DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA,PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 TRUMP DECLARED CEASEFIRE THIS DAY, 1975 Fragile truce in A 4 am call, colleagues in jail, West Asia: Iran 21-month nightmare — and and Israel trade an enduring reminder strikes, charges Thegovtpushed,andanewsroompushedback.I&BMinisterVCShuklawanted totakecontrolof The Indian Express.ButfounderRamnathGoenkafoughtback Fighting so long they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing: US President JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING & MELANIE LIDMAN PROOF OF PARENTS D.O.B MUST FOR SOME Starting with Bihar, fresh electoral rolls: Proof of birth date for those not in 2003 list AFRAGILEceasefirebetweenIran and Israel appeared to hold Tuesday after initially faltering, and US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with both sides,sayingtheyhavefought“for so long and so hard” that they don't know what they are doing. IsraelhadearlieraccusedIran of launching missiles into its airspace after the truce was supposed to take effect, and the Israeli finance minister vowed that “Tehran will tremble”. The Iranian military denied firing on Israel, state media reported, but explosions boomed and sirens sounded across northern Israel in the morning; an Israeli militaryofficialsaidtwoIranianmissiles were intercepted. (Reuters adds: Two witnesses reached by telephone in the Iranian capital said they US President Trump at the White House Tuesday. AP heard two loud blasts. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office acknowledged that Israel had bombed a radar site near Tehran. It said Israel had decided to refrain from further attacks following a call between Netanyahu and Trump, but did not explicitly say whether the strikeontheradarsitetookplace before or after they spoke. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FULL COVERAGE PAGE 15 People board a C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force, which launched evacuation missions from Jordan and Egypt to extricate Indians and citizens of friendly countries. PTI ‘Trapped between fear of war, hope that it will end dictatorship’ SPECIAL TO THE EXPRESS Mohsen Makhmalbaf AS AN Iranian filmmaker, I have always tried to be a voice for peace. In my films, I have expressed my firm opposition to war. Wars come to an end, but the innocent children who were killed will never return to life. They will never have the chance to participate in the celebration of peace. But war is not the only enemy of freedom. I always stood against dictatorship as strongly asIopposedwar.Thefreedomof human beings — regardless of geography, religion, or ethnicity —hasalways beenacentralconcern for me as an artist. Unfortunately, the people of Iran today are living under the crushing weight of two simultaneous pressures: on one hand, the escalating threat of war between Israel and Iran; on the other, the ongoing, systematic repression by the Islamic Republic’s authoritarian regime. This situation has placed the Iranian people in a difficult and deeply complex position. ManyIranians fearthat awar wouldbringmassivedestruction to their country and result in the deathof countlessinnocentcivilians. Yet, at the same time, a part of society — despite their anxiety — holds a fragile hope that this crisis might finally lead to the downfall of a regime that has, for more than 40 years, stripped people of their fundamental freedom, especially women, and dragged Iran into The blank editorial in The Indian Express after the Proclamation THEEMERGENCY 50YEARSON Itsshadow—andlight AN EXPRESS SERIES COOMI KAPOOR NEW DELHI, JUNE 24 I NEVER kept a diary during the Emergency, though our editor KuldipNayaradvisedreportersto make daily notes for posterity, evenifthecensorswouldnotpermit us to write of the travesty of democracy we were witnessing firsthand.Butsomeeventsareso indeliblyetchedinyourmemory, that you can recall them half a centurylaterwithgreatprecision without the help of notes. On June 26, around 4 am, I was woken by a phone call from my sister Roxna informing me that Jayaprakash Narayan, known universally as JP, and many other Opposition leaders had been arrested. Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh, who had managed to escape thanks to a tip-off, had alerted Roxna’s husband Subramanian Swamy to leave the house. My husband Virendra Kapoor, also a journalist, rushed to the UNI news agencyofficenextdoortogetthe latest information and the names of those arrested. Hours later, Roxna rang again to tell me CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Express Archive Indira Gandhi addressing the nation from the Doordarshan studio during the Emergency Durga, dictator, democrat. How the 3 veins ran parallel in Indira Her instinct was to ‘choose order above democracy’ in situations that spelt instability. In 1959, she persuaded Nehru to dismiss the Kerala govt on similar grounds NEERJA CHOWDHURY NEW DELHI, JUNE 24 FIFTYYEARSaftertheEmergency, as fresh material and new books throwmorelightonadarkchapter in India’s history, it is still tantalising how Indira Gandhi, the central character around whom the events of the 1970s revolved, could be a “Durga” in 1971, a dictatorin1975—andevenasadictator,callforelectionsin1977,displayingademocraticstreakinher —allwithinatimespanoffive-six years. Mrs Gandhi’s opponent Atal BihariVajpayeehadhailedheras “Durga” after she helped split Pakistan to create Bangladesh, changing geo-political realities. PAGE 8 THE EDITORIAL PAGE WHEN WE REMEMBER 1975 Suhas Palshikar PAGE 9 THE IDEAS PAGE THE NEW THREATS TO DEMOCRACY John Keane PAGE 13 THE RESISTANCE How a semi-retired Jayaprakash Narayan stirred student protests into a storm PAGE 14 EXPLAINED EMERGENCY & ITS LESSONS CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Express Archive Jayaprakash Narayan’s call for Sampoorna Kranti united the Opposition in the run-up to the Proclamation of Emergency In a preemptive move, she signed a Treaty of Friendship withthethenSovietUnion(now Russia), to counter the new Pakistan-China-America axis CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BOOK BY PM TO BE RELEASED TODAY Shah: Must keep alive Emergency memories, challenge to democracy VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, JUNE 24 TARGETING THE Congress and its allies for “raising questions about democracy and the Constitution”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, speaking