The editorial Page: History will indeed remember Dr Manmohan Singh kindly — By Sonia gandhi 8 TUESDAY, AUgUST 11, 2026 JournaliSM of Courage AhMEdABAd, lATE CITy, 18 PAgES ₹5.00 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 lThe SC will reSume final hearing on the pleas of the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction against the EC's decision recognising the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the 'real' Shiv Sena. lThe JamiaT-e-ulema will hold a protest rally in Kolkata amid a controversy over removal of loudspeakers from places of worship across West Bengal as part of a police crackdown against noise pollution. lhungary'S naTional Assembly is set to vote to appoint a new President, a key element of PM Peter Magyar's plan to dismantle former premier Viktor Orban’s bastions of power. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com bid To breaK deadloCK in ParliamenT, monSoon SeSSion due To end auguST 13 Shah to make statement on police action, Opp must not disrupt: Govt Rahul demands Home Minister explain who ordered action; Nadda criticises LoP, says he only wants anarchy, not dialogue Jatin anand, asad rehman & liz mathew New Delhi, August 10 to Break the gridlock in Parliament, the government Monday agreed to the opposition demand that union Home Minister amit Shah make a statement in the House on the alleged use of excessive force against protesters in delhi duringlastmonth’santi-paperleak demonstrations. the only con- Surat Medical College student’s suicide: Four doctors suspended nation page 4 days after he was appointed, higher education secy gangwar replaced dition, the government said, was that the opposition must not disrupt Shah’s speech. in response, leader of opposition in lok Sabha rahul Gandhi reiterated that Shah shouldtellParliament“whoordered the firing on students”, saying the opposition was not interested in the Home Minister’s “fantasy conversations”. Gandhi’s remarks drew a strong response from union Health Minister J P Nadda who accused him of being interested in “anarchy” and not dialogue. Nadda was one of the two union Ministers who held talks with the cockroach Janta Party to negotiate an end to the Bangladesh Pm Tarique rahman with Indian high commissioner dinesh Trivedi in dhaka on monday. x/@IhCdhAKA Union home minister amit shah at Parliament on monday. ANI protest last month. With three days left in the monsoonsession,unionParlia- mentary affairs Minister kiren rijiju informed lok Sabha »ConTinued on Page 2 former JPSC Chairman arreSTed amid Probe inTo alleged irregulariTieS Lathis, tear gas, a sea of protesters: Jharkhand anger reaches Assembly brendan dabhi Trivedi meets PM Rahman in Dhaka, R&AW chief there for security talks E. Hope process for explained Hasina extradition expedited by India: shadow amid bid to reset ties Bangladesh PMO Hasina’s presence in India Shubhajit roy New Delhi, August 10 Ahmedabad, August 10 Surat Medical college has suspended four resident doctorsforsixmonthsafterfinding themguiltyofraggingatleast10 first-year students, one whom died by suicide on Sunday. the unanimous decision wastakenat4amonMonday,at the end of an extraordinary eight-hour meeting of the anti-ragging committee of the college. Fourmembersofthecollege faculty,includingtheheadofthe department of Microbiology, havebeenissuedshowcausenotices. the decision of the committee was forwarded to dr Jayesh Sachde, additional directorofMedicaleducationand research, who was supervising the investigation, officials in Surat said. drHarshPandya, a 29-yearold first year PG Microbiology suratmedicalcollege. FACEBOOK student from the aravalli districtofGujarat,wasfounddead in his hostel room on Sunday. Gujarat Minister of State for Health Praful Pansheriya set up ahigh-levelcommitteetoinvestigate the death after nine firstyear resident doctors and the father of the deceased complainedthathehadbeenpushed over the edge due to ragging. “dr Nirali Vasave, dr anuj Maheshwari, dr dixit Ghewaria, and dr Hina Bhut have been suspended for six months for disciplinary and serious negligence and have been strictly ordered to vacate the »ConTinued on Page 2 nation india