DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE RAJIV GANDHI ASSASSINATION CONVICT: APEX COURT USES SPECIAL POWERS UNDER ARTICLE 142 SC lets Perarivalan walk free, 24 years after death penalty ‘You respected my fight’: His mother’s 31-yr wait is over ANANTHAKRISHNAN G CHENNAI, MAY 18 NEW DELHI, MAY 18 THE SUPREME Court on Wednesday ordered the release of A G Perarivalan, one of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, exercising its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. The order came 24 years after Perarivalan was sentenced to death in the case by a lower court, and two months after he was granted bail by the apex court. Perarivalan was arrested on June 11, 1991, at the age of 19, weeks after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide bomb attack at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21. “In exercise of our power under Article 142 of the Constitution, we direct that the Appellant is deemed to have served the sentence in connection with (the) crime. The Appellant,whoisalreadyonbail, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ARUN JANARDHANAN BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY THE EDITORIAL PAGE MY MOTHERWAS MY HOPE BY A G PERARIVALAN PAGE 8 EXPLAINED SIMPLY PUT HISROADTO FREEDOM PAGE 11 AGPerarivalanwithhismotherArputhamAmmalat JolarpettaiinTamilNaduonWednesday. PTI MOREREPORTS,P6 Shivling claim site in RSS on Gyanvapi: Time Gyanvapi secured, no to put historical facts restrictions on namaz in the right perspective DM says SC order complied with; do wazu at home, says mosque panel LALMANI VERMA VARANASI, MAY 18 A DAY after the Supreme Court asked the Varanasi district magistrate to secure the wazu khana area where a Shivling was claimed tohavebeenfound during a videographic survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex, without impeding or restricting therightsof Muslimstooffernamaz, the faithful flocked to the mosque for prayers and the mosque committee asked them to perform wazu at homebefore heading there. In the adjoining Kashi Inflation up, FMCG firms hike rates, cut pack volume and weight PRANAV MUKUL NEW DELHI, MAY 18 ASINFLATIONsoars,India’sconsumption trends are witnessing apalpableimpact.Withrawmaterial prices rising, fast-moving consumergoods(FMCG)companiesareincreasingproductprices — not just by directly raising the retail rates but also by reducing the pack sizes, an industry practicethatisknownas“grammage reduction”. On the consumer side, buyers of items such as soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, biscuitsetcare“downtrading”— meaning they are either opting for cheaper alternatives or smaller pack sizes. Even as the strategy to shave small quantities — few grams or millilitres—frombiscuitpackets andshampoobottlesisbeingdeployedacrosstheboardbyFMCG companiestodealwiththeinput costpressure,startingOctober1, thesecompanieswillhavetodisplay the unit sale prices of prepackaged items, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs in March. The companies will have todisplaypricespergramwhere net weight is less than one kilogram, and per kilogram where netweightismorethanonekilogram; per millilitre where net volume is less than one litre and per litre where net volume is more than one litre, enabling consumers to better compare non-standard pack sizes. Amailsenttotheministryon the trend of grammage reduction by companies did not get any response. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Security presence stepped up outside the site. File Vishwanath complex, an idol of Nandi, gazing in the direction of the Gyanvapi mosque, has been drawing crowds ever since the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, MAY 18 WITH THE Kashi VishwanathGyanvapi controversy being debated in court rooms, the RSS Wednesday said the time has come for “historical facts” to be putinthe“rightperspective”before society. “Right now the issue of Gyanvapi is going on. There are somefactswhicharecomingout in the open. I believe we should let facts come out in the open. In any case, truth always finds a way to come out. How long can youhideit?Ibelievethetimehas cometoputhistoricalfactsinthe rightperspectivebeforesociety,” RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh (all-India publicity in- charge) Sunil Ambekar said at the Devrishi Narad Patrakar Samman Samaroh, an RSS event to felicitate journalists. On India's syncretic culture, Ambekar said, “It is true that India is assimilative. People talk about the Ganga-Jamuna culture. But later it should become one. It should become Ganga. Only then can we walk together. I believe there is a responsibility to create public awakening.” Minister of State Sanjeev Balyan, who was chief guest at the event, said he became emotional when he learnt about a Shivling being found in the mosque complex. “Last week I was in Varanasi when this issue of Gyanvapi was going on. I became emotional. But I became CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 “THE SUPREMECourt has finally orderedmyson’srelease.SoIam standingheretothankeveryone. All of you know our fight for the past 31 years. I don’t have to tell you about him. Youall respected my fight.” Surrounded by cameras, the exhausted 75-year-old hung on to her son’s arms at Jolarpettai in Tamil Nadu’s Tirupattur. Arputham Ammal’s long and gruelling fight for her son A G Perarivalan, one of the convicts intheRajivGandhiassassination case, was finally over. Perarivalan told The Indian Express: “The only grip I had, to cling on, during the years of long struggle for my life and justice was my mother.” He also thanked “each and every individual who fought a desperate battle against the mighty system, standingshouldertoshoulder with me”. “I cannot find a word in any JOLT TO PARTY AHEAD OF GUJARAT POLLS Hardik quits Congress: Plays roadblock, leaders abroad when needed ‘Leaders busy on mobiles, state unit in getting chicken sandwiches for them’ VAIBHAV JHA & LEENA MISRA AHMEDABAD, MAY 18 JOLTING THE Congress in the countdown to Assembly elections in Gujarat later this year, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who was made working president of the state unit two years ago, resigned from the party Wednesday, saying its top leaders seemed more interested in “messages they had received on their mobile (phones)”, behaved as if “they hate Gujarat and Gujaratis” while state Congress leaders were “more focussed” in arranging chicken sandwiches for them. In his resignation letter, ad- Days after Udaipur, a reality check for Congress MANOJ C G NEW DELHI, MAY 18 Hardik Patel joined Congress in 2019. File dressed to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and posted on Twitter, Hardik took a swipe at CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RELATED REPORT PAGE 6 E FROM INTROSPECTION to new resolve,whenthe ● Congress leadership deftly changed the format of the Udaipur Chintan Shivir, many pertinent questions remained unanswered. The much talked about “inaccessibility” of Rahul Gandhi, his frequent disappearances, the accountability of the Gandhis, EXPLAINED THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2022, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CITY PM panel flags urban job guarantee scheme, universal basic income ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU NEW DELHI, MAY 18 DELHI L-G BAIJAL RESIGNS AFTER 5-YEAR TENURE PAGE 3 A REPORT commissioned and released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has suggested that the Government should launch a guaranteed employmentprogrammefortheurban unemployed and roll out a universal basic income (UBI) scheme to reduce income gaps. Citingthe“skewednature”of incomedistributioninthecountry, the report also recommendedstepstoraiseminimum income and more government spending on the social sector to make vulnerable sections immune to sudden shocks” and “stoptheirdescentintopoverty”. The report, titled “The State of Inequality in India” and prepared by the Gurgaon-based Institute for Competitiveness, was released on Wednesday by EAC chairman Bibek Debroy. “Lookingatthedifferencebetween the labour force participationrateinruralandurbanareas, it is our understanding that theurbanequivalentof schemes like MGNREGS that are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2