The editorial Page: History will indeed remember Dr Manmohan Singh kindly — By Sonia gandhi 10 TUEsDAY, AUgUsT 11, 2026 JournaliSM of Courage lUCKNOW, lATE CITy, 16 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 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. 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 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. Rahul demands Home Minister explain who ordered action; Nadda criticises LoP, says he only wants anarchy, not dialogue lhungary'S naTional 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- 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 Jatin anand, asad rehman & liz mathew New Delhi, August 10 allegaTionS fabriCaTed: CourT Brij Bhushan acquittal: Court says victims gave ‘incorrect’ details, ‘fatal’ to prosecution case nation page 5 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 nirbhay Thakur Former WFI chief Brij Bhushan sharan singh. FIlE allegations against the accused persons timely as they feared loss of their career... When they took up the courage to do so, they ended up mentioning the wrong country and the wrong year as the alleged place and year of the incident in question... the shift in the first/initial version of the witness with respect to the place/country »ConTinued on Page 2 uttar pradesh 18 on shortlist for final interview of ram temple trust ceo page 3 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 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’. 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 bhupendra Pandey Lucknow, August 10 the world page 12 abhishek banerjee’s ‘diamond harbour model’ fades, faces cases 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- Shubhajit roy 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 82 Killed after 7.4 magnitude earthquaKe rocKs colombia a deserted sebaashray camp in Falta, West Bengal. PArThA PAUl 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. agency of Bangladesh. trivedi’smeetingwithRahman was his first after assuming 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 »ConTinued on Page 2 HC orders release of two Agra sisters ‘confined’ for conversion; father, govt told to pay Rs 25 lakh »ConTinued on Page 2 express special atri mitra & ravik bhattacharya E. Hope process for explained Hasina extradition expedited by India: shadow amid bid to reset ties Bangladesh PMO Hasina’s presence in India New Delhi, August 10 New Delhi, August 10 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. the court described the contradiction as “fatal to the prosecution case”. “all the victims have deposed that they did not make Trivedi meets PM Rahman in Dhaka, R&AW chief there for security talks poK elections put off amid security fears; un taKes note Maintaining that the Constitution does not give parents the right to incarcerate their adult children merely because they disapprove of their faith,theallahabadhighCourt ordered to release two agrabasedsistersallegedlyconfined in home by their father for the last one year for having embraced islam. the agra police had traced the two sisters, aged 35 and 20, to Kolkata in West Bengal last year and arrested at least a dozen people from another community over allegations of abductionandforcedmarriage. Calling the episode “wholly illegal”andan“unlawfuldeprivation of fundamental rights”, the court also directed the women's father and the Uttar Pradesh government to jointly pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the aggrieved sisters who purportedly embraced islam in 2020 and 2021 before escaping their home last year. then their father got a policecaseregistered,allegingabduction for forced marriage. after the agra police brought them back from Kolkata, stringent charges like “purposely or knowingly endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the country,beingpartofanorganised syndicate”, and provisions of the Uttar Pradesh ProhibitionofUnlawfulConversionof Religion act were invoked against the arrested accused who belonged to the Muslim community. »ConTinued on Page 5 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 is reviving a largely jeans in Modesto, forgotten chapter of California, strangers page 1 the city’s history — oftenassumeheison thecentury-oldmathis way to a gurdrimonialandcultural wara. instead, the singer is usually headed to Los tiesbetweenPunjabiimmigrant angeles for a music concert, families and Mexicans. Bornasesdras—‘godismy where his Punjabi-Spanish fusionhasbeenwinninghearts. help’ in Spanish — in Redwood talibelico, whose first lan- City, California, and raised by a guageisSpanish,hasbecomean Mexican mother in tijuana, Modesto (California), August 10 anchor Mexico, talibelico says music was inevitable in his life. “on my mom’s side, everyone was immersed in music. in the 1980s, they had 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 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 Lucknow