DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2024, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES Ahead of LS results, S&P revises India outlook to positive `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 Hottest in 80 yrs PM sees plot in 3 POLL RALLIES IN ODISHA Naveen health, CM says you probe rumours Retains rating, says continuity in reforms, policies expected regardless of outcome NEW DELHI, MAY 29 S&P GLOBAL Ratings on Wednesday revised up the outlook for India to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’, retained ‘BBB-’ longterm and ‘A-3’ short-term unsolicitedforeignandlocalcurrency sovereigncreditratings,andsaid continued policy stability, deepening economic reforms and high infrastructure investment will sustain long-term growth prospects for India. S&P had last revised up the outlook to stable from negative in September 2014, and had raised the rating to BBB- from BB+ in January 2007. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the revision reflects “India's solid growth performance and a promising economic outlook for the coming years”. “It has been possible due to the series of macroeconomic reforms undertaken since 2014, along with substantial outlay for capex, fiscal discipline, and deci- E E X P L A I NE D AANCHAL MAGAZINE ● The path ahead IF GROWTH remains robust, monetary policy ensures low inflation and the government commits itself to fiscal consolidation i.e., lowers its deficit as a percentage of GDP continuously, it is likely the S&P would revise up India’s rating too. sive & visionary leadership. As envisioned by Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi, India is well on tracktobecomethethird-largest economy in the third term of the government and become a #ViksitBharat by 2047,” she said in a post on X. While results of the Lok Sabha elections are due in less than a week, S&P expects broad continuity in economic reforms and fiscal policies regardless of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE WORLD Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Balasore district of Odisha on Wednesday. PTI A boy cools off in the Yamuna river in New Delhi on Wednesday, the Capital’s hottest day in 80 years. Abhinav Saha Delhi sizzles: One station records 52.9°C, Met dept says checking data and sensors GAZA WAR TO LAST 7 MORE MONTHS, SAYS NETANYAHU’S NSA SOUTH AFRICA VOTES EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 29 IN TIGHTEST POLL IN 30 YEARS PAGE 12 THE MUNGESHPUR weather BJP raises corruption issue in TMC’s Kolkata bastions, CPM banks on mix of old and new station in Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 52.9 degree Celsius on Wednesday, an all-time record for any location in India, prompting the Met office to rush its scientists to check the authenticity of the reading. The same station had recorded 49.9 degree Celsius on Tuesday,anall-timehighforDelhi. BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY The Safdarjung weather observatory, which serves as the marker for the entire city, registered a maximum temperature of 46.8 degree Celsius on Wednesday, the highest in 80 years. It was six degrees higher thanthe normalexpected at this time of the year, and the highest that the station has recorded since 1944. But it was substantially lower than the temperature at Mungeshpur, located on the northern outskirts of Delhi, bordering Haryana. EXPLAINED CLIMATE RECORD-BREAKING TEMPERATURES ACROSS WORLD PAGE 14 CITY DELHI HEATWAVE CLAIMS FIRST VICTIM PAGE 4 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Let Muslims shift Kashi & Mathura mosques, things will change: Sarma P9 LIZ MATHEW NEW DELHI, MAY 29 BJP LEADER and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Wednesday that Islamophobia is “real” for many Hindus in the country and the “so-called secular intellectuals” will not be able to counter it. He said it can only be con- Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during a roadshow in Kolkata on Wednesday. Express of its sitting MPs, only replacing ATRI MITRA actor-turned-politician Mimi KOLKATA, MAY 29 Chakraborty (who announced her retirement from politics) in AS THE bitterly fought Jadavpur, with another Lok Sabha elections in actor, Sayoni Ghosh. West Bengal, stretched The TMC has been over seven phases, fiwinning these four seats nally draw to a close on since the 2009 Lok Sabha June 1, the contest will elections — two years beend fittingly with state DECISION fore it swept to power for 2024 capital Kolkata. Four of the first time in Bengal — the nine constituencies and is banking again on which vote on Saturday fall the Mamata Banerjee governwithin its geographical bound- ment’s welfare schemes, particaries — Jadavpur, Dum Dum, ularly Lakshmir Bhandar. Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata The BJP campaign has reUttar — all held by the ruling volvedaroundallegationsof corTrinamool Congress (TMC). ruption and minority The TMC has repeated three CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 “Themaximumtemperature over Delhi NCR varied from 45.2 degree Celsius to 49.1 degree Celsius in different parts of the city. Mungeshpur reported 52.9 degreeCelsiusasanoutliercompared to other stations. It could beduetoanerrorinthesensorof local factors. IMD is examining the data and sensors,” the India MeteorologicalDepartmentsaid in a statement. The IMD runs 20 weather stations in Delhi, 15 of which are THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW HIMANTA BISWA SARMA ASSAM CHIEF MINISTER tained if the Muslims agree to shiftMathura’sShahiEidgahand Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque to other places through “mutual consultations”and“constructive deliberations between the two communities”. In an interview with The Indian Express, Sarma said, “If you continue to have Shahi Eidgah there in Mathura, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Hyderabad ‘baby selling’ racket busted, couples who ‘bought’ infants told to hand them over SREENIVAS JANYALA HYDERABAD, MAY 29 “WHO WILL take care of my daughter now?” Outside the Rachakonda Police Commissioner’s office on Wednesday, this and many similar questions were raised by 15 couples,fromwhompolicehave taken away babies “purchased” over the past two to six months. On Tuesday, police in Hyderabad busted an inter-state child trafficking racket and rescued 16 babies from a gang, Women who ‘purchased’ the babies try to stop a vehicle from leaving with the infants in Hyderabad. Express whichwould“sell”themtochildless couples in Telangana and AndhraPradeshforanywherebetweenRs1.8lakhandRs5.5lakh. The couples, apart from having the infants taken away from them, are also facing a police case under sections of child trafficking and the Juvenile Justice Act.Thebabieshave,meanwhile, been handed over to the state’s WomenandChildDevelopment department. “The couples, as well as two womenwhohad‘bought’theinfants, had bonded with them… CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik at a press meet in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. ANI Modi says panel to probe ‘lobby’; Naveen says he’s in perfect health SUJIT BISOYI BHUBANESWAR, MAY 29 WITH THE BJP locked in a tough electoral battle with the BJD in Odisha,PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi Wednesday raised questionsaboutthe“failinghealth”of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, andaskedwhetherthereisaconspiracy behind it by a power “lobby”.HesaidthatoncetheBJP forms government in the state, a “specialcommittee”willbeinstituted to probe the matter as the people of Odisha have a right to know about it. HoursafterthePrimeMinister made the claims at an election rally, Patnaik, who is seeking a sixth consecutive term in office, toldreportersthatheisinperfect health. “If he (PM) has to form a committee, I suggest he form a committeetolookintothepeople whoarespreadingsuchrumours about my health,” he said. Addressing a poll rally in Baripada under Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha segment, which votes in the final phase on June 1, Prime MinisterModisaidthereisaneed for a detailed probe to “uncover the mystery” about the “sudden deterioration”inthehealthofthe Odisha Chief Minister. “Every well-wisher of Naveen Babu is now concerned and worried about how Naveen Babu’shealthhasdeterioratedin the past one year. People who were close to Naveen Babu for years,whentheymeetme,often discuss the health condition of Naveen Babu. They told me that Naveen Babu can’t do anything on his own,” said Modi. He said they told him that “there could be a conspiracy” behind Patnaik's health condition. ThePrimeMinistersaid,“The question now is whether there CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SC Registry declines Kejriwal plea for hearing interim bail extension, calls it ‘misconceived’ ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, MAY 29 CALLING IT “misconceived”, the Supreme