DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES NITISH TAKES OATH AS CM FOR 9TH TIME, BJP PICKS 2 DEPUTY CMs Patna powershift again ‘GAME’S JUST BEGUN’ Things were not going well... no question of going back now: Nitish Nitish tired, had problems with us getting credit: Tejashwi SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, JANUARY 28 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Rahul resumes Yatra; says responsibility of all in Bengal to stand united against hatred ATRI MITRA JALPAIGURI, SILIGURI, JAN 28 BENGAL MUST show the way for Indiatostandunitedlyagainsthatred, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Sunday in West Bengal’sSiliguriastheBharatJodo Nyay Yatra resumed following a two-day break. “Itistheresponsibilityofeveryone in Bengal to stand united against hatred. Everyone should stand united, and Bengal must showtheway,”Rahultoldtheassembled crowd after the yatra reached Siliguri from Jalpaiguri. He delivered his speech from his vehicle after the local CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, JANUARY 28 Bihar Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy CMs Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha during the swearing-in ceremony in Patna, Sunday. PTI REPORTS,P4 Nitish exit undermines Opp’s 2024 caste pitch, sharpens anti-Cong plank VIKAS PATHAK NEW DELHI, JANUARY 28 NDA tally from Bihar. Itputsaquestionmarkonthe Opposition’s bid to counter Hindutva with social justice — a strategy that has been its political commonsense since theearly1990s,whenan alliance of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawatipreventedthe ● BJP from coming to power in 1993 in UP. Thatthecrossingcomessoon after Karpoori Thakur was awarded the Bharat Ratna dials down the critique of the BJP on the caste pitch. Nitish’smovetotheNDAalso reinforcesthe“Hindutvaplussocial justice” plank which the BJP hasrepeatedlyunderlinedasthe foundationof itselectoralappeal and success. BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY E FOR THE BJP, Nitish Kumar’s reentry into the NDA fold couldn’t have been better timed. The architect of the Bihar caste survey, he was the one who providedthebasictemplate fortheOpposition’scastecensus call and social justice pitch against the BJP in 2024. Nitish wasalsotheonewhochairedthe first meet of the Opposition (INDIA) bloc in Patna in June 2023. His crossing over, therefore, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, has both symbolic and substantive impact beyond just the possible bump-up in the EXPLAINED SWITCHING SIDES for the fifth time in just over a decade, JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar returned to the NDA on Sunday, less than 18 months after he left the alliance, and took oath as the Bihar Chief Minister for the ninth time. BJP leaders Samrat Choudhary and former Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, named as Deputy Chief Ministers, were among the ministers sworn in. Six other ministers, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) leader Santosh Kumar Suman, Independent Sumit Kumar Singh, BJP's Prem Kumar, and JD(U)'s Vijay Kumar Choudhary, Bijendra Prasad Yadav and Shravan Kumar, also took oath. Speaking to reporters after the swearing-in ceremony, Kumar said: “I have come back where I was earlier. Now, there is no question of going back.” Earlier in the day, citing the reason for his decision, which is seen as a big setback for the Opposition INDIA bloc ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, he said “things were not going well”. “I have resigned and put an endto(Mahagathbandhan)government...Thingswerenotgoing well. Everyone was in favour of breaking this alliance...we had forged a new alliance (in August 2022)butit toowasnot working `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 CALLING Nitish Kumar a “respectable”but“tired”leaderwho has“problems”withhimandhis party RJD getting credit for the work done so far, RJD leader TejashwiYadavSundaysaidthat the JD(U) would be “finished” in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. "Nitish Kumar seems to have a problem with me getting the credit for many achievements of our government. It should ring alarm bells for the BJP," quipped Yadav, adding that he had “made” Nitish work towards fulfilling the RJD's 10 lakh jobs election promise. Steering clear of directly attacking Nitish, Yadav underlined the“work”theRJD-JD(U)government had done in the 18 months CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Freedom of speech to social justice, SC has strengthened democracy: PM EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JANUARY 28 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed the Supreme Court’s continuous efforts to protect the principles of freedom, equality and justice, saying this has strengthened India’s democracy and given a “new direction to its socio-political environment”. Delivering the inaugural addressattheDiamondJubileecelebrations of the Supreme Court, Modi said the makers of the Indian Constitution dreamt of a free India based on freedom, PM Narendra Modi with CJI D Y Chandrachud in New Delhi on Sunday. PTI equality and justice, and the SupremeCourthascontinuously triedtopreservetheseprinciples. “Whether it is freedom of expression,personalfreedomorsocialjustice,theSupremeCourthas strengthened India’s vibrant democracy,”hesaid.Pointingout that the SC has taken many important decisions on individual rights and freedom of speech, he said, “these decisions have given anewdirectiontothesocio-politicalenvironmentof thecountry”. Modialsounderlinedtheneed for laws to reflect both Indian ethos and contemporary practices. “The convergence of Indian values and modernity is equally essentialinourlegalstatutes.The government is actively working onmodernisinglawstoalignwith the present situation and best practices,” he said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 England give the world formula to solve the good old India spin puzzle SANDIP G HYDERABAD, JANUARY 28 ENGLAND’S DARING brand of cricketbrokeIndia’sstaggeringly successful streak at home on Sunday. The 28-run win in the first game of the five-Test series at Hyderabad was a triumph of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes's unflinching faith in their brave system that CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 England won the first Test by 28 runs, lead series 1-0. PTI Another idea that the Congresspushedsincethe1990s – and which had been part of history textbooks since the 1970s – was that the battle for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India's Top Potential Training Institute for IAS INTERVIEW GUIDANCE PROGRAMME CSE - 2023 : Offline/Online Meet to Former Chairman of UPSC through ‘‘ Mentorship Program ’’ ( One-to-one Session : 18 Feb. 2024 ) with Prof. D.P. Agarwal Former Chairman, UPSC Book your slot : www.vajiraoinstitute.com Honourable Board Members of UPSC Mock-Interview Programme Shri M.C. Gupta IAS (Retd.) Shri O.P. Singh IPS (Retd.) * Former Director General of Police (DGP), UP * Former DGP CISF & NDRF * Former Chief Secretary Govt. of Haryana * Former Director of IIPA Shri M. 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