DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PRAYERS HELD: STATE TV RAE BARELI, AMETHI AMONG 14 UTTAR PRADESH SEATS THAT GO TO POLLS Chopper‘crash’ Phase 5: Voting in 49 LS inIran:President constituencies today Raisiismissing, searchopson WasaccompaniedbyForeignMinister; ‘hardlanding’duetofog,saysgovt DECISION 2024 WHY I WILL VOTE &YOUSHOULDTOO SACHIN TENDULKAR, Former captain of Indian cricket team Iranian state TV aired footage of President Ebrahim Raisi (left) on a visit to the country’s northeast on Sunday before the chopper incident. AP JON GAMBRELL AZERBAIJAN DUBAI, MAY 19 A HELICOPTER carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and otherofficialsapparentlycrashed in the mountainous northwest reachesof IranonSunday,sparkingamassiverescueoperationin afog-shroudedforestasthepublic was urged to pray. The likely crash came as Iran, underRaisiandSupremeLeader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel last month and has enriched uranium closer than ever toweapons-gradelevels.Iranhas also faced years of mass protests against its Shiite theocracy over anailingeconomy andwomen’s rights — making the moment that much more sensitive for Tehran and the future of the countryastheIsrael-Hamaswar inflames the wider Middle East. Raisi was travelling in Iran’s EastAzerbaijanprovince.StateTV said a “hard landing” happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometres northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran. Later, state TV put it farther east nearthevillageof Uzi,butdetails Jolfa Tabriz IRAQ Tehran IRAN Hard-liner, Khamenei ‘successor’ A HARD-LINE religious cleric, Ebrahim Raisi, 63, is seen by many as a strong contender to succeed Ayatollah Khamenei, who endorsed his main policies. Raisi has overseen a strategy to expand Iran’s influence — from backing proxies in West Asia to expediting the nuclear program. He also oversaw a bloody crackdown on antigovernment protests. remained contradictory. Traveling with Raisi were Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Collective role in shaping India’s future’ A ll of us have a role to play in nation building. Electing the leaders who will represent us is an important contribution of citizens in a democracy. By participating in elections, we all play a collective role in shaping the future of our country. This is what drives me to vote during elections. What can be more exciting than being part of the world’s largest election process and to elect the players who will represent their constituency? To play in a stadium filled with India jerseys is such a grand experience. Imagine the thrill of seeing crores of Indians flaunting the ink on their fingers. It will be a sight to behold and the true mark of our success as a democracy! The Bandra-Worli Sea Link displays a message in Marathi — “20th May is polling day, do cast your vote” — in Mumbai on Sunday. Ganesh Shirsekar With 13 constituencies voting in this phase, polling to end in Maharashtra MANOJ CG NEW DELHI, MAY 19 AS THE BJP and Opposition parties sharpen their campaign rhetoric — with Prime Minister Narendra Modi bringing the Ram Temple repeatedly into focus and the INDIA bloc parties keeping the Constitution and reservation as their main talking points — 49 constituencies acrosseightstatesandUnionterritories will vote in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Monday. Asmanyas35Assemblyconstituenciesof Odishaarealsogoing to polls in this phase. The stakes are significant for theBJPanditsalliesinthisphase, which has the least number of constituencies going to vote. Of the 49 seats, the BJP alone had won 32 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The undivided Shiv Sena, which was with the BJP then, had won seven and the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Crossed limits’: Modi after Mamata claims ‘a few monks’ helping BJP SANTANU CHOWDHURY KOLKATA, MAY 19 TARGETING WEST Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for claiming that some members of Bharat Sevashram Sangha and Ramakrishna Mission were helping the BJP in the elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday the TMC had “crossed all limits” this time. He said the Chief Minister was “openlythreatening”thetwosocio-religious organisations to “appease” the TMC's vote bank. Speakingatanelectionmeeting in West Bengal’s Purulia, where he shared the stage with Bharat Sevashram Sangha monk SwamiNityasudhanandaamong others, Modi said: “Chunav mein Bengal ke logon ko darane, dhamkane,hinsakaranewaliTMC sarkar ne iss baar sari hadein paar kardihain(TheTMCgovernment, which has been threatening and unleashing violence on the peopleofBengalduringtheelections, has crossed all limits this time).” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DECISION 2024 PHASE5 Totalseats Candidates 49 695 VOTESHARE (Phase5) NDA INDIA Others 42.85% 28.83% 28.32% 2019 SEATSGOINGTOPOLLS AND2019TURNOUT(%) Overall 49 61.82% STATESTHATWILL COMPLETEPOLLING Maharashtra 13 55.5% OTHERS UttarPradesh WestBengal Bihar Odisha Jharkhand J&K Ladakh 14 7 5 5 3 1 1 58.38% 79.99% 56.95% 72.65% 65.41% 34.3% 68.78% Kejriwal aide Bibhav also charged with destroying evidence NIRBHAY THAKUR NEW DELHI, MAY 19 A DAY after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide, Bibhav Kumar, was arrested for allegedly assaulting AAP’s Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal, the Delhi Police has added the charge of destruction of evidence(IPCSection201)intheFIR against him. Kumar, who was arrested on Saturday while his anticipatory bailpleawasbeingheard,hasalready been booked under sections pertaining to assault, criminal intimidation and outraging a woman’s modesty. A Delhi courtsenthimtofivedayspolice custody late on Saturday. Initsremandapplication,the Delhi Police alleged that a pen drive that was provided to them, which was supposed to contain the CCTV footage from May 13, when the alleged assault took Bibhav Kumar has been sent to 5-day police custody placeatKejriwal’sresidence,was empty. Police also alleged that Kumar had formatted his phone before being arrested. Police said a junior rank officer, who had no access to the area where CCTV cameras were installed, alleged that the video footage that he found was “blank” for the relevant period. The Investigating Officer had given notice to the accused to providetheCCTVfootage,itsaid. The prosecution said Kumar needed to be taken to Mumbai to ascertain all the facts regarding the formatting of his cellphone and retrieving the “deleted” data. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TURNOUT(%)IN2024 Phase1 Phase2 Phase3 Phase4 Overall 66.14 66.71 65.68 69.16 66.95 Data compiled by Anjishnu Das Source: EC Yash Dayal’s comeback: J&K attacks: BJP ex-sarpanch was From trolls and taunts asked for ID before being killed Kejriwal: PM Modi has to RCB’s final-over hero Family of Jaipur couple injured in another attack: ‘Their launched Operation 5-yr-old twins hid under a table to escape, still in shock’ PRATYUSH RAJ Jhaadu to crush AAP BASHAARAT MASOOD Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal with other AAP leaders during a protest in New Delhi on Sunday. Abhinav Saha NEW DELHI, MAY 19 ‘Clotting due to Covid is perhaps 100 times more than clotting caused by a vaccine’ SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN CHAIRPERSON, MS SWAMINATHAN RESEARCH FOUNDATION PAGE 14 AT YASH Dayal's home in Prayagraj, no one was watching Saturday’scrucialRCBvsCSKtie, the do-or-die game between IPL's two most popular sides. Since last year, the family had been wary of tuning in to IPL's high-pressurematchesinvolving their son, the 26-year-old RCB pacerwhomostlygetstobowlin the all-important final over. Back in 2023, KKR's Rinku SinghhadhitYashforfivesuccessive sixes — the thrashing would givehimandhisfamilyalife-long trauma.Yashwouldbethetarget of trolls and meme-makers. & PARUL KULSHRESTHA SRINAGAR, JAIPUR, MAY 19 Yash Dayal celebrates after a wicket against CSK on Saturday. Sportzpics AllthatchangedonSaturday. RCB managed a grand comeback by knocking out CSK and snatching a play-off spot. CSK needed 17 runs to make it to the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EVEN AS a large number of people turned up Sunday for the funeral of a former sarpanch associatedwiththeBJPwhowasshot dead by militants at his home in Shopian, family members of a tourist couple from Jaipur, who were injured in a separateattack in Pahalgam, continued to pray for their recovery after both underwent surgeries. Officials said while the condition of the husband remains critical, his wife is stable but un- The funeral of ex-sarpanch Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh, Sunday, a day after he was killed in