WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM The Man who Waited for the Win From never getting the chance to play for India to guiding the women’s team to their first World Cup triumph, it has been a long journey for Amol Muzumdar NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 16, 2025 LATE CITY 18+4 PAGES ₹7.00 SPOTLIGHT Zeshan B’s Campaign for Zohran Mamdani (₹8 RAIPUR, ₹15 SRINAGAR) D A I L Y F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , C H A N D I G A R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , K O L K A T A , L U C K N O W , Happening today lJUST OVER A MONTH AFTER provocative gestures during the three matches between India and Pakistan’s main teams in Dubai sparked a row, the ‘A’ teams of the two sides will clash in Doha at the Rising Stars Asia Cup. JDU flags PM role in win, says Modi PM and Nitish CM is ‘Bihar dream’ Deeptiman Tiwary New Delhi, November 15 Himanshu Harsh A DAY after the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the rulingNDAintheBiharAssembly polls, RJD president Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya announced Saturday that she was “quitting” politics and severing ties with her family. In a cryptic post on X, Acharya said: “I am quitting politicsandIamdisowningmy family… This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez had asked metodo,andIamtakingallthe blame.” The timing of her announcement was significant as the Bihar poll results saw the NDA storming back to power, withtheRJD’stallyplungingto 25 seats from 75 seats it had secured in the 2020 elections. A doctor by training, Acharya, who largely stayed out of active politics until recent years, had chosen to becomeahomemakerandsettled withherhusbandinSingapore. Acharya did not elaborate whatSanjayYadavandRameez had said to her. They were not available for comments. A Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjay Yadav has been a close aide of RJD leader and Lalu's younger sonTejashwiYadav,whospearheadedtheparty'scampaignin »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 P U N E , V A D O D A R A Bihar CM Nitish Kumar with Union Minister Chirag Paswan in Patna; PM Narendra Modi in Surat, Saturday. ANI & PTI InblowtoLalu afterpollrout, daughterRohini quitspolitics, Personally feel Nitish should continue ‘disowns’family to head government, says ally Chirag Patna, November 15 P A T N A , J&K police station blast was accident, says DGP; 9 killed jets will operate alongside French fighters in simulated air combat scenarios as part of 'Garuda 25' bilateral exercise at Mont-de-Marsan, France. The exercise, which aims to refine tactics and procedures, will continue until November 27. Rohini Acharya at Patna airport on Saturday. PTI N A G P U R , ExPLOSIVES SEIzED FROM RED FORT TERROR MODULE lIAF’S SU-30MKI FIGHTER lTHE RSS IS SCHEDULED to carry out its centenary march in Chittapur town of Karnataka’s Kalaburagi district. The route of the foot march was at the centre of a legal and political tug-of-war in the Congress-ruled state. M U M B A I , ADAYaftertheNDA’slandslide win in the Bihar Assembly elections, JD(U) national working president Sanjay Jha on Saturday told The Indian Express in aninterviewthat“forBihar,having Modi as the PM and Nitish Kumar as the CM is a dream combination” and “there is no confusion within the NDA” on the CM question. Union Minister Chirag Paswan, whose party LJP (RV) won 19 of the 28 seats it contested as part of the NDA, too, said that he “personally”feelsNitishshouldcontinue to head the government Jha said the “double-engine” government was one of the reasons for the party’s victory.“ForBihar,havingModias thePMandNitishKumarasthe CM is a dream combination. PeoplethoughtthiswasBihar’s moment. Both the 2024 and 2025 Union Budgets had sig- ExPrEss interview People of Bihar don’t need politics lessons, they teach world: PM Kamal Saiyed Surat, November 15 SANJAY JHA JD(U) WORKING PRESIDENT PAgE 8 nificant allocations for Bihar. The PM was in Bihar almost every month in the past couple of years, launching or announcing some project. This played a role,” he said. Asked if Nitish would take oath as CM for a record 10th time, he said, “Things will be clear when the time comes. Internally, there is no confusion within the NDA.”‘ »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CREDITING THE people of Bihar for the massive mandate thatreturnedtherulingNDAto power in the state, Prime MinisterNarendraModisaidSaturday that they had rejected the “poison of casteism” and the “divisive” politics of the “MuslimLeague-MaowadiCongress (MMC) and allied parties” and opted for “new heights in development”. Targeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav — he did not take namesbutreferredtoa“naamdar” and a “jamanati beta” — Modi, who was addressing migrants from Bihar at the Surat International Airport, said, “Bihar ke logon ko rajniti samjhani nahi padti hai, woh VERDICT 2025 BIHAR REP0RTS, PAgES 6, 8 duniya ko rajniti samjhane ki taakat rakhte hain.” (“One doesn’t have to teach politics to the people of Bihar, they wield the power to teach politics to the world.”) “Go anywhere in the world, and you will find Bihar’s talent. Bihar is now showing a willingnesstoreachnewheightsindevelopment. This election reflectedthatwillingness.Bihar’s women and youth — Mahila and Yuva, M-Y — formed a combination that has »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A damaged building inside the Nowgam police station premises on the outskirts of Srinagar. PTI No terror angle: Police; material stored in open, inspection was on Among victims: Cops, revenue official, police photographers, a tailor Bashaarat Masood Srinagar, November 15 ON FRIDAY night, at the Nowgam police station on the outskirts of Srinagar, a forensics team was examining the explosivesrecoveredfromtheRed Fort blast-linked Jaish-e-Mohammad terror module busted lastweek.Accompanyingthem wereofficialsoftheStateInvestigation Agency (SIA), which had taken over the case a day earlier, revenue officials on magisterial duty, and a tailor called in to stitch the bags where the seized material would be stored. Also present wereafewseniorpoliceofficers. As the sampling process dragged on longer than expected, the police officers stepped out for a stroll, while someoftheofficialswenttothe »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 The victims