DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE INCIDENT DURING PUBLIC HEARING Delhi CM Rekha Gupta attacked, assailant held for murder attempt Such attacks can never break my spirit, resolve to serve people: CM `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 BILLS SENT TO JOINT COMMITTEE OF PARLIAMENT Lok Sabha erupts as Govt brings Bills to sack arrested ministers Copies of Bills torn, near scuffle; Shah targets Opp Panels will recommend actionable roadmaps with measurable outcomes ANIL SASI NEW DELHI, AUGUST 20 DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, AUGUST 20 Delhi CM Rekha Gupta; the accused, Rajeshbhai Sakriya P4 SAKSHI CHAND & BRENDAN DABHI NEW DELHI, AHMEDABAD, AUGUST 20 DELHI CHIEF Minister Rekha Gupta was attacked Wednesday during a Jan Sunwai (public hearing) meeting at her Civil Lines Camp Office, adjacent to her official residence. Police said she fell to the ground headfirst. The accused, Rajeshbhai Khimjibhai Sakriya, 41, from Rajkot,Gujarat,allegedlyentered the office posing as a complainant.Thosepresentintheoffice at the time of the incident said Sakriya approached her with some papers in hand during the weekly public meeting and then attacked her around 8.30 am, barely 30 minutes after the meeting began. In Rajkot, Sakriya’s mother Bhanu Khimji Sakriya told reporters that her son was a dog lover and was upset over the Supreme Court order directing authorities in Delhi-NCR to pick up all stray dogs and put them in shelters. “He went to Delhi on Sunday... When his father asked him his whereabouts, Rajesh said he had gone to Delhi for the dogs... His mind is like that. He will hit anyone. He has hit me andhiswifeaswell.Hehasmental (issues) but is not on any medication. He got so angry upon learning about the dog issuethathealmostbrokethebed, hitting it in anger,” she said. Delhi Police sources said Sakriya’squestioningandmobile phone records revealed that he wasinUjjainforprayersatatemple before coming to Delhi. “On reaching Delhi, he saw Gupta’s posters...hewatchedareelwhere theCM istalkingaboutstraydogs. He had decided to attack her,” a senior police officer said. Rajkot police officers said Sakriya had five cases registered AMIDST STORMY scenes in Lok Sabha where ruling and Opposition MPs nearly entered into a scuffle Wednesday, Union HomeMinisterAmitShahtabled three Bills which seek to remove Central and state ministers, including the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers, who face allegations of corruption or serious offences and have been detained for at least 30 days. Followingtheruckus,theLok Sabha referred the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, the Governmentof UnionTerritories (Amendment) Bill, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill to a Joint Committee of Parliament. As soon as Shah rose to introduce the Bills, MPs of the TMC stormed the Well of the House, shouting slogans. While they were not joined by other Opposition members then, CongressMPsstoodupfromtheir CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE EDITORIAL PAGE Amit Shah, Rajnath to head panels for economy and social sector reforms Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks as Opp members tear copies of the Bills in LS. PTI REMOVINGAMINISTER,PAGE14 Opp slams Bills: Open assault on federalism, it is draconian IN PARLIAMENT JATIN ANAND NEW DELHI, AUGUST 20 A SLEW of leaders from the Opposition INDIA bloc, including Chief Ministers Mamata BanerjeeandMKStalin,accused the BJP-led NDA government of allegedly mounting a bid to undermine the country’s federal structure through the three Bills introduced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. LS PASSES BILL TO BAN ONLINE GAMES WITH MONETARY ENRICHMENT PAGE 11 ous offences and have been detained for at least 30 days, were a “desperate attempt to divert” public attention from “vote chori” allegations levelled againsttheElectionCommission (EC) and the government by Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. OtherOppositionpartiesalso called the proposed legislation an “open assault on the federal framework and parliamentary democratic system”. TWO NEW informal groups of ministers (iGoMs) have been formed by the Centre under Home Minister Amit Shah and DefenceMinisterRajnathSinghto prescribereformsintheeconomic and social sectors, respectively. Shah’s panel comprises 13 members, including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, with Minister of Railways, I&B and Electronics & IT Ashwini Vaishnaw as the convener. This group will focus on laying out the legislative and policy reformagendainthetechnology and economic sectors, including finance, industry, commerce infrastructure, logistics, resources, scienceandtechnology,andgovernance. The second 18-member grouping on social, welfare and security sectors is headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. This will examine the scope for reformsinsectorsincludingeducation, healthcare, defence, skilling, social welfare, housing, labour, public health etc. Others in this panel include Road E EXPLAINED THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES Political heftfor ● fast action THE COMPOSITION of the two panels suggests the Prime Minister is keen to reflect the criticality of pushing through these small and big decisions that hold back progress both on the social and economic front. It includes many ministers so that quick actions can be taken on recommendations. TransportandHighwaysMinister