Shopian. Shuaib Masoodi der observation. The couple's 5year-old twins escaped unhurt intheattackbutwereinastateof shock, their family members said in Jaipur. Thecouple—Tabrezandwife Farah — were moved from the Government Medical College in AnantnagtoArmy's92basehospital in Badamibagh Cantonment, Srinagar, Sunday. Relatives of former sarpanch Aijaz Ahmad Sheikh, a resident of Herpora village in Shopian, said gunmen barged into his house Saturday night and fired at him. “We heard some gunshots but stayed inside out of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 GAYATHRI MANI NEW DELHI, MAY 19 DELHI CHIEF Minister and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind KejriwalonSundayaccusedPrime MinisterNarendraModioflaunching “Operation Jhaadu” (broom, AAP's poll symbol) to “crush” his partybyarrestingitsleaders,seizingbankaccountsandevictingthe partyfromitsheadquarters. Addressingpartyleadersand workers before marching to the BJP headquarters to protest BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Indian films have own ethos... but it’s not well understood in the West’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR ALAKA SAHANI MUMBAI, MAY 19 SEVERAL years ago, as a student at Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Payal Kapadia,38,startedscriptingthe initial drafts of All We Imagine As Light as her diploma project. “At thattime,mygrandmotherhada big fall and the normally feisty lady was bound to her bed. She hired a nurse to help her in this difficult state as she lived alone, except when I stayed with her. Spending time with them, I got interested in these women who come from different states to Mumbai to work,” says Kapadia. The lives of such caregivers sowed the seeds of the story, which is now set to premiere at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival in its much-feted ‘competition section’ on May 23. It is thefirst film to feature in thefestival’s main segment in 30 years. SpeakingtoTheIndianExpress aheadof herdebutfeature’spremiere, the Mumbai-based writer-director, who graduated fromFTIIin2018,recountedhow shekeptrevisitingthescriptover Ranabir Das Payal Kapadia’s film is set to premiere at Cannes, May 23; (right) a still from her All We Imagine as Light theyears,takingittowritingresidencies and further working on the characters. “As I collected more material, I realised that I wantedtowriteafilmthatwould be longer than the 20 minutes of the diploma project,” she says. Thefilmnowspans115minutes. The film’s selection came as a surprise to Kapadia.“Receiving this news felt so amazing. Later, Isawallthefilmmakerswhowill bethere(inthe competitionsection).Iwashonouredtobeinthe company of so many people whose work I admire,” she says. To win the Palme d’Or — the top honour of the festival — she will compete with a host of biggies including Ali Abbasi, Andrea Arnold, David Cronenberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Jia ZhangKe, Paolo Sorrentino, Sean Baker and Yorgos Lanthimos. ThisistheFTIIalumna’sthird time at Cannes after her short Afternoon Clouds featured in the Cinefondation section in 2017 and A Night of Knowing Nothing won the Oeil d’Or (Golden Eye) Award for Best Documentary Film there in 2021. Even with two successful outings at the French Riviera, Kapadia believes “every film is a different experience”. “You spendsomanyyearsworkingon each project that you totally forget this part of the process (festival participation). Suddenly, you havetoshiftgears—fromspending all your time in a post-production studio in pajamas, you have to clean up and try to look presentable,” Kapadia says. In All We Imagine As Light, her first narrative feature, Kapadia follows the lives of two nurses from Kerala — Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divyaprabha) – colleagues at a Mumbai hospital and roommates. When Prabha receives an unexpected giftfromherestrangedhusband, her regular life is disrupted. In the space-crunched city, her younger roommate Anu struggles to find a spot to be intimate with her boyfriend. When they takeatriptoacoastaltown,their lives undergo a change. “The story is about the city and the people who come to work in Mumbai. They have families back home. But they find new families in friends and colleaguesinthecity…AsIgrew older,Ihavestartedrelyingmore CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad