The editorial Page: Anna Hazare to Sonam Wangchuk, a tale of two fasts — and a democracy 10 TUeSDAy, JUly 21, 2026 JournAliSm of CourAge lucKNow, lAte cIty, 18 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 AS MONSOON SESSION bEGINS, PROTESTS ON STREETS OUTSIDE fIND EChO IN bOTh hOUSES Of PARLIAMENT Protesters storm heart of Delhi, police use lathis and tear gas to stop march 118personnel injured,70 protesters detained,says DelhiPolice CJP submits demands to Centre; protest will continue, say Wangchuk, Dipke Pragynesh, Sakshi Chand, Devansh Mittal, Drishti Jain, Alok Singh, Tabshir Shams & Nirbhay Thakur New Delhi, July 20 tenS Of thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took over the heart of lutyens’s Delhi on Monday, breaking through police barricades and attempting to march to Parliament on the first day of the Monsoon Session. While the main group of CockroachJantaParty(CJP)activistswereconfinedbypoliceto the vicinity of Jantar Mantar, verylargenumbers—estimated tobe50,000ormore—ofmostly young men and women challenged the security forces at dozens of locations across the new Delhi police district. Policeandanti-riotforcesresponded with lathicharge, tear gas, and water cannon across several stretches of Ashoka road, Janpath, raisina road, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Editorial pagE Can’t Have sabka visHwas witH latHi and tear gas page 10 insidE An injured Delhi Police personnel near Jantar Mantar. PrAveeN KhANNA Delhi Police personnel disperse the protesters as they attempt to march towards the House, at Parliament Street, on Monday. PrAveeN KhANNA Nadda meets CJP team: Will listen, won’t commit Liz Mathew New Delhi, July 20 After neArly three weeks of protests at Jantar Mantar by the Cockroach Janta Party, headlined by the hunger strike of activist Sonam Wangchuk, the Government finally swung into action Monday, with Union Minister J P nadda CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka with Union Health Minister J P Nadda in New Delhi, Monday. ANI Sons injured, a mother breaks down: ‘Attack on country’s children’ New Delhi, July 20 HC tO COnsider sOnam transfer tO private HOspital business as Usual By eP UNNy Injured protesters Devan Rathi (right) and Gaurav (top left) with their mother Santosh at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib. vIdheeshA KuNtAmAllA Vidheesha Kuntamalla New Delhi, July 20 At ArOUnD 4 pm, amid the clamourofslogans,ambulance sirens and exploding teargas shells, hundreds of protesters streamed out of the gates of an iconic gurdwara in the heart of Delhi — their refuge on a tumultuous afternoon. Someclutcheddamphandkerchiefs to their faces to ward offtheteargas,othersheldhalf- finished plastic water bottles theyhadhurriedlyfilledinside, and a few carried placards that read: “We are with Sonam Wangchuk.” Only minutes earlier, many of them had rushed into GurdwaraBanglaSahibtoescapethe police lathi-charge and chaos unfoldingonParliamentStreet, where thousands of people had joined the CJP-led march to demand the resignation of »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Opp backs protesters, sees chance in ‘organic anger’ against Govt Asad Rehman page 8 meeting CJP representatives. OutliningtheGovernment’s approach, even as thousands of protestersmarchedtowardsParliament demanding education MinisterDharmendraPradhan’s resignation, a senior Minister toldTheIndianExpressthatthe protesters have been given a hearing but there has been no AS tHe anger over paper leaks spilled onto the streets of centralDelhionMondayandledto pitchedbattlesbetweenthepolice and protesters demanding the resignation of Union education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Opposition targeted the Centre and called for a discussion on the matter in Parliament. the demand for Pradhan’sresignationfoundan echoinbothHouses,despiteattempts by senior BJP leaders deputed for floor management to reach out to Opposition parties such as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the DMK. following the police action against the protesters, who were stopped from marching towards Parliament and later had the protest site at Jantar Mantar dismantled, several Opposition leaders said this E. ‘Don’t play politics’: SC on Ram Temple donation ‘theft’ case Pragynesh Express News Service tHe DelHI Police said “more than 118 police personnel”, includingsomeseniorofficers,sustained injuries as protesters attacked them with “stones and other objects” and “resorted to large-scaleviolence”onMonday. “During the scuffle, around 60protesterswerealsoreported to (have been)... injured,” it said in a statement. "the protesters displayed unruly, aggressive and violent behaviour. Despite repeated warnings and lawful directions issuedbythepolice,theyrefused tHe SUPreMe Court on Monday cautioned against any “politics” in the matter of alleged donation theft at Ayodhya ram temple. “We are only putting a word of caution. Don’t play any politics. the courts are not meant for that. Don’t politicise the issue. It is a simple, prima facie case of commission of an offence under the penal law. It must be investigated in a fair, impartial manner. Investigation must be taken to a logical conclusion,” said a three-judge bench presided over by Chief New Delhi, July 20 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 New Delhi, July 20 Justice of India Surya Kant. the bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, said it will go through the report filed by the UttarPradeshgovernmentand pass necessary directions on July 27 (Monday). the court was hearing a clutch of petitions seeking its intervention in connection with the alleged theft. Hearing the petitions on July 13, the SC had sought a reportfromtheSpecialInvestigation team (SIt) set up by the UP government in the matter. On Monday, Solicitor General tushar Mehta informed »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ExplainEd Opposition’s hopes In the current demonstrations, some Opposition leaders see an echo of the Anna Hazare movement. The BJP benefitted from Hazare’s campaign against corruption, eventually unseating the Congress from power in 2014. That is the sort of impact the Opposition is hoping to achieve this time too. was an opportunity to corner the government and expressed their resolve to disrupt parliamentary proceedings in the coming days to press for Pradhan’s resignation, one of the »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Russia-Ukraine war: Four LATE GOAL GIVES SPAIN wORLD TITLE, LEAVES ARGENTINA DISTRAUGHT Indian sailors among 10 As curtains fall, Spain have final killed as missile hits ship say: ‘Huge feeling of liberation’ l Shubhajit Roy & Shaju Philip ExprEss at New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, July 20 In tHe first deaths of Indian seafarers in the russia-Ukraine war,fourIndianswereamong10 killed in a russian missile strike on a merchant vessel departing Ukraine’ssouthernportofOdesa on Sunday. India was quick to condemntheattack,withoutdirectly blaming russia. According to the Ukrainian Air force, russian forces »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 World Cup Sandip G New Jersey, July 20 Grain carrier MV Golden Leo after it was hit by a Russian missile in the Black Sea close to Odesa, Ukraine, Sunday. AP A SWArM of raging red shirts piled over ferran torres when thefinalwhistleblewattheMetlifeStadium,crowningSpainas the World Champions for the secondtimeintheirhistory.torres’s goal in the 106th minute, which decided a turgid and Spain’s Ferran Torres lifts the trophy with teammates. reuters combative1-0finalwinbereftof dramatictwiststhatdefinedthe tournament, would be as im- mortalised as Andres Iniesta’s extra-time winner in 2010. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Lucknow
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