Nitin Gadkari, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, with Labour and Sports Minister MansukhMandaviyadesignated as its convener. The groups have beens set up following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day address where he pressed home the need for next-generation reforms and announced the setting up of a task force. “Current rules, laws, policies, and procedures CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Stabbed outside school ‘by senior student’, teenager PRESIDENTIAL REFERENCE HEARING Need to tap into full potential of trade and dies in Ahmedabad Can elected govt be at whims and fancies of investment ties, Jaishankar tells Russia NEW DELHI, AUGUST 20 THESUPREMECourtbenchhearing the Presidential reference asked the government Wednesdaywhetheranelectedgovernmentcanbeplacedat“thewhims and fancies of the Governor” by vesting him/her with the power to withhold a Bill forever. “But then would we not be giving total powers to the Governor to sit in appeals?… The government elected by majority will be at the whims and fancies of the Governor,” Chief Justice of India B R Gavai asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who appeared for the Centre. The bench said that to interpret that the Bill “dies” the first time the Governor withholds it Yes, ministers arrested after due process may lose moral right to govern. But the Bills are bad faith, bad law PAGE8 TheCongressallegedthatthe Bills, which seek to remove Central and state ministers, including Chief Ministers and Prime Minister, who are facing allegations of corruption or seri- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Governor, asks CJI ANANTHAKRISHNAN G DANGEROUS&WRONG “would be counterproductive to the power of the Governor and counterproductivetothelegislative process”. The five-judge Constitution bench is hearing President Droupadi Murmu’s reference on timelines fixed by a two-judge bench for the President and Governors to act on Bills sent by state legislatures. Delving into the contours of the Governor’s discretionary powers under Article 200 of the Constitution, Mehta told the bench:“Itisnotanasylumforretired politicians but has its own sanctity which was debated in the Constituent Assembly.” HesaidtheGovernor,though unelected, represents the President and is not just a “postman” to mechanically approve CONTINUEDONPAGE2 GUJARAT PART OF CRUMBLING MANDVI GATE GIVES WAY; OFFICIALS SAY TENDER TO RESTORE STRUCTURE UNDERWAY P4 2 DIE OF LIGHTNING AMID HEAVY RAIN SHUBHAJIT ROY BUSINESS AS USUAL NEW DELHI, AUGUST 20 UNDERLINING THAT they were meeting in the backdrop of a “complexgeopoliticalsituation”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov Wednesday that they should tap into the “full potentialof tradeandinvestmentties”. On a two-day visit to Moscow at a time when India faces 50 per cent tariffs from the Trump administration, including 25 per cent for importing Russian oil, Jaishankar said, “We should not get stuck on a beaten BY UNNY Jaishankar with Russia’s First Deputy PM Denis Manturov in Moscow, Wednesday. PTI INDIA RESTARTS FREE TRADE TALKS P 12 track. Doing more and doing differently should be our mantras.” HewillmeetRussianForeign Minister Sergey Lavrov Thursday. Russian officials have indicated that they will develop a “special mechanism” to deal with the current situation. Jaishankar underlined the need for “addressing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers, removing bottlenecks in logistics, promotingconnectivitythroughthe International North-South TransportCorridor,theNorthern Sea Route and the ChennaiVladivostok Corridor, effecting paymentmechanismssmoothly, timelyfinalisationandexecution of the Programme of Economic Cooperation till 2030, the early conclusion of the India-Eurasian Economic Union FTA, whose CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Poll data row: 2 FIRs in Maharashtra against CSDS’s Sanjay Kumar, ICSSR sends notice ANKITA DESHKAR, VALLABH OZARKAR & VIKAS PATHAK NAGPUR, MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, AUGUST 20 ADAYafterSanjayKumar,co-director of Lokniti, a research programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), withdrew a post relating to the Maharashtra electionsciting data “error” and apologised Had cited data ‘error’, apologised for post on the platform X, police in Nagpur and Nashik registered FIRs against him on complaints from two Tehsildars. Also Wednesday, the Indian Council of Social Science Research(ICSSR),whichoperates undertheaegisof theMinistryof Education and supports the CSDS,issuedashowcausenotice to the CSDS, asking it to explain withinsevendayswhyitsgrantin-aid should not be withdrawn. The ICSSR flagged what it called multiple “irregularities”, including “manipulation” of data and sharing it with the media to malignthereputationof theElection Commission of India. On August 17, Kumar put out a post stating that Ramtek and Devlali in Maharashtra had shown a 36-38% decrease in the number of voters between the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in Maharashtra. On Tuesday, he apologised for the post. “I sincerely apologize for the tweets posted regarding Maharashtra elections. Error occurred while comparing data of 2024 LS and 2024AS.ThedatainrowwasmisreadbyourDatateam.Thetweet CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD, AUGUST 20 APROTESTeruptedataschoolin Ahmedabad on Wednesday morning, hours after a Class 10 student succumbed to a