theConstitution…youaretrying to blame us now,” Singh said in an interview Saturday morn- Rajnath Singh If someone comes to us and says ‘I want to support you’, should we say ‘No?’...They realised Modi govt is doing well and they cannot win ‘Prajwal Revanna is from the JD(S). He has gone abroad. How did he go? Who granted him permission? Why did the state government not take action against him? The Brij Bhushan Singh case is sub judice. It cannot be said with certainty there was something wrong. It is not yet proven’ SINCE THE elections to the Lok Sabha were announced, Defence Minister RAJNATH SINGH has travelled to 13 states covering 54 constituencies and has addressed 51 public meetingsandparticipatedin fiveroadshows. With a daybefore campaign closesfor Phase 3 scheduled for May 7, Singh speaks with LIZ MATHEW, AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA and P VAIDYANTHAN IYER. Excerpts: governmentwill not play withthelife of any youth of our country. When we are thinking of the downtrodden sections in our society, would we not think about the jawans protecting our borders? Concentration of power in politics has increased. For example, in this election, everything revolves around one person — Modi ki guarantee, Modi sarkar. For the BJP, this is a break from the past. “Modi ki guarantee” means BJP-led NDA government’s guarantee. This is because there hasbeennoconfusionabouttheleader. There is a decision of the parliamentary board thatelectionswill take place underthe leadership of Modi, he will be the Prime Minister. That’s why we say it. The BJP-led NDAgovernment will come. Whowill be the Prime Minister? There is no confusionabout that, too, and we clarify that to the people. So, we say Modi’s government. We are mid-way into the campaign, we hear many messages…what are the issues on which Election 2024 is being fought? Ispeak mostly ontheperformanceof the government over the last 10 years. I speak about the welfare initiatives taken by the government and the new heights scaled at the international levelby thePrime Minister. Our government’s social welfare schemes have a great impact. I can sense that people on the ground are also aware of these facts. People have asenseof prideaboutIndia’sposition on the global stage. You have a majority in the Lok Sabha with 303 seats and you have brought in changes in several policies and laws in the last 10 years. Now, the NDA is targeting 400-plus seats. What would be done with that kind of majority? That is our estimate. We set our target based on ourcapability andwork.Afterevaluating the confidence which has developed inpeople in the government, we believethat the BJP-led NDA will get numbers beyond 400.We willmakeBharatadeveloped country or Viksit Bharat with that number. How do you assess the lower turnout in the first two phases? Is the BJP still sticking to the slogan of 370-plus for the party and 400-plus for the NDA? The voter turnout is not very low. It hovers around 66-67 per cent. People seem to have lost faith in the INDI Alliance alternative. IthinktheOppositionhasnotbeenable to pull out their supporters to vote. Their supporters may have felt their votes will be wasted.Theyareraisingonly negative issues, those that create confusion among voters. They are talking about changing the Constitution. But if you look at the history of independent India, it is under Congress rule that 85 amendments were made to the Constitution. They throttled democracy and declared Emergency. The Constituent Assembly discussed the Preamble for months. It is the soul of the Constitution but they changed it, too. After making such a grave mistake, they are trying to blame us now? What have we done? They are saying we have throttled democracy; it was they who did it. We were put in prison — I was in prison for 18 months, of which more than two months in solitary confinement. I was not given parole even at my mother’s death. But there are voices of concern, especially among Dalits and minorities: what can the BJP do with 400-plus seats? This is because they (Congress) spread rumours andlies tomisleadpeople.Theyran the governmentfor60years.Tellmeoneprogram of socio-economic empowerment… There may have been some, but these were not enough.Lookatourrecord — in 10 years, we have brought 25 crore people out of poverty. With Lok Sabha elections around the corner, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was arrested. What was the tearing hurry? We never saidwe want to keep