DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `6.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ‘ARC OF HISTORY IS BENDING NOW’ India’s rise is a stabilising force, now dominance of hegemon contested: FM ‘We can’t afford to be spectators... we must be active participants shaping outcomes... preserving autonomy’ Wangchuk’s wife moves top court against his arrest under NSA Wangchuk is accused of instigating Ladakh mob EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 3 GITANJALI ANGMO, the wife of activist Sonam Waghchuk, has movedaHabeasCorpuspetition before the Supreme Court, challengingherhusband’sarrest under the National Security Act (NSA) for allegedly playing a role ininstigatingtheviolentprotests in Ladakh on September 24, which led to four deaths in police firing. According to the court’s officialwebsite,Angmofiledherpetition on Thursday evening. The court is currently on Dussehra vacation and will reopen on October 6 when Angmo's lawyers are likely to request for an urgent hearing. Meanwhile, in a post on X, Angmowrote:“Ihavesoughtrelief from the Supreme Court of India through a Habeas Corpus petition against Wangchuk's detention. It is one week today. Still I have no information about Sonam Wangchuk's health, the condition he is in nor the grounds of detention.” Wangchuk was detained on September26underNSA,which empowers governments to act pre-emptively against individuals seen as a threat to public CONTINUEDONPAGE2 SIDDHARTH UPASANI & AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 3 Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with economist and former Rajya Sabha MP N K Singh at the Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi on Friday. ANI DAMINI NATH NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 3 LIZ MATHEW & ARUN JANARDHANAN NEW DELHI, CHENNAI, OCTOBER 3 THEBJPisexploringthepossibility of a political realignment following the stampede at a rally of film star-turned-politician Vijay in Karur, leaving 41 dead. The party has laid the blame for the incident on the state government,ledbytheDMK,accusing officials of negligence — notably leaving Vijay out of its statements. During his rallies, Vijay, who has floated the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), has been attacking both the DMK and BJP. However,withVijayonthebackfoot after the stampede, the BJP believes it could open a line to At the site of the stampede in Karur, Tuesday. ANI ‘LEADER VANISHED, NO REMORSE’: HC SLAMS VIJAY PARTY PAGE 12 the mega star, whose popularity is evident at the huge meetings he has been holding. “Backroom channels have been opened,” a senior BJP CONTINUEDONPAGE2 PRITISH RAJ NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 3 CONTINUEDONPAGE2 CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Vijay under pressure IIAS IN BRUSSELS after stampede, BJP At multilateral body, India pushes for new global governance index sees opportunity in After its critique of indices on freedom, democracy, governance TN, opens line to him Para games in Delhi: Stray dogs bite Kenya, Japan coaches at Nehru stadium LEAVING THE organisers perplexed, a Kenyan men's coach and a Japanese women's assistant coach, who are part of the 12th World Para Athletics Championships in the capital, were bitten by stray dogs at the warm-up track of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Friday morning, officials said. CALLING India’s rise as a stabilising force on the global stage as “neither accidental nor transient”, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in an apparent reference to the US, said Friday that the “absolute dominance once enjoyed by a hegemon is now contested.” Speaking at the Kautilya EconomicConclave,organisedby the Ministry of Finance and the Institute of Economic Growth, the Finance Minister said that sanctions,tariffsanddecoupling strategies are testing alliances thatonceappearedsolidandare creating new coalitions. These dynamics,shesaid,highlightvulnerabilityandresilienceforIndia and the choices the country makes will determine “whether resiliencebecomesafoundation for leadership or merely a buffer against uncertainty”. Framingtoday’schallengeasa Dog catchers at the JLN Stadium, the venue of the World Para Athletics Championships. Express OVERTHEpastfewyears,several global indices have portrayed India in a negative light and the government has questioned their methodology. Now, as the current president of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), India has proposed a new international governance index, The Indian Express has learnt. India, which won the presidency of the Brussels-based IIAS forthefirsttimeinJunethisyear, has pitched for research on establishing this index. As India completed 100 days of its threeyear presidency, IIAS released OBC face Vishwakarma to be BJP’s Gujarat chief Friday alistof achievementsthat includedadvancingthisresearch agenda through initiatives such as the international governance index. When reached for comment, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) secretary and IIAS president V Srinivas said: CONTINUEDONPAGE2 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY PARIMAL A DABHI IAF chief details Pak losses: F-16s, JF-17s among aircraft taken out on ground, in air Manohar Kahaniyan, he says on Pak claims about downing Indian aircraft AMRITA NAYAK DUTTA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 3 IN FIRST public remarks detailing Pakistani losses during the hostilities that followed Operation Sindoor, Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh said Friday that Indian strikes at three separate locations inside Pakistan resulted in damage to a C-130 aircraft, an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) aircraft and “four to five fighter aircraft, most likely F-16s” parked in hangars. Additionally, an AEW&C aircraft or a Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft, as well as five advanced fighters of the F-16 GOVT & POLITICS ARMY CHIEF WARNS PAK: INDIA WILL NOT SHOW RESTRAINT NEXT TIME PAGE 7 and JF-17 class, were taken out in long-range strikes launched by the IAF, he said. This