stabbing wound he suffered outside the school’s main gate on Tuesday. The deceased was allegedly stabbed by a Class 8 student of the same school. The protest intensified with members of the VHP and BajrangDaljoiningtheprotestat the school as the accused minor and the deceased were from different communities. Protestersassaultedteachers and the principal and damaged the school building and its property, before police could bring the situation under control. The situation subsided by about2pmafterseniorpoliceofficials and local politicians held talks with the protesters. JCP (Crime) Sharad Singhal toldThe Indian Express, “Theprotesters demanded a Crime Branch investigation, and the Commissioner has handed the case to the Crime Branch.” “We are checking CCTV footage of the crime scene to check whether there has been destruction of evidence. While the primary accused juvenile wasplacedunderdetentionyesterday, another juvenile is being questioned in this matter,” Singhal said. The incident took place at 12:30 pm on Tuesday when the 15-year-old came out of the school. The 16-year-old accused approached him and allegedly stabbed him in the stomach. The victim was taken to a private hospital where he died around 3 am on Wednesday. The attack was allegedly a resultof an altercation between the students a week ago. Speaking on the investigation, DCP (Crime) Ajit Rajian told TheIndianExpress,“Wearequestioning the accused juvenile and another juvenilesuspectedtobe with him at the time of murder. We are also checking whether others were also involved in this case.” At about 2 pm Wednesday, the family took out a procession with the body of the deceased studentandplaceditoutsidethe school gates. Later, the family completed the final rites of the deceased student around 4 pm. Speakingtothemediaearlier in the day, the father of the deceased teen said, "I'm not aware of any previous altercation. If there was one, my son would have told me about it. I request the Gujarat police and government to support us and give us justice." School gets notice District Education Officer (city) Rohit Chaudhary on Wednesday served a notice on the school management, seeking explanation. “The school CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Unharmed gate, no soot inside safe: How Surat diamond heist was cracked PAGE 1 ANCHOR KAMAL SAIYED SURAT, AUGUST 20 THE MAIN gate of the premises gave the first clue. The iron gates had not suffered any damage, hinting that the entry was friendly.Then,therewasthesafe from which diamonds worth several crores were allegedly stolen. Though the door of the safeshowedthatagascutterwas used to break it open, the inside area was squeaky clean without any soot marks or damage to the goods stored. Police were convinced that theallegeddiamondheistworth over Rs 25 crore from a Surat firm's building over the extended Independence Day weekend was an insider's job. This was when they decided to question the owner of DK Sons, Devendra Chaudhary, more thoroughly following which it came to light that the alleged theftwasplannedbyhimtogain the insurance amount of Rs 20 crore, said police. While Chaudhary (48), his sonIshan(22),anddriverVikash Bishnoi were held on Tuesday, another accomplice, Ramjivan Bishnoi (36), was arrested on Wednesday. Both Ramjivan and Vikasharenativesof Barmerdistrict in Rajasthan. TalkingtoTheIndianExpress, Kapodara Police Inspector M B Asura said, “On reaching the spot, we checked the main iron gate and found there was no forceful entry. If the main gate lock was broken, there would havebeenmarks.Itwasclearthe miscreantsopenedthegatewith keys and entered the diamond factory.Thefourth-floormainoffice door (where the metal safe was kept) was found open, and there were no marks of forceful Officials inspect the safe found broken on the fourth-floor of the premises. File entry here as well... The miscreants did not enter any of the lower floors of the building.” On the condition of the safe, he said, “Had a gas flame been used to make a hole in the metal safe before it was opened, black carbon should have reached deep inside its walls. But when we checked the safe, we found the inside layer quite clean. This showed that the safe door was opened first and then a hole was made.” There were a number of other factors that did not quite add up. “The fire safety alarm on this floor was not functioning. The complainant also claimed that he found diamonds worth Rs 19 lakh inside the safe. Why would a thief leave them behind, as claimed by the owner?” said the inspector. Police sent the contents of the safe for testing and found that all that they contained were broken glass pieces, lab-grown diamonds, and waste particles. “The owner's claim of diamonds worth Rs 19 lakh also turned out to be false. Besides, the accused couldnotpresentthestockof the diamonds worth Rs 32.53 crore as claimed. All these things had led us to suspect the complainant,” sais Asura. Police said the accused had let go of his security guard last month with the intention to make the police suspect him. “He had hatched this entire conspiracy to get the claim insurance. He had bought insurancefromaprivatecompany.His monthly premium was likely due on August 22. On August 12, he made an advance premium payment of around Rs 3.82 lakh to the insurance company, citing the upcoming holidays and an impending tour. He had made this advance payment to get full maturity,” said Asura. CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Ahmedabad