The Editorial Page: In Bangladesh, a new political moment — and a fragile equilibrium 12 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAgE AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 26 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 happening today Seva Teerth, the new PMO lUNION MoS fOR SCIENCE and Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh will inaugurate CSIR’s RISE conference, aimed at providing a common platform for startups, MSMEs, academic and research institutions. Authority will host the annual three-day spring festival 'Palaash Mahotsav 2026'. The celebrations will, for the first time, be organised at four locations including Ashoka Garden, Lala Hardayal Park, Smriti Van and Baansera. THE BIg PIcTURE SEOUL mAtES: the Korean wave PAgE 16 business as Usual By EP UNNY ExPrEss IN DHAKA lTHE MUCH-DElAYED INDIAN TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm Landslide returns BNP to power, Rahman to be PM Jamaat emerges as second largest party, main Opposition lDElHI DEVElOPMENT Super League kick-starts at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata with a match between defending champions Mohun Bagan and Kerala Blasters PARTY SECURES TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY IN BANGlADESH PARlIAMENT Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Seva Teerth complex, located on Dara Shikoh Road, Friday. PTI New complex and Kartavya Bhavan built to fulfil aspirations of India: PM Harikishan Sharma New Delhi, February 13 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi on Friday shifted to his new office at Seva Teerth complexfromthecolonial-eraSouth Block building on Raisina Hill, where the PMO was located since Independence. Addressinganeventafterinaugurating the Seva Teerth, as well as two Central Secretariat buildings, called Kartavya Bhavan 1 and 2, the PM said buildings in the North and South Block were “built as symbols of theBritishEmpireandtheirpurpose was to keep India chained in slavery for centuries”. “The new complexes like Seva Teerth and Kartavya Bhavan have been built to fulfil the aspirations of India and its people,”hesaid.“Thedecisions made here will not reflect the thinking of any Maharaja (monarch) but will serve as the foundation for advancing the aspirations of 1.4 billion citizens. With this sacred spirit, today I am dedicating this Seva Teerth and Kartavya Bhavan to the people of India.” Earlier, in a post on X, the PM said: “May Seva Teerth always stand as a radiant symbol of duty, compassion, commitment to the principle of India First… May it inspire generations to walk the path of selfless service and tireless dedication to the welfare of all.” The Executive Enclave complex or Seva Teerth, on Dara Shikoh Road (formerly Dalhousie Road), also houses »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Shubhajit Roy February 13 SIGNALLING THE start of a new chapter in the country’s history, the centre-right Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, returned to power Friday after nearly two decades, securing a landslide victory in the first nationalelectionssincetheAugust 2024 ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The Election Commission announced that the BNP had won 209 seats in the 300-seat Bangladesh parliament. With a commanding twothirds majority, the BNP will be able to form the government and 60-year-old Rahman, who is tipped to be the Prime Minister, will not need the support »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Bangladesh Nationalist Party chief Tarique Rahman in Dhaka, Friday. PTI RELATED REPORTS, PAGE 18 Modi first to reach out to Rahman, but Delhi-Dhaka ties not so simple Shubhajit Roy Dhaka, February 13 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi became the first leader to call and greet BNP chief Tarique Rahman Friday after it became clear that his centreright party had secured a twothirds majority in elections to the Bangladesh parliament, one of the most watched elections in South Asia in recent Pannun assassination plot: Accused Nikhil Gupta pleads guilty in Manhattan court New Delhi, February 13 INDIAN NATIONAL Nikhil Gupta, charged with the 2023 assassinationplotagainstKhalistani separatist Gurpatwant SinghPannuninNewYork,has pleaded guilty in a United States court, news agency Reuters reported Friday. Gupta pleaded guilty to three criminal charges, the report stated, quoting a spokespersonfortheUSAttorney’sOffice in Manhattan. The 54-year-old pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-forhire and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carry a maximum combined sentence of 40 years in prison, the spokesperson said, adding that Gupta entered his plea beforeUSMagistrateJudgeSarah Netburn in the Manhattan federal court. Gupta has been jailed in Brooklyn since his June 2024 extradition to the US from the Czech Republic, where he had been arrested a year earlier. He hadpleadednotguiltyimmediately after his extradition. The prosecutorshadaccusedhimof plotting, along with an individual identified as an Indian government official, to kill Pannun, a US resident and dual US-Canadian citizen. On several occasions after the case came to light, New Delhi dissociated itself from any plot against Pannun, saying it was against government policy.TheMinistryofExternal Affairs (MEA) strongly dismissed allegations regarding the assassination plot, calling the allegations “unwarranted and unsubstantiated”. In November 2023, an indictmentfiledbytheUSJustice Department was unsealed, allegingthataformerIndiangovernment employee, referred to as “CC-1,” enlisted Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, to recruit a hitman to assassinate PannuninNewYork.However, US authorities foiled the plot before it could be executed. In response to the case, Indiasetupahigh-levelinquiry committee to address security concerns raised by the US. The MEAreiteratedIndia’scommitment to taking such matters »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 apart from irritants that include water-sharing, border, connectivity and illegals. Modi dialled Rahman even before the official results were announcedbytheElection Commission of Bangladesh. The first post by Modi came at 9.32 am Bangladesh time (9.02 am IST). In posts in E. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Journalist Ravi Nair’s sentence suspended for a month in criminal defamation case Express News Service Ahmedabad, February 13 Has been jailed in Brooklyn since his extradition to US from Czech Republic Divya A years. Modi’s outreach assumes significance given the acrimony and strain in ties between Delhi and Dhaka after the dramatic August 2024 ousterofPrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina, one of India’s closest partners in the neighbourhood. Her presence inIndiawillframeadiplomatic challengeforthetwocountries, Conversation with Pradhan Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan with Vandita Mishra, National Opinion Editor, The Indian Express, at the Express Adda in New Delhi on Friday. RENUKA PURI ThE wOrlD PAgE 26 Uday Kotak is GIFT City chairman Express News Service Ahmedabad, February 13 tRUmP WARNS IRAN: fAILURE tO StRIKE dEAL WILL bE tRAUmAtIc ‘REPAIR & REVIVE’ tRANS-AtLANtIc tIES: gERmANy URgES US, EUROPE THEGUJARATgovernmenton FridayappointedKotakMahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak as Chairman of the Gujarat InternationalFinance-Tec(GIFT) City, Gandhinagar. Kotak replaces Hasmukh Adhia, a formerbureaucrat, ex-unionfinance secretary and principal adviser to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. Anordertothiseffectwasissued by the Urban Development and Urban Housing department of the Gujarat government on Friday afternoon. Kotak Mahindra Bank founder Uday Kotak Reacting to the development,AdhiadescribedKotakas a “Much better leader to lead GIFT City”. Sources in the government told The Indian Express, “Someone from the industry, like Kotak, might work better for the job.” Adhia was appointed as non-executive chairman of the GIFT City, a greenfield smart city and brainchild of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on June 19, 2023. While Friday's order states that the “terms and conditions of the appointment will be decidedlateron”,itdoesnotmention if Kotak's post will be executiveornon-executive,unlike in the case of Adhia. In July last year, the Gujarat governmentappointedGujarat cadre IAS officer Sanjay Kaul as GIFT City MD and CEO. A MAGISTERIAL court in Mansa,Gandhinagar,onFriday suspended the February 10 sentence awarded to journalist RaviNairinacriminaldefamation case and also granted him bail.Now,Naircanmoveanappeal against the sentence before the Sessions court within a month. Nair moved an application in this regard before the court on Friday and the same was allowed. Speaking to The Indian Express, Nair's lawyer Pratik Rupala said, “Today, we had moved an application to suspendtheconvictiontomovean appeal and it was allowed by the court. The conviction stands suspended for a period of one month (till March 11). The court has also granted bail (to Nair). We will move the appeal within one month's limit.” A magisterial court in Mansa of Gandhinagar district had, on February 10, convicted Nair of criminal defamation on the basis of a complaint filed by Adani EnterprisesLtd.Theflagshipcompany of the Adani Group had filed a criminal defamation case against Nair over a series of tweets between October 2020 and July 2021 and articles published on a website. The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, Mansa, Damini Dixit, had convicted Nair of criminal defamation and sentenced him to one year's simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000. GujArAT NEARLy 2 mONtHS AftER ‘mOb AttAcK’ ON StAtE gOVERNmENt OffIcIALS IN bANASKANtHA, 3 ARREStEd PAgE 4 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l FOR NEARLY THREE DECADES, THE ANIMAL MOVED THROUGH THE FORESTS ALONG THE SIGUR RIVER AND THE MUDUMALAI TIGER RESERVE Rivaldo, the ‘friendly’ wild tusker who chose freedom over captivity, dies at 45 Arun Janardhanan imity to humans along the Sigur river corridor, Rivaldo largely remained within its RIVALDO, THE unusually familiarlandscapenearBokkagentle wild elephant who puram and Vazhaithottam, reroamedtheVazhaithottamand turning there even after MavanallahforestsoftheMudu- months of disappearance. malai Tiger Reserve One man knew PAGE 1 and became a symthe tusker better bol of the fraught dethan most. In a bate between captivphoto capturing ityandfreedominTamilNadu’s their camaraderie, the man Nilgiris, died on Friday morn- held out a hand, not in coming. It was around 45. mand but in conversation, beRewilded in June 2021 after neath a tiled roof at Cheetal three months in captivity and Walk—hisresidenceintheNillong known for its calm prox- giris. The man was late Mark Chennai, February 13 anchor Davidar, a conservationist. Rivaldo was not Brazilian, nor a football star. But like the midfielder it was named after, the elephant inspired fierce loyalty. For nearly three decades, Rivaldo moved through the forests along the Sigur river and the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, sometimes close enough to homes that people forgot it waswild,sometimesvanishing into the teak and bamboo for months at a time. Its death on Friday, according to local forest guards who spoke to The Indian Express, was after a final, Rivaldo and conservationist Mark Davidar at Cheetal Walk in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. COURTESY: N A NASEER frail return to the landscape that had shaped its life. “He was released in 2021; he got a bit frightened of people after that captivity episode. He went back to the wild,” said Priya Davidar, an ecologist, former professor at Pondicherry University, and Mark’s sister. “He was really a gentle, intelligent elephant. People used to throw things at him, but he still retained his gentleness. In 2020, a group lobbied for his captivity, and there was a successful counter campaign,” she Ahmedabad recalled on Friday afternoon. Rivaldo’s story is inseparable from the Davidars — a family synonymous with conservation in the Nilgiris. Mark, who died in 2013 at 56, had lived for a quarter century in Masinagudi, running the Sigur Nature Trust to protect elephant corridors. His home, Cheetal Walk, became something of a pilgrimage site. Wild elephants, drawn by salt, water and occasionally food left behind,wanderedinandoutofits clearing. Mark named the young male tuskers after his fa- vourite Brazilian footballers: Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, Kaka, Cafu,andRivaldo.“Manymore Brazilians are still roaming around here,” Priya said. Rivaldo lost a sizable portionofitstrunkin2013,likelyto poachers. Mark ensured it was treated. Later, in 2015, when it was wounded again by a wild tusker, forest department teams intervened once more. The elephant became known for its unusual ease around humans and would linger near Cheetal Walk, waiting. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2