Court Registry has declined to accept Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s requestforanurgenthearingof his application seeking a week’s extension of his interim bail to allowhimtoundergomedicaltests. Arrested by theEnforcement Directorate on March 21 in the Delhiexcisepolicycase,Kejriwal is required to surrender on June 2 at the end of the interim bail granted on May 10 for election campaigning. The Registry is learnt to have communicated to Kejriwal’s counsel that “no reasonable cause or grounds are made out bytheApplicanttoentertainthis application”. Granted interim bail on May 10, has to surrender on June 2 On Tuesday, Senior Advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, had urged a vacation benchof JusticesJKMaheshwari andK VViswanathantohearthe application urgently. The bench told him it would refer the request to the Chief Justice of India for appropriate orders. TheRegistry,inanorderdated May 28, said that Order XV Rule 5 of Supreme Court Rules, 2013 enablestheRegistrartorefusereceivingapetitionifit disclosesno reasonablecauseorisfrivolousor contains scandalous matter. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 After a wedding kiss in Hapur, a full-blown brawl and a runaway bride PAGE 1 ANCHOR VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA HAPUR, MAY 29 EVERYTHING WAS going to plan. The baraat had arrived to the cacophony of the wedding band. Minutes later, the couple — the bride in a deep-red lehenga and the groom in an ivory-coloured bandgala and matching turban — exchanged garlands. Then came the twist: the groom lunged forward and kissed the bride — “on the forehead”. NobodyhadtoldDeepanshu, who accompanies his father to play the dhol at weddings and other functions, that he could kiss his bride. Now that he had done so, all hell broke loose. Someone in the bride’s family loudly objected to the kiss and soon,the weddingvenueturned into a battlefield — plastic chairs wereflungaround,platesof food and juice lay spilled on the carpet, punchesflewfreely, some of the relatives were hauled off to the police station and others to a nearby hospital. The marriage was called off and the baraat returned without the bride. Then came another twist: in the stealth of the darkness, the 20-something bride gathered her immense lehenga and spunk, and walked out of her house in Ashok Nagar and into the home of her groom in the nearby Shiv Nagar area, where the two married in a hastily arranged ceremony. Deepanshu and Savita, childhood sweethearts both in their 20s, are now man and wife, but in two localities separated by less than a kilometre in Hapur, in western Uttar Pradesh, the memory of that kiss — and the runaway bride — hangs heavy, days after the brawl of May 20. ‘All this kissing is ok in big cities, not here’ A video grab of Deepanshu and Savita at their wedding Atthefamily’sancestralhome inHarchanavillage,about20km from Hapur, the bride’s uncle NepalSingh,55,sayshisyounger brother, Savita’s father Naresh, wasamongthosedetainedbythe policeafterthebrawlatthewedding. “My brother and the groom’sfatherwereatthepolice station when we heard that Savita had left the house around 4.30inthemorning.Thegroom’s sister reached the police station totakeherfatherhome,”hesays. And then adds, “All this kissingmightbeokayinbigcitieslike Delhi or Noida but in towns and villageslikeours,itis notacceptable. My brother may forgive Savitaforwhatshehasdone,but I won’t. Five members of our family got hurt in this fight and had to be hospitalised. The couplecandowhatevertheywantto in their own house, but how can they do such things in public?” Savita’s fatherNaresh, a daily wage worker in Hapur, didn't want to speak on the incident. The same night as Savita’s scheduled wedding on May 20, her sister Chanchal got married in a far less eventful ceremony. Refusing to talk about the chaos athersister’swedding,Chanchal says, “Meri shaadi ho gayi thi aur meri baraat nikal gayi (I got married and left). I don’t know what happenedatmysister’swedding after that.” At Hapur’s Dehat Police Station,anofficersaid,“Thereisno FIR in this case. Several members from the wedding were detained afterthebrawl.Amongthemwere Pappu (the groom’s father) and Naresh(thebride’sfather).Several otherswereinjuredandadmitted toanearbyhospital.” ‘Aaj kal ka trend’ A five-minute walk from Savita’s father’s house in Ashok CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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