expands e-visa entry points, attari among 9 on list page 10 Police use water cannons to disperse the protesters in ranchi, Jharkhand, monday. PTI Shubham Tigga & Shashwat upadhyay Ranchi, August 10 ProteSterSWHoattempted to march to the Vidhan Sabha in Jharkhand’s ranchi were met with lathi-charge, tear gas and water cannons as anger over alleged irregularities in state government exams saw no sign of ebbing. Meanwhile, former Jharkhand Public Service commission chairman l khiangte —— the former chief Secretary of Jharkhand and an iaS officer of the 1997 batch — was arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged irregularities. the state has seen protests from job aspirants ever since the JPSc declared the preliminary examination results of the 14th combined civil Services examination, for which around 3.5 lakh people appeared, on July 2. at the heart of the protest are allegations of paper leaks in the exam. Between 7 am and 8 am on Monday, people, mostly students and job aspirants, from different parts of Jharkhand startedgatheringattheoldVidhan Sabha in ranchi. the plan was to march from the old assembly building to the new one, where the monsoon session is currently underway. By the time the march began, the crowd had swelled to over 10,000. carrying placards, the tricolour, and business as usual By EP UNNY the world page 16 abhishek banerjee’s ‘diamond harbour model’ fades, faces cases atri mitra & ravik bhattacharya Falta (South 24 Parganas), August 10 aBout 50 km from kolkata, oppositetheFaltaBdoofficein South24Parganasdistrict,ona field semi-submerged in rainwater, stands a makeshift building made of plywood, bamboo and steel bars. the board atop the building says ‘Medical college calcutta’. in reality, it is one of the camps set up by abhishek Banerjee,thetrinamoolcongress MP who was the de facto No. 2 in West Bengal under the Mamata Banerjee government, under his Sebaashray scheme. inside the makeshift building stand rows of makeshift rooms, demarcated to sound like departments of a hospital, or as dispensaries and pharmacies — now standing all empty, with prescriptions, bro- churesandotherpapersstrewn on the floor. the desolate picture is only partially about the change of power in Bengal. once part of abhishek’smasshealthcareoutreach in his constituency — hailedasthe‘diamondHarbour Model’ — the Sebaashray initiative now finds itself facing police complaints and Firs, alleging everything from irregularities and medical »ConTinued on Page 2 ing charge as the indian High commissioner. the Bangladesh PMo, in a statement, said, “Bangladesh expressed the hopethatindiawouldexpedite the process of extraditing Sheikh Hasina.” Hasinaisfacingadeathsentence in Bangladesh and her party, the awami league, has been banned. Forced to flee the country on august 5, 2024 in thewakeofviolentprotests,she has been living in india for the last two years. Five days ago, addressing »ConTinued on Page 2 allegaTionS fabriCaTed: CourT »ConTinued on Page 2 express special FiVedaySafteroustedBangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s remarks in india angereddhaka,BangladeshPrime Minister tarique rahman raised the issue of her extradition with indian envoy dinesh trivediMondayandunderlined the need to “create a conducive environmenttofurtheradvance the bilateral relations between the two countries”. trivedi’smeetingwithrahman coincided with the visit to Bangladesh by a top-level indian intelligence and security delegation, led by r&aW chief Parag Jain, The Indian Express has learnt. the delegation, which reached Sunday, is meeting officials from the dGFi (directorate General of Forces intelligence),thepremierintelligence agency of Bangladesh. trivedi’smeetingwithrahman was his first after assum- has cast a shadow on ties between Delhi and Dhaka. Her recent statements and plans to return have sparked outrage in Bangladesh. The first meeting between Indian envoy Trivedi and Bangladesh PM Tarique Rahman is aimed at bringing ties back on track. Rahman’s visit to India is at stake. Brij Bhushan acquittal: Court says victims gave ‘incorrect’ details, ‘fatal’ to prosecution case nirbhay Thakur New Delhi, August 10 82 Killed after 7.4 magnitude earthquaKe rocKs colombia a deserted sebaashray camp in Falta, West Bengal. PArThA PAUl poK elections put off amid security fears; un taKes note tHe VictiMS had initially been hesitant to level allegations against the accused, fearingthatdoingsocouldjeopardise their careers. When they eventually came forward, they gave “wrong” details about the country and year in which the alleged incident took place. this “contradiction” was among the reasons cited by the court in its order acquitting former BJP MP Brij Bhushan SharanSingh,whowasaccused of sexual harassment by six women wrestlers. Former WFI chief Brij Bhushan sharan singh. FIlE the court described the contradiction as “fatal to the prosecution case”. “all the victims have deposed that they did not make allegations against the accused »ConTinued on Page 2 l PUnJaBI-sPanIsh FUsIon oF TaLIBeLIco In coLLaBoraTIon WITh PUnJaBI sInger harveer sIngh Is garnerIng mILLIons oF vIeWs onLIne Sombrero meets turban: How a Spanish singer is tuning into Punjabi-Mexican ties gagandeep Singh unlikely cultural bridge between california’s Punjabi and Mexican communities. through collaborations with WHeN 28-year-old tali- Punjabi singer Harveer Singh, belico steps out in a neatly tied andwithvideosthatgarnermilteal turban, casual shirt and lions of views online, talibelico jeans in Modesto, california, is reviving a largely forgotten strangers often assume he is on chapter of the city’s history — his way to a gurdwara. instead, the century-old matrimonial the singer is usually headed to and cultural ties between Punlos angeles for a jabi immigrant page 1 music concert, families and Mexwhere his Punjabiicans. Spanish fusion has Born as esdras — been winning hearts. ‘God is my help’ in Spanish — talibelico, whose first lan- in redwood city, california, guageisSpanish,hasbecomean and raised by a Mexican Modesto (California), August 10 anchor mother in tijuana, Mexico, talibelicosaysmusicwasinevitable in his life. “on my mom’s side, everyone was immersed inmusic.inthe1980s,theyhad a well-known group.” His fascination with Sikhism began three years ago, seeing Modesto’s Sikh community. “i became intrigued. i researchedonlinehowtotieaturban and learned about its significance and responsibilities. i found it beautiful and dignified,” he says. the turban, he adds, transformed him. “i feel different, like i am channelling powerful A forgotten history Talibelico (right) and harveer singh perform at University of california, Los angeles, earlier this year. SAldEF energy.iamalsolearningabout therespectandresponsibilityit carries, and its profound personal significance.” “i first saw him wearing a turban and singing in Spanish while collaborating with Harveer Singh. My initial reaction was, ‘this is pretty cool’,” says Sikh american scholar tejpaul SinghBainiwal,whoseresearch focuses on the Sikh diaspora. Fortalibelico,itisabouthistory rather than novelty. “Historically, Punjabi men married Mexican or Hispanic women. But many people don’t know that history. the message of this connection is strong. We need to unite,” he says. karen leonard, who retired Ahmedabad as an anthropology professor fromuniversityofcalifornia,irvine,inherpaper,Changesover Time: Punjabis, Punjabi Mexicans, and Sikhs in North America,notedatleast385marriagesbetweenPunjabimenand Mexican women in california’s agricultural valleys during the early decades of the 20th century. “in my experience, the post-1965 Punjabi Sikh immigrants most often have tried to downplay the early bicultural community,” she wrote. today, california’s central San Joaquin Valley is home to nearly 2.4 million latino resi- dents, reports The Sacramento Bee.thestatealsohasamerica’s largest Sikh population — estimated at 2,50,000 by the Sikh coalition. talibelico, whose stage name combines “talisman” with belico, a style of corrido (Mexicanfolk),isawarethathis turbaned appearance invites scrutiny. “People think we are doing this for attention. But that’s not the case,” he says. He, however, is quick to dispel assumptions about his Sikh connection. “i prefer not to discuss my father because he was »ConTinued on Page 2