in New Delhi Tuesday on the eve of 50 years of the imposition of Emergency, said it is necessary thatmemoriesof theEmergency do not fade away, so that the youth are able to recall this challenge to democracy. He said a book by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the theme would be released Home Minister Amit Shah at a programme organised on the eve of 50th anniversary of the Emergency, in New Delhi, Tuesday. PTI Wednesday. Recalling that 1.1 lakhpeople were imprisoned during the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, JUNE 24 PAVING THE way for a nationwide exercise, the Election Commission announced Tuesdaya“specialintensiverevision” of the electoral roll in pollbound Bihar, where all existing electors who were not on the rolls in 2003 will have to again provide documentation proving their eligibility. The enumeration form will require those electors born beforeJuly1,1987toprovideadocument establishing date and/or place of birth. Apart from that, for those born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004, a date of birth and/or place proof of the mother or father will be required and for those born after December 2, 2004, date of birth proof and/or place of both parents will be needed. These categories, EC sources said, have been devised in line with the Citizenship Act, 1955. In its order issued Tuesday, theECsaiditwasempoweredby theRepresentationof thePeople E E X P L A I NE D DUBAI, JUNE 24 Toensure integrity ● of rolls THE EC move to revise the electoral rolls in Bihar, where Assembly polls are due later this year, comes at a time when the Opposition, especially the Congress, has been raising questions about the purity of the electoral rolls in some states. The revision, the EC says, will ensure transparency and the integrity of electoral rolls. GOVT & POLITICS EC INVITES RAHUL TO DISCUSS ‘ISSUES’ LINKED TO POLLSIN MAHARASHTRA P10 Act, 1950 to direct a special intensive revision of the electoral CONTINUED ON P 12 After delays, Axiom-4 with India’s Shukla set for launch today ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, JUNE 24 AFTER MULTIPLE delays, the Axiom-4 mission is now slated for launch Wednesday, according to US space agency NASA. CarryingIndia’sShubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts, the mission is scheduled to take off from Kennedy Space Centre's Complex 39A around noonIST.Aftera28-hourjourney, thespacecraftisexpectedtodock with the International Space Station (ISS) at around 4:30 pm (IST) Thursday. The astronauts are slated to spend around 14 days on the ISS. The announcement of the new launch slot came Tuesday morning, just a day before the mission that was previously scheduled for June 22. The mission has been delayed several times since its ini- Shubhanshu Shukla with the rest of the crew. X/ SpaceX tial schedule of May 29 due to various reasons, ranging from problems in the launch vehicle and changes in pressure on ISS’ Zvezda module. The leak in Zvezdawasfirstdetectedin2019 and space agencies have been workingforyearstofixit.Repairs were carried out ahead of the Axiom-4 mission. “Because of the space station’s interconnected and interdependentsystems,NASAwants CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Echoes of farewell: Communities come together to pay tribute to Air India crash victims PAGE 1 ANCHOR RITU SHARMA & ADITI RAJA AHMEDABAD,VADODARA JUNE 24 AS THE identification and handover process for victims of the June 12 Air India crash nears completion, communities in Gujarat are coming together to hold besnas or prayer meets to collectively expresstheirgrief.In keeping with the high demand, several organisations are going out of their way to offer spaces for such gatherings. Of the total 256 bodies handed out so far, including those who died on the ground, the highest, 73, are from Ahmedabad followed by 24 from Vadodara. In Ahmedabad, Karnavati Club’s Golden Glory hall has never been let out for a besna. However, an exception was made for the family of Pramukh Nanda, founder of Cargo Motors group, who died in the crash with his wife, Neha and younger son Prayash. The family was on their way to London for the convocation of their elder son Pratham. On Monday evening, four wheelers parked on whatever space available on the service roads, main road as others scrambled to find a parking spot apart from the valet parking facility offered by the organisers on the busy SarkhejGandhinagar highway while two wheelers parked in queues asmournersreachedtheGolden Glory hall for the prayer meet of Nanda family, who were among the 241, who died in the plane crash. The SindhuBhawan,a venue run by the Sindhi community, has hosted multiple besnas in a People gather for the Nanda family condolence meeting at Karnavati Club’s Golden Glory hall, in Ahmedabad. Ritu Sharma single day, with up to three to four condolence meets for Air India crash victims taking place across its ground and first-floor halls. “Though the families of the deceased have booked in advance, the dates kept changing asandwhentherewasnewsand confirmationonDNAsamplereports and handing over of the bodies.Twofamilieshadbooked (the hall) for June 16, they later changed the date to 17 and finally to June 19 when they received the bodies,” Sindhu Bhawan manager Kishan Pariyani told The Indian Express. June 19 saw a huge crowd at the Sindhu Bhawan where the prayer meet for Sanjana Saurin Palkhiwala, 26, who died in the crash, was held on the ground floor and at the same time the prayer meet for the three members of the Soni family was held on the first floor. Ahmedabadbased entrepreneur Trupti Soni lost her brother, his wife and her elder brother’s wife in the crash. Earlier on the morning of June 17, even as it was pouring outside, the same hall was swarmed with relatives, friends and employees and staff members for the condolence meet for Lubi Pumps founder Subhaschandra Amin and his wife Achala. There was a demand for three condolence meets on the same date — June 23 — at the Golden Glory Hall of Karnavati Club which has a maximum seating capacity of 1,000 people, shared the co-ordinator of the hall for bookings. The banquet hall is generally not rented out for a besna, but the club managers made an exception for the Nanda family. “We do not rent out the banquet hall for besna but in this case, we allowed it. The hall was finally booked by the Nanda CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad