The editorial Page: on H1-B visa issue, read between the lines of us put-down and indian riposte 10 SaTURDaY, OCTOBER 17, 2026 Journalism of Courage jAIpur, lATe cITY, 20 pAGes ₹6.00 l www.indianexpress.com dA I lY f r o m : A h m e dA B A d , c h A N d I GA r h , d e l h I , j A I p u r , Ko l K ATA , l u c K N o W , m u m B A I , N AG p u r , pAT N A , p u N e , vA d o dA r A PosTaL regn. no. JaIPur cITy/001/2024-26 crOwD GaThers In cOnnauGhT PLace In resPOnse TO cJP caLL FOr TrIcOLOur march Over 100 detained after protests against CEC, Opp demands release of Dipke, Bora business as usual Heavy police bandobast in heart of Capital, CJP founder detained ahead of march By EP UNNY Pragynesh, Drishti Jain, sophiya mathew, alok singh & sakshi chand mahender singh manral New Delhi, October 16 New Delhi, October 16 PoliCEdETAinEdmorethan 100 people, including Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet dipke and All india students’ Association president neha Bora, as protesters gathered in and around Connaught Place in the heart of the Capital Friday evening, responding to the CJP call for a ‘lehra do Tiranga’marchtodemandtheresignationofChiefElectionCommissioner gyanesh Kumar. An estimated 2,000 people, many of them carrying the Tricolour, showed up amid heavy police bandobast around Central Park, the site chosen by the CJP for the protest. dipke was detained from Karol Bagh ahead of the march and Bora shortly after she tried to march from mandi house. WiththeCJPandAisAexpressing concern on their whereaboutslateatnight,theopposition—fromdmKtosP,TmCto Congress — demanded their immediate release and criticised the government and the police action. »cOnTInueD On PaGe 2 RAS 2024 RESULTS inside Page 4 TighT securiTy, marches wiTh Tricolour mark cJP Third ProTesT call during ‘Lehra do Tiranga’ march at connaught Place in new delhi on Friday. GAjeNdrA YAdAv Cong, allies want regime change on lines of Bangladesh: Rajnath That’s Opp job, part of democratic process, says Cong Lalmaniverma&Jatinanand Lucknow, New Delhi, Oct 16 ThE BJP Friday targeted the Congress and its allies over protests in delhi, accusing them of seeking a “regime change” like defence minister rajnath singh in Lucknow, Friday. vIshAl srIvAsTAv in Bangladesh and using the energy of the youth to spread “anarchy”. Countering the rul- ing party, the Congress said former President Pranab mukherjee used to say that the opposition’s job in a democracy is to“oppose,expose,anddepose”. At a press conference at the BJP headquarters in lucknow, defence minister rajnath singh criticised the protests by theCongressanditsalliesseeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) gyanesh Kumar and a halt to »cOnTInueD On PaGe 2 ThE dEnoTiFiCATion of Jantar mantar as a designated protest site, a challenge against which will be heard by the supreme Court in the coming days,didnothappenovernight. Thedenotificationfollowed recommendations by a committee formed by the ministry of home Affairs (mhA) on August20—exactlyamonthafter the Cockroach Janta Party’s march from Jantar mantar towards Parliament on July 20 — to examine alternative venues for protests in the Capital. on october 12, delhi Police denotified Jantar mantar as a designated protest site and identified three alternative venues—ramlilaground,Burari groundandCBdground—for protest gatherings in the Capital.Policeattributedthechange to recommendations made by the committee. The panel, headed by new delhi municipal Council chairperson manoj Kumar dwivedi, had senior officials of the municipal Corporation of delhi, delhigovernment,delhiPolice and the mhA as its members. »cOnTInueD On PaGe 2 China’s trade barriers a big hurdle: FM; let’s work on it, says Beijing Beijing responds: Ready to work with India to address each other’s trade, economic concerns siddharth upasani Finance minister nirmala sitharaman in Bangkok. ANI Amid rising global trade pressure on China, Union Finance minister nirmala sitharaman said Friday that india’s trade imbalance with the world’s second-largest econ- omyis“growingexponentially” and requests for market access have been denied for a decade. she said that while tariffs andotherpunitiveactionshave been the global approach to trade imbalances, india does New Delhi, October 16 In Gujarat, women cops go undercover on garba nights: ‘Feel like Mr India’ Brendan Dabhi & aditi raja Ahmedabad, Vadodara, October 16 EvEry EvEning this navratri, inspector Chandrika Aasundra has been dressing up in a chaniya choli and reaching a garba venue. The 38-year-old policewoman joins the revellersandgroovestothemusic— but her eyes are always alert, »cOnTInueD On PaGe 2 lQyrk dk lezkV fLçaxcksMZ !! I 36 in Top 50 Ranks 72 in Top 100 Ranks monthafterJuly protest,centre setuppanelfor sitesawayfrom Jantarmantar we are DenIeD markeT access, says sITharaman tgk¡ Js"Brk la;ksx ugha] ijaijk gSA RAS Foundation Batch Online & Offline 13 vDVwcj 2026 ls u;k cSp izkjEHk RAS + PSI Pre Batch Batch u;k cSp izkjEHk (Online & Offline) Live Interactive Classes Springboards Spur Pvt. Ltd. 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We are denied market access even for those goods for which there are immense market opportunities in »cOnTInueD On PaGe 2 Happening today lPacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been added to the Indian squad for the seriesdeciding T20I match against the West Indies in Bengaluru. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com inside a videograb of Inspector nidhi kalsaria on duty at a garba event in ahmedabad. Page 3 modi To visiT canada on december 11-12