is the first confirmation of the type of Pakistani aircraft CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Violent protests sweep PoK, India says Pak oppression the cause GANDHINAGAR, OCTOBER 3 PRIME MINISTER Narendra ModihadchosenNikol,asuburb on the eastern side of Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad, to address a rally on August 25, marking 10 years of the Patidar quota agitation. A little over a month later, the BJP has picked Jagdish Vishwakarma, its MLA from Nikol – an area dominated by Patidars and one of the sites of violent protests during the 2015 quota agitation – as its new Gujarat chief. Vishwakarma, 52, who is a Minister of State holding multiple portfolios in the Bhupendra Patel government, and is seen as very close to senior BJP leader Amit Shah, was the only one to file his nomination for the post by the end of deadline Friday. He will be formally announced as the new state chief on Saturday, succeeding C R Patil, who had a Air Chief Marshal A P Singh addresses the media in New Delhi on Friday, ahead of IAF Day on October 8. PTI Vishwakarma (R) filing his nomination on Friday. Express very successful tenure lasting over five years (more than two years of that on extension). Vishwakarma,whoalsogoes by ‘Jagdish Panchal’, is only the second OBC leader to become Gujarat BJP chief, after Kashiram Rana. He will also be the first party leader from Ahmedabad CONTINUEDONPAGE2 RELATED REPORT PAGE 4 THE WORLD TRUMP ULTIMATUM TO HAMAS: ACCEPT DEAL BY SUNDAY MUNICH AIRPORT DISRUPTED BY DRONES PAGE 15 SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 3 IN ITS first official statement on the wave of protests in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir, the Indian government said Friday that the “brutalities by Pakistani forces on innocent civilians” is a consequenceof Pakistan’s“oppressive approach”. The government also underlined that the territories are under “forcible and illegal occupation” of Pakistan. At least 10 people have been killed in five days of violent protests since Monday in PoK, and Pakistan Prime Minister ShehbazSharif hassetupacommittee of senior officials and ministers to resolve the crisis. Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “We have seen reports on protests in several areas of Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir,includingbrutalitiesby Pakistani forces on innocent civilians.” “We believe that it is a naturalconsequenceof Pakistan’soppressive approach and its systemic plundering of resources CONTINUEDONPAGE2 MSU mourns artist who died of electrocution while working in studio PAGE 1 ANCHOR ADITI RAJA VADODARA, OCTOBER 3 THE FACULTY of Fine Arts at the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara reopened Friday morning under a pall of gloom, mourningthelossof 22-year-old Kajal Chaudhary, a Masters student of painting who had died, allegedly of electrocution, while working on a project in the studio on the campus on Monday afternoon. Atthememorialmeetheldin the faculty auditorium, friends and teachers remained inconsolable – and shocked. It was an ordinary Monday afternoon when Chaudhary set outtode-starchhercanvasinthe studiousingatechniqueshehad recently learnt. Ambika Patel, Dean of the Faculty, told The Indian Express, “It was raining that day and she was working close to the terrace area of the studio where she had pulled out an extension board for an electric plug and connected the heating coil to destarchthecanvas...Usually,the students soak the canvas overnight in water but it is possible that she wanted to hasten theprocess.Shehadrecentlyvisited New Delhi and learnt a new processof dyeingthecanvasand it is likely that she was working on one of her new projects accordingly... She had brought the heating coil on her own...” Two other students, working in the same space, saw Chaudhary “falling to the ground” after hearing a sound, says Patel. “They alerted the faculty but by the time she was rushed to the Narhari hospital Kajal Chaudhary was a Masters student of painting. (about 1 kilometre away) in the Fatehgunjarea,shewasdeclared dead on arrival...” Patel added. Famed for its traditional garba, the faculty called off the celebration that evening and cancelled all other Navratri-related events, including the Dussehra puja. In a social media post, the faculty had announced that it would remain closed on October 1. With October 2 being a non-working day on account of Gandhi Jayanti, the faculty resumed work on Friday. ‘Hadalotofdedication towardsherart' Chaudhary, who hailed from Valsad, had completed her fouryearundergraduatecoursefrom MSU before enrolling in the same varsity for her Masters. An Accidental Death report was lodged at the Sayajigunj Police Station after her demise. Her coursemate tells The Indian Express, “Kajal had a lot of dedication towards her art. She was a quiet observer and lovedstillnessinframesasmuch as she loved connecting with people. She spoke about permanence in a natural pause as well as quiet contemplation of life's mundane chores. She went by theprofilenameof 'thinlines'on Instagrambecausedepictingthe balanceorimbalancewashervisual subject... Just about 10 days before this incident, we had clicked pictures in the faculty with our entire batch. She was at the center, surrounded by all of us... We did not imagine it was going to be our last.” Says Dean Patel, “She was a very talented artist, and a very good child... She had won four awards and had also established connections with other artists... It has been unfortunate and painful to lose a bright student and artist like her. I remember talking to her casually about her work just a couple of weeks back... and then knowing that she is not around is difficult to accept.” Chaudhary's works manifested a fragile blend of intimate and distant. Through overlapping figures on deeply pigmented canvas, layering and quiet repetitions, she created art that brought out the invisible emotionalexchangethatdefines humanrelationships—presence and absence, connection and solitude as well as the hazy boundary of inner sense CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Ahmedabad