him. This is the work of the agencies. If the agencies are wrong, thenthe courts would intervene. Why are we being blamed? Getting bail is a right, underlined several times by the court…But bail is continuously being opposed by investigative agencies to both Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia. The agencies should be asked this question. If the agency was wrong, the court will look into it. Have the courts never decided against the government? THE EXPRESS But there are leaders in the BJP who are saying, no, we won’t touch the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at his Akbar Road residence in New Delhi. P Vaidyanathan Iyer was your responsibility. BJP underlines women empowerment, Nari Shakti. How does it justify giving tickets to the son of abuse accused Brij Bhushan Singh and ally JD(S)’s Prajwal Revanna, against whom an SIT has been set up now following allegations of them at par with others. Majority or minority, everyone hasequalrights.Our efforts are toupliftthedowntroddenandthosewhoare socio-economicallybackward in thesociety. In his speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi used terms like “those who have more children,” “illegal immigrants” for nesses.BJPhasn’t changed,BJP iswhatitwas, and will remain the way it is. But investigative agencies like ED, CBI and Income-Tax have been unleashed by your government upon leaders of Opposition parties… These agencies were not set up by our your party? Let agencies do their work. Those who have not done any wrong,they will belet off. Those who are in the wrong, will pay for it. We will not put pressure on agencies, and will not dilute its autonomy. Recently, the Election Commission of India sent a letter directly to party presidents following complaints over the language used in speeches by leaders including the Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi. This was a departure from the norm… Idon’twanttogiveanargumentfromtheir side. It would have been different if they had sentittoourpartypresidentbutnottotheirs. For instance, Ajit Pawar, Ashok Chavan… Former Vice President M Venkaiah INTERVIEW PAGE 9 ing to The Indian Express. He said Congress was creating fear and confusion among people by floating concepts like “wealth distribution” and “inheritance tax” which he said “could lead to economic recessionanddiscouragepeoplefrom creating wealth”. It was this that forced BJP leaders to explain things in the “language understood by the people”, Singh, one of the most senior ministers in the Cabinet, said responding to a question on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE JD(S) MLA H D Revanna being taken into custody by SIT officials in Bengaluru on Saturday. ANI woman who was allegedly abductedonApril29topreventher from approaching the SIT. She was later found at a house in Hunsur, Mysuru district, that was said to belong to a Revanna aide.ShewastakentoBengaluru by SIT officials. After hearing an anticipatory bailpleafiledbyRevannainconnection with the kidnapping case,thePeople’sRepresentative Courtreserveditsorderuntilthe next hearing. When Revanna’s advocate sought interim relief, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 fallout on visas, aid, legal status HYDERABAD, MAY 4 ‘ChangingConstitutionaCongrumour, minoritiesnotsecond-classcitizens’ EXPRESS INTERVIEW Vemula probe focused on proving he was not U.S. CAMPUS FACEOFF OVER ISRAEL-PALESTINE SC, shows police report Indian students wary of protest SREENIVAS JANYALA Rajnath: Turnout is not low…if dip, it’s because Opp hasn’t enthused voters at Columbia, she's torn between diving headfirst into the “proPalestine” movement on campus and the weight of what’s “at stake.” Hers is an illustrative example of a wave of anxiety and uncertainty sweeping across the Indian student community in the US, the second-largest international student group there after the Chinese. As they watch their peers on campus grappling withdisciplinaryaction,suspension, and arrests, they shoulder an additional burden — the threat of visa revocation, expulsion, even deportation. The Sunday Express interviewed several Indian students onF-1visas.Noonewantedtheir name to be used in this report, an indication of their apprehensions. Their refrain: whatever theirpolitics, joining the protest, on any side, opens them to consequences they are mindful of, especially given their financial dependenceonloansoraidfrom CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CANADA