DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY RAAJ KUMAR ANAND ALSO SAYS DALITS BEING IGNORED BY PARTY FacingEDscrutiny,Delhiministerquits, saysAAPmiredingraft,norighttorule The ‘missing’ 7: As AAP hits the streets, most of its 10 MPs are not on ground AAP says BJP out to break its MLAs; his conscience prevailed: BJP response DECISION 2024 ABSENT AZAM SHADOWOVER RAMPUR PAGES 4,10,11 `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 JATIN ANAND & MALLICA JOSHI NEW DELHI, APRIL 10 IN A setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi, its social welfare minister, Raaj Kumar Anand, resigned fromboththe party andthe government on Wednesday, citing two key reasons. He alleged that the party was “mired in the quicksand of graft” and had no moral right to continue in gov- ernment, and also accused it of “ignoring the Dalit community”. Dismissing the charges, the AAP said it had “sympathy” for Anand, and alleged that the BJP was using central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to “break our ministers and MLAs”. AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh told reporters that Anand had been summoned by the ED on April 12. This was later CONTINUEDONPAGE2 MALLICA JOSHI, JATIN ANAND & DEVENDRA PANDEY NEW DELHI, APRIL 10 Raaj Kumar Anand after quitting the Delhi Cabinet and AAP on Wednesday. PTI SINCE THE arrest of its national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on March 21, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has held several protests in Delhi as well as in other parts of the country. Most of its 10 Rajya Sabha members, however, have been conspicuous by their absence at these protests — with Sanjay Singh, Sandeep Pathak and N D Gupta the exceptions. After the defection of its lone Lok Sabha MP, Sushil Kumar Rinku, to the BJP recently, these MPs remain the AAP’s only CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, APRIL 10 OBSERVING THAT stable and peacefulrelationsbetweenIndia and China are important for the region and the world, Prime MinisterNarendraModihassaid the two countries need to “urgentlyaddresstheprolongedsituation” on the border to put behind “the abnormality in our bilateral interactions”. In an interview with the Newsweekmagazine,Modi,referringtotheslideintieswithChina following the military standoff that began four years ago along theLineof ActualControlineastern Ladakh, said, “For India, the relationshipwithChinaisimportant and significant.” “It is my belief that we need to urgently address the prolonged situation on our borders sothattheabnormalityinourbi- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK SANDESHKHALI: HC ORDERS CBI PROBE, ASKS STATE TO HELP 11 OF 18 IISc SUBJECTS SEE DROP IN QS RANKING PAGE 9 HEAT & DUST RJD supporters wave at party leader Tejashwi Yadav’s helicopter as he leaves after addressing an election meeting at Rafiganj in Aurangabad district of Bihar on Wednesday. PTI Buddhism separate religion, Hindus must seek permission to convert, says Gujarat govt circular PARIMAL DABHI GANDHINAGAR, APRIL 10 THE GUJARAT government has issued a circular clarifying that Buddhismhastobeconsidereda separate religion and any conversions from Hinduism to Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism would require prior approval of the district magistrate concerned under the provisions of the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003. The circular was issued by the Home department on April 8afteritcametothenoticeof the government that applications seekingconversiontoBuddhism were not being dealt with as per rules. The circular was signed by Deputy Secretary (Home) Vijay Badheka. In Gujarat, every year, mostly Dalits have been seen converting en masse to Buddhism at events held on Dussehra and other festivals. The circular stated that it has cometonoticethatofficesof district magistrates are arbitrarily interpreting the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act. “...ithas come to notice that in applications seeking permission for conversion from Hinduism to Buddhism, procedure as per rules are not being followed. Moreover,sometimes,representations are being received from applicants and autonomous bodies that for religious conversion from Hinduism to Buddhism, prior permission is not required,” it added. “In cases where applications are filed seeking prior permission, concerned offices are disposing such applications while stating that under Article 25(2) of the Constitution, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism are included within Hinduism and so the applicant is not required to CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Jobs & tourism to selfies & Ganga aarti: With message of hope, Baluni hits the campaign trail PAURI GARHWAL, APRIL 10 THE NARROW lanes of Pauri Garhwalarefarawayfromhisoffice in the BJP headquarters on Delhi’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg as the party’s national media head but Anil Baluni says that’s hardly a distance. Satyamev Jayate: Minister Hardeep Puri NEW DELHI, APRIL 10 BJP CANDIDATE FROM GARHWAL LOK SABHA CONSTITUENCY “I bring the message With religious sites of hope,” he says, “I see like Kedarnath and that hope reflected in the Badrinath, landmarks eyes of everyone. That a such as Jim Corbett victory here is a victory and areas DECISION National Park,critical isfor local and regional deimpacted by 2024 velopment and is also a sues like Joshimath unsignificant part of the nader its jurisdiction, the tional effort to ensure a third importance of Uttarakhand’s term for Prime Minister Garhwal defines the campaign Narendra Modi.” of Baluni,who is fightinghis first Lok Sabha polls from the constituency. Elections here are on April 19. At 9 am on a Sunday, after a traditional breakfast, he sets off onthecampaigntrail—inawhite kurta-pyjama,abluejacket,asaffronscarf featuringthelotus,and canvas shoes. The day’s itinerary entails a CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 SETTING ASIDE its own verdict and allowing a curative petition, the Supreme Court Wednesday held that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) didn’t have topayaboutRs8,000croretothe Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAEML), an Anil-Ambani owned Reliance Infrastructure firm, as per a 2017 arbitral award. A three-judge bench, presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, upheld the January 15, 2019 order of the Delhi High Court Division Bench which had partly set aside that arbitral award asking DMRC to payRs 2,782.33 crore with interest to DAMEPL in connection with the construction and operation of the Airport Metro Express Line project here. A two-judge bench of the SC, of Justices L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindra Bhat, had, on September 9, 2021, set aside the DivisionBenchorder.Thereview petition filed by DMRC was also dismissed on November 23, 2021,followingwhichithadfiled a curative petition. Allowing the curative petition, the apex court Wednesday said that the HC division bench Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri, in a post on X, hailed the verdict as “historic” and said “Satyamev Jayate!”. Congratulating DMRC, he said, “Our public sector utilities are strong & resolute in delivery of public service under the firm leadership” of PM Narendra Modi. No liability imposed: Reliance Infra The Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, in a statement, said, “Reliance Infrastructure wishes to clarify that the Order dated April 10, 2024 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court does not impose any liability on Reliance Infrastructure and the Company has not received any money from DMRC/DAMEPL under the arbitral award.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Allowing curative plea, how Supreme Court pushes the envelope APURVA VISHWANATH NEW DELHI, APRIL 10 SETTING ASIDE the 2017 arbitral award that required the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to pay nearly Rs 8000 crore to Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Infrastructure, the Supreme Court has expanded the scope of its “extraordinary powers” to intervene beyond constitutionally prescribed processes. A curative writ petition, that the Supreme Court has invoked in reviving the 2019 Delhi High Courtjudgmentthatpartiallyset asidetheDelhiMetroarbitration award, is a sparingly used judicial innovation to correct a “grave miscarriage of justice”. Constitutionally, a final ruling of the Supreme Court can only be questioned in a review petition, that, too, on narrow procedural grounds. In 2002, in Rupa Hurra v AshokHurra,theSCallowedcurative writs as the last resorttocorrectjudgments thatare“oppressivetojudicial conscience and would cause perpetua● tion of irremediable injustice.” However, exercising curative jurisdictioninacommercialcase pushes the envelope and raises questions on the finality of a E EXPLAINED AVANEESH MISHRA Grave injustice, flags apex court, gives Rs 8,000-cr relief to DMRC ANANTHAKRISHNAN G Rejects minority discrimination charge: Usual tropes of some living in bubbles lateralinteractionscanbeputbehindus.Stableandpeacefulrelations between India and China areimportantfornotjustourtwo countries but the entire region