DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2025, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 POLL SOPS TAKE CENTRE STAGE IN CAPITAL BATTLE Campaigningforhigh-stakesDelhi Assemblypollsends,votingtomorrow Last lap: Shah reiterates graft charge, Kejriwal says BJP will stop AAP schemes THE WORLD EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 3 PAGE 15 NAAC bribery: JNU suspends prof, his tenure as Dean was cut short in 2023 VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA & ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 3 ARRESTED BY the CBI in a bribery case linked to the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Rajeev Sijariya, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management and Entrepreneurship (ABVSME), is no stranger to controversy. In 2023, his two-year tenure asDeanofABVSMEwascutshort afterseveralfacultymembersaccused him of “undemocratic decision-making” and “instigating students against faculty members”, The Indian Express has learnt. “He never involved his school’s faculty in major decisions, which created discontent. Ultimately,hehadtostepdown,” said a colleague at JNU, speaking on condition of anonymity. Anotherprofessorandanofficial from the JNU administration confirmed this. Sijariya was appointed as the Dean in 2023 itself. Heeraman Tiwariwaseventuallyappointed toleadtheschool,setupin2020. An order to this effect, issued on March14,2024,stated,“TheVice Chancellor…hasappointedProf Tiwari, Centre of Historical CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TWO DECADES AFTER ‘REBUILDING’ THEIR LIVES, BAKRAMANDI RESIDENTS FACE ANOTHER EVICTION; TO MOVE HC AGAIN P4 DECISION 2025 DELHI TOTALSEATS:70 PARTY-WISESEATS WONIN2020 AAP BJP 62 8 Turnoutin2020:62.5% Votingon FEB5 Resultson FEB8 Source: EC RELATEDREPORT PAGE 11 BJP’s hope: 11 yrs on, AAP vehicle for change stuck — at the bottom VANDITA MISHRA NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 3 IN AN arena where Congress is relegatedtothestatusof aminor third wheel, on the other side from the 11-year incumbent AAP, is a Modi-BJP that has just returned for a third term at the Centreandischafingatbeingout of power for 27 years in Delhi. The BJP labels the AAP as a purveyor of “revdis” (or “freebies”) and, at the same time, assures voters it will not discontinue the existing schemes. It even tries to outdo the AAP with its own promises of cash transfersandsubsidies—forinstance, if AAP says it will give Rs 2,100 a month to women, the BJP pledges Rs 2,500 monthly. Unlike in many other states, however, the BJP’s USP may lie less in the commitments it makes to individual labharthis - in the national capital, the AAP hasbeattheBJPtoit.Itlies,more, in a set of appeals that are also a prominent part of the BJP’s multi-layered pitch elsewhere: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invocation of larger, powerful wholes of “desh (nation)” and Indiaintheworld,andnarratives of big “development”. So far, in the capital, where aspirations grow even if living spaces become cramped, the BJP’s appeal, alongside the AAP’s pitch, has led to Delhi’s unique split ticket in the last two elections for the Centre and assembly -- Modi at the Centre decisively, Kejriwal in Delhi overwhelmingly. As The Indian Express spoke to voters from Shaheen Bagh to Shalimar Bagh, from Sangam CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 When freedom came, Retired soldier killed, wife & niece he was in prison; his injured in Kashmir militant attack case a benchmark for personal liberty BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, FEBRUARY 3 75 YEARS ON 1950 AKGOPALANV STATEOFMADRAS RESHAPING THE REPUBLIC CASE BY LANDMARK CASE AN EXPRESS SERIES SHAJU PHILIP & APURVA VISHWANATH THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 3 GUJARAT PAGE 1 ANCHOR CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah addresses a rally at Jangpura on Monday. Abhinav Saha; AAP leader and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal takes part in a roadshow in Kalkaji. Tashi Tobgyal MINUTES PAST midnight, on August 15, 1947, the echoes of Mahatma Gandhi ki jai and Bharat Mata ki jai reverberated through the Cannanore (now Kannur) jail where Communist leader A K Gopalan, then 43, was in solitary confinement. He had secretly kept a national flag with himfortheoccasion.Atdawn,he hoisted