CLAIMS 3 ARRESTED FOR NIJJAR KILLING ARE INDIAN NATIONALS PAGE 8 DAYS AFTER HE RESIGNED AS DELHI CONGRESS CHIEF, LOVELY JOINS BJP PAGE 5 Sandeshkhali: We got it done, says BJP man in video put out by TMC BJP hits back with another video: ‘My voice has been tampered with’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, MAY 4 IN A fresh row over the Sandeshkhali incident, the TrinamoolCongressonSaturday released a purported video featuring a BJP leader who claimed that women had filed sexual harassment complaints at the behest of Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari. WhileAdhikarideniedtheallegations and called the video a “TMC conspiracy”, the BJP also released a video of its own, in which the leader featured in the TMC clip alleged that his voice had been “tampered with”. SandeshkhaliinWestBengal’s North 24 Parganas district saw widespread protests in February asresidentsaccusedTMCstrongman Shahjahan Sheikh and his aides of land grab and sexually harassing local women. Sheikh, who was on the run for 55 days after his supporters attacked an EnforcementDirectorate(ED)out tosearchhisSandeshkhalihome inconnectionwitharationscam, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NCP family bastion Baramati split over Pawar play: Saheb or Dada PAGE 1 ANCHOR SUNANDA MEHTA BARAMATI, MAY 4 AN AUTORICKSHAW plastered with election posters stands in the middle of a busy market blaringoutitsmessageonthePA system, “Apki baar…Sunetra Pawar!” TheAjitPawar-ledNationalist Congress Party (NCP) may have managed to cleverly tweak ally BJP’s slogan to its advantage, but in Baramati, the proprietorship of the Pawar surname is another story altogether. For, to those who say “Pawar Saheb” to indicate which way their votes are headed, pointing out even teasinglythatbotharePawarsisblasphemous. “Ek hi Pawar hain yahaan… Sharad Pawar (there is onlyPawarhere,SharadPawar),” is the instant comeback. “Haan doosre bhi hain, par woh dada hain” (Yes, there is another, too, but he is dada (elder brother)”. From knowing Saheb (Sharad Pawar), dada (‘elder brother’ Ajit Pawar), tai (‘sister’ Supriya Sule) and vehini (‘sister- in-law’ Sunetra Pawar) as members of the one big benefactor Pawar family to now seeing them standing on opposite side of the political arena, is a first for the 23.15 lakh electorate of Baramati that stands almost as divided today as the Pawar family itself, with the lines intensifying as it edges closer to election day on May 7. But after having absorbed the initial shock of the NCP’s split, they have by now come to terms with the situation and have their allegiances mapped out. The high-profile Baramati Lok Sabha seat in western NCP-SCP candidate Supriya Sule during a door-to-door campaign in Baramati city, Pune. Pavan Khengre Maharashtra has become one of the most keenly contested battlesof the2024generalelections. With three-time MP and Sharada Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule taking on Sunetra Pawar, wife of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who split fromtheNationalCongressParty (NCP) and joined the ruling BJPShiv Sena alliance last year, the fight is as much about the Pawars, as about power. “We don’t feel good about taking sides, but there is no option now,” says Suresh Jadhav, 60, a pharmacist who has voted in every election in Baramati in thelast25yearsandruesthatfor the first time there is a division not just in the Pawar family but also his own. “Weare14voters inourlarge jointfamily.Whiletheelderslike me are with Sharad Pawar, because we have seen how he has changed Baramati. The youngsters are with Ajit Pawar as he’s the one they have seen running the city. There won’t be a consensus; we will just vote as individuals,” says the man who was also the classmate of Srinivas Pawar, Ajit Pawar’s brother who has sided with Sharad Pawar. “Sule, no doubt. And tai will win by a margin of over two lakhs,” declares Subhash Lokhande, a fruit seller who has been voting for the last 15 years. “Ajit dada, who else?” asks the manager of a three-star hotel nearby. “Pawar Saheb… He has made Baramati like Pune for the students,” smiles Payal Kothari, 21, a first-time voter and finalyear student of BE at the 260acre educational complex of Vidya Pratishthan. Untilthe1980s,Baramatiwas little more than an arid ruralscape.Today,theirtwoaviation academies and the expansive CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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