and world. I hope and believe that through positive and constructivebilateralengagementat the diplomatic and military levels,wewillbeabletorestoreand sustain peace and tranquility in our borders,” he said. On the Quad grouping that is seen as a counter to China in the Indo-Pacific, Modi said, “The US, Australia, Japan, India, China: All these countries are members of many groups. We are present in different combinations in different groups. Quad is not aimed against any country. Like many other international groupings, like SCO, BRICS and others, Quad is also a group of like-minded countries working on a shared positive agenda.” The Delhi Airport Metro Express Line. File Sets aside its own order that set aside order on arbitral; historic, says Puri PM: To put behind abnormality in ties, India & China must address border issue EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE ALLOWS CURATIVE PLEA ON AIRPORT METRO BJP candidate Anil Baluni with supporters on the banks of the Ganga at Devprayag Sangam in Uttarakhand. Avaneesh Mishra CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED PAGE 12 Blending caste with faith, BJP tries to open a space in Tamil Nadu PAGE 1 ANCHOR P VAIDYANATHAN IYER VELLORE, APRIL 10 JOTHIPANDIANandShivaKumar, two young men who run a small officeacoupleofkilometresfrom theSaintGobainglassfactory,off the Chennai-Sriperumbudur highway, couldn’t agree if sitting Lok Sabha MP and DMK candidateDMKathirAnandwouldretain his seat in Vellore, a neighbouring constituency. Kathir Anand, 49, is the son of Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Durai Murugan, a DMK veteran, who entered the state Assembly in 1971, and is a 10time MLA. But this time, Kathir facesatoughbattleandthereare many factors at play — a big one being Prime Minister Narendra Modi and how his combative nominee and state BJP president K Annamalai has changed the party’s image in the state. The BJP and its pronounced presence in the state is not lost on Jothi Pandian. “We are Vanniyars and our vote is for the Pattali Makkal Katchi (symbol: mango), which has tied up with BJP… What I personally believe is for us Vanniyars to prosper, Hindureligionhastosurviveand thrive,” he says, placing his community in the rubric of religion. It is not the first time that the SRamadoss-ledPMK,whichrepresents the Vanniyars and demands reservation for them, has allied with the BJP; in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly elections too, it was in an AIADMK-ledalliancewiththeBJP. Vanniyars have a significant presence in north Tamil Nadu in parliamentary constituencies such as Vellore, Arakkonam, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Tiruvannamalai. Jothi Pandian’s understanding of society struc- Cut-outsof PrimeMinisterNarendraModi,TamilNaduBJP chief KAnnamalai (left),andpartycandidateACShanmugam atVelloreFortground onWednesday. P Vaidyanathan Iyer tures, and his locating of the Vanniyar caste within the Hindu fold may appear quite simple at one level. But such social engineering that BJP is seen to be attempting in Tamil Nadu, the last frontier for the party which is perceived by many in the state as anti-Tamil and anti-minorities, requires remarkable understandingof theTamilculture,society and history. The cementing of caste identity with religious identity and riding two horses at the same time is viewed as a key BJP strategy in Tamil Nadu. Not doing so risks the BJP being captive to its image of being a ‘pro-Brahmin’, upper caste-dominated party. But whether this outreach to the middle castes will help it, or be counter-productive given the distinctsocialreformmovement in thestate, is a difficult question to answer. The BJP has been trying to find space in Tamil Nadu ever since the demise of AIADMK’s star leader J Jayalalitha, who eventually inherited the politicallegacyof MGRamachandran. Indeed, none of the Dravidian parties have in the past offered support to the BJP’s core Hindutva ideology — it was always tactical, says Ramu Manivannan, an academician, who has worked in Delhi University for almost 15 years, andwas headof thedepartment of politics in Madras University. “Thedeclineof Congressover thelastdecade,transitioninpolitical leadership in Dravidian parties here — BJP foresaw all this. It systematically started preparing for many years now,” he said. In the absence of an alliance with AIADMK, the three-way splitintheMGR-foundedparty— Edappadi Palaniswami, O Panneerselvam and TTV Dhinakaran (Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, a BJP ally now)—definitelydoesn’thurtthe CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 Ahmedabad