eye MCS/204/2020-22RNINO.MAHENG2002/21899 THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE The Cult of the Clown MUMBAI,LATECITY SEPTEMBER15,2024 How the figure of the jester has persisted around the world for centuries 16+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM ATTACKS NC, CONG, PDP AT POLL RALLY IN DODA 93 121 149 72 THE WORLD BIDEN MEETS UK PM, DISMISSES PUTIN’S LONG-RANGE STRIKES THREAT TRUMP SAYS WILL DEPORT HAITIANS IN OHIO PAGE 12 Terrorism breathing its last in J&K, we are wiping it out, says PM Modi ‘Stones once hurled at security forces and police are building a new J&K’ ARUN SHARMA JAMMU, SEPTEMBER 14 DECLARING THAT “terrorism is breathing its last in Jammu and Kashmir”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday that the Assembly elections in theUnionTerritoryisabattlebetween three families of the NC, Congress and PDP on one side and “lakhs of young sons and daughtersofthesoilwithdreams in their eyes” on the other side. Addressing an election rally at the Sports Stadium in Doda, Modi promised a secure, peace- ful and prosperous J&K, saying the stones that used to be once hurled at security forces and police were now building “a new Jammu and Kashmir”. He accused the NC, Congress and PDP of creating a breeding ground for terror that came in handy for the enemy – he was referring to Pakistan. He said these parties wanted to “keep theirshopsrunning’’and,asaresult, “thousand of children lost their lives because of their sins”. Reminding the people of the days when terror was at its peak and there used to be an undeclared curfew after sunset, Modi DECISION 2024 After signs of a thaw, talks break down between CM and doctors again PAHARI-GUJJAR DIVIDE IN BATTLE FOR JAMMU ST SEATS PM: BJP SET FOR HARYANA HAT-TRICK PAGE 8 PM Narendra Modi in J&K’s Doda on Saturday. PTI said those were the days when even the Home Minister of the then Congress government at the Centre was scared of visiting Lal Chowk in Srinagar. But due to the work done in Jammu and Kashmir in the last 10 years, he said, “terrorism is breathing its last in Jammu and Kashmir”. Turning towards Shagun Parihar,BJP’sKishtwarcandidate whose father Ajit Parihar and uncle Dalip Parihar were killed by terrorists in 2018, Modi said, “Daughter Shagun is not just a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CM Mamata Banerjee speaks to junior doctors at her residence on Saturday. Express RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & ATRI MITRA KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 14 HEARING ON PLEA SEPT 20 TALKS BETWEEN the West Bengal government and doctors protesting the R G Kar rape and murder once again broke down on Saturday evening — hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’svisittotheprotestsite indicated a thaw in the impasse. The development came on a day the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Sandip Ghosh,theformerprincipalofRG KarMedicalCollegeandHospital, as well as inspector Abhijit Mondol in connection with the case of the rape and murder of a juniordoctorattheinstitute.The CBI alleges they were involved in disturbing the crime scene, tampering with evidence, violating NGT judge hears case where son is amicus, advocate highlights conflict of interest NIKHIL GHANEKAR NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 14 APLEAbeforetheNationalGreen Tribunalbyanadvocatehasraised questionsofproprietyandpotential conflict of interest against JusticeSudhirAgarwal,oneofthe tribunal’s six judicial members. In his plea admitted on May 22, advocate Gaurav Bansal alleged that Justice Agarwal had heard a case in which his son, Gaurav Agarwal, was appointed as an amicus by the Tribunal. Incidentally, Bansal’s plea was also heard by a bench on August 20 which Justice Agarwal is a part of, along with expert member Dr Afroz Ahmad. An amicus is an officer of the court and the tribunal relies on the amicus while hearing a case. The bench reserved its order and the next hearing is on September 20. Justice Sudhir Agarwal, a former judge of the AllahabadHigh Court, was appointed to the green tribunal in April 2021. Bansal has been practising before the NGT for 12 years and before the Supreme Court as well. His efforts in an intervention application he had filed on conservation of Corbett Tiger Reserve CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ● Clock ticking MAMATA’S OUTREACH comes at a time when her government has been facing heat from both the protesting doctors and the opposition. With junior doctors refusing to join work, TMC insiders say the party leadership is feeling the pressure to contain the situation as soon as possible. officialrules,criminalconspiracy and misleading investigators. According to protesting doctors, they reached the Chief CONTINUEDONPAGE2 COMRADE’S LEGACY Offered PM post by Opp leader before LS polls, rejected it, says Gadkari Sitaram Yechury's family members sign papers to donate his body for research, at AIIMS Delhi. Hundreds on Saturday bade farewell to the CPI(M) leader. @cpimspeak REPORT,PAGE10 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE In Odisha, scheme that helped BJP Across boards, states, more Class 12 win to be launched on PM birthday girls than ever are choosing science SUJIT BISOYI ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND SUMATI ROUT (57) and two of her neighbours have queued up at a seva kendra — or common service centre — at Ganjam’s Sahaspur village, waiting patiently for their turn. It’s 11:20 pm on Monday night, but that hasn’t prevented a long line forming in front of the centre. GIRLS ARE closing the gap in science at the school level, with more of them opting for the stream than ever before, as is evident from an analysis of their Class 12 Board results. The Indian Express analysed data from 25 school boards between2010and2023,andfound that of the total students who BHUBANESWAR, SEPT 14 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D 15/09/2024 FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 14 Women wait to register themselves for the Subhadra Yojana at a ‘seva kendra’ at Odisha's Ganjam district. Sujit Bisoyi passed their Class 12 Board exams in the science stream, 45.53% were girls — up from 38.22% in 2010. The proportion of boys in the science stream decreased from 62% to 54% during the same period. The trend is evident even among the total number of girls whoclearedClass12—theshare of those who studied science in this cohort went up from 31% in2010 to 40% in 2023. During the same period, the share of girls who cleared Class 12 in the commerce stream went down from20%to12%andthoseinarts streams, went down marginally from 46% to 45%. The findings are in line with the increasing enrolment of women in sciences in higher education, where, in fact, in many programmes,thegendergaphas already closed. As per the 202122 All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) released CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 14 UNION MINISTER for Transport and National Highways Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said a senioroppositionleaderofferedhim the prime minister’s post before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. However, he turned down the offer as it was against his conviction. The Union minister was addressing a journalism award event in Nagpur. “One senior leaderfromoppositionpartyapproached me with the offer of prime ministership. I was told if I gave the nod they would work towards my prime ministership,” Gadkari said. “I immediately rejected the offer. I categorically told that leader, I am a person who be- Nitin Gadkari lievesinideologyandconviction. I have always lived and worked onprinciples,”headded.“Imade it clear that I never harbored the ambition of becoming the PM of thecountry.Therefore,therewas no question of taking any offer. MyupbringingissuchthatIhave lived on certain principles and conviction,whicharenon-negotiable and cannot be compromised.” Although Gadkari refrained from identifying the opposition leader or sharing more details, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In Kerala, a rap song captures hearts and an obsession: ‘Let’s go play football’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR SANDIP G KOCHI, SEPTEMBER 14 A BOY with an unbuttoned shirt sits brooding on a step, his hand drawing patterns and positions on an imaginary football field. A young cyclist in a crumpled shirt and striped lungi, a towel wrapped around his head like a headband, stops and asks him: “Ummante kuttynde morentha vaadan, panthalchaan poovam (Why is mama’s boy downcast? Let’s go play football).” A pair of mud-caked football boots is tied to the cycle handle. The boy smiles and jumps onto the crossbar, and the two wobble along the rustic landscape. Like a game of football that starts on a frenetic end-to-end note, the opening lines set the pace for the genre-blending Panthalchant — a collaboration of styles and confluence of Kerala’s most popular hip-hop andrapartistsDabzee,BabyJean and Joker, and orchestrated by director-lyricist-singer Muhsin Parari, all from the footballcrazed Malappuram district. Within a week of its release, the third instalment from the album Muriginals, it crossed a millionviewsonYouTubeandtwice as many on Spotify. The song spills out of the speakers from football fields and cafes to pubs and FM stations, an extension of Malayalis’ changing music sensibilities and the proliferation of hip-hop into the state’s mainstream pop culture. The spontaneous success amuses Parari, who co-scripted Rapper Dabzee in a still from Panthalchant the stirring tale of a family tendingtoaninjuredNigeriansevens footballerinSudaniFromNigeria, among other movies. In that sense, Panthalchant was one of the simplest yet most fulfilling concepts he and his group had conceived. “Both football and music are so much ingrained in us that it was a matter of me casually floating the idea to Dabzee and Co and then setting the lyrics in little time. It’s an authentic reflection of the passion we have for the sport, conveyed through the song,” Parari says. The football field — be it the caged turf enclosures that have sprung up across the Malabar countryside or the unkempt maidans—isametaphorof their life, he says. “I take my son to the field,myfatherhadtakenme,his father had taken him. So is music, passed on from generations. Everyone who has worked for the song still plays football and is mad about the game,” he says. Over the next four minutes, the hip-hop virtuosos take you on a ride through the football heartland of Kerala, acquainting the audience with subtle cul- tural, linguistic and social textures and traditions of Malappuram, striking an emotional chord for even those unacquainted with the deeply colloquial dialects and its regional undertones. Several layers are knitted intricately and imperceptibly around the premise of football. The frames — more like a bundle of interlaced snapshots — capture football in the villages of Malabar with all its grandeur and splendour, igniting nostalgia. The shimmering moist red CONTINUED ON PAGE 2