the Tricolour where other prisoners gathered to hear him speak. Barely four or five minutes into his speech, the jail authorities stopped him. WHO’S HE: Born in 1904 in Kannur, A K Gopalan was a school teacher before he was drawn to the Independence struggle. He was held for the first time in 1930 for taking part in the civil disobedience movement. He joined Congress, became a AICC member before he joined the Communist Party. His political leanings meant frequent detentions and working underground. A day later, accused of CONTINUEDONPAGE2 AN EX-SERVICEMAN was killed, and his wife and niece were injured, when gunmen opened fire at them in south Kashmir’s Kulgam on Monday. Thisisthefirstmilitantattack in the Valley this year. According to police sources, the unidentified gunmen shot at the ex-serviceman, identified as retired Lance Naik Manzoor AhmadWagay(45),andhisfamily outside their residence at Behibagh village in Kulgam. The bullets hit Wagay, his wife and her niece. While Wagay was hit intheabdomen,thetwowomen suffered wounds in the legs. All three were immediately EXPRESS NETWORK TIGER GIVES UTTAR PRADESH VILLAGES ANXIOUS DAYS P 12 MANIPUR VIOLENCE: SC SEEKS REPORT ON AUDIO TAPES P 13 Security personnel keep vigil in Kulgam after the militant attack on the ex-serviceman. PTI taken to hospital where Wagay succumbed to his injuries. The othertwoareinstablecondition. “He had retired in 2021 and had been rearing sheep. He was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha Monday. PTI Rahul invokes China to attack Govt on jobs, border security Says Delhi sought PM invite to US; Jaishankar calls it falsehood MANOJ C G & ASAD REHMAN NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 3 A FORTNIGHT after he announced the launch of a White T-shirts campaign — billed as a platform for youth, to unite workers across sectors — Rahul Gandhi focused on the youth and unemployment in his addressinParliamentMonday,this time in the context of the rise of China as a manufacturing giant. Incidentally, in his speech – which he described as the addressaPresidentunderanINDIA blocgovernmentwouldmaketo Parliament — Gandhi offered several backhanded compliments to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While these were part of the argument Gandhi built against the Modi government’s job creation record, the Congress leader’s approach was a departure from previous Parliament Sessions marked with bitter acrimony. Even several Congress allies have been uncomfortable with Gandhi’s unrelenting combat- E EXPLAINED INDRA NOOYI SISTER CHANDRIKA TANDON WINS GRAMMY MUSK SAYS TRUMP HAD AGREED TO CLOSE USAID THE HIGH-PITCHED campaign for the Delhi Assembly elections — which saw the AAP, BJP and Congress raising the stakes with various poll sops and schemes — drew to a close on Monday. The 70 Assembly constituencies in the Capital will vote on Wednesday, and the results will be declared on February 8. The AAP is seeking a third consecutive term while the BJP ishopingforacomebackafter27 years.TheCongress,whichdominatedDelhi’spoliticallandscape for a decade-and-a-half before the AAP burst on to the scene, is looking to regain its foothold. In the run-up to the polls, all three parties announced a slew of poll sops. Amidcriticismoverbasingits governance model on freebies, the AAP doubled down and announced an increase from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,100 per month in its promised Mukhyamantri MahilaSammanRaashischeme, free treatment for all above the age of 60 years in empanelled private hospitals, and a monthly ● New foot forward? RAHUL GANDHI’S conciliatory noises seemed a departure from the acrimony of previous Parliament Sessions. The Congress leader also repeatedly projected INDIA bloc as an entity, amidst rising tensions within the alliance. IN PARLIAMENT P10 iveness in the House. Incidentally, the most divisive of those issues, Gautam Adani, hardly figured in Gandhi’s speech Monday. Gandhi’s 45-minute address essentiallycouldbesplitintotwo parts.If thefirstwashisnuanced attack on the government over unemployment, the second was on more expected lines – caste census, “threats” to Constitution and Constitutional institutions, and in the same thread, “irregularities” in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The new point Gandhi made was the indication that the Opposition does not have faith CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Trump pauses tariffs on Mexico for a month after ‘very friendly conversation’, border deal JOSH BOAK & FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 3 US PRESIDENT Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum put their planned tariffs on hold for a month on Monday to give time for further negotiations, and Mexico said it planned to deploy 10,000 members of its National Guard to address drug trafficking. Trump’s tariffs against Canada and China were still slated to go into effect Tuesday, but uncertainty remained about the durability of any deals and whether the tariffs were a harbinger of a broader trade war, as Trump has promised more im- US President Donald Trump, Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum port taxes to come. The US and Mexican leaders announced the pause after what Trump described on social media as a “very friendly conversation”, and he said he looked forward to the upcoming talks. Trump said the talks would be headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In the offing: Six new barrages, state’s first rubber weir in Ahmedabad PARIMAL DABHI GANDHINAGAR, FEBRUARY 3 TO REJUVENATE the Sabarmati, whichcutsthroughAhmedabad city,andrechargethegroundwatertable,theGujaratgovernment hasplannedsixnewbarrageson the river. Besides, three barrages are already under construction, including a rubber weir that will be a first in the state. The rubber structure, which is being built within the city limits, will have a cantileverbridgeoveritthatwill be“iconic”,accordingtoofficials. This will take the number of bridges over the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad city to 11, which includes the Atal Bridge, a footover bridge that has become a tourist destination for Ahmedabad. The six new barrages will be built at an estimated cost of Rs 1,500croreandwilltakethetotal number of barrages on the river between Dharoi dam (in Mehsana) and Vasna Barrage (in Ahmedabad) to 14 by the next three years. While five barrages are completed, three are under construction. Inthelongrun,someof these barrages are also expected to help retain the surface water in the riverfront portion of Ahmedabad, which the state government is planning to ex- FIRST OF ITS KIND ■ The rubber weir in Ahmedabad will be built at the cost of Rs 55 crore. ■ It will be made of airfilled flexible rubber membrane which can be put to use by inflating and deflating to store or release the water in the river. tend up to GIFT City in Gandhinagar. In 2002, the government diverted the waters of the Narmada river into the Sabarmatitokeepitrejuvenated Rubber weir to come up here Ahmedabad city Acher Sabarmati River throughout the year. Currently, the water level is maintained in the riverfront by releasing Narmada water into the Sabarmati by closing the Artist’s impression of the structure set to come up in Acher area of Ahmedabad. gates of the barrage at Vasna fromwherethewaterisreleased for irrigation in downstream villages. Thenewbarragesplannedon the Sabarmati river are between the existing Dharoi dam in Mehsana district and Vasna Barrage in Ahmedabad city – within a total distance of 148 kilometre. The total length of Sabarmati river – from its origin in Aravalli hills in Rajasthan to outfall into the Arabian Sea near Gulf of Khambhat – is 371 km. UnionMinisterforHomeand Cooperation and Gandhinagar MPAmitShahlaidthefoundation stone of one of the barrages at Ambod village of Mansa tehsil in Gandhinagar district on January 14 where he had mentioned the “14 dams (barrages)” coming up on the Sabarmati river. ApartfromAmbod,workisin progress to build two barrages at Fatepara village of Mehsana district and at Acher in Ahmedabad city. The five barrages already ex- isting are in the villages or location of Valasana and Hirpura of Mehsana district, Lakroda and SantSarovarinGandhinagardistrict and city, and Vasna barrage in Ahmedabad city. Six new barrages have been proposedatChhelpura,Techava, Fudeda,FaluandGedinMehsana district, and Rajpur in Gandhinagar district. Sharing details of the nine proposedorunder-progressbarrages on the Sabarmati, a senior officer of the Water Resources Department of Gujarat government said that they are moving ahead with a target of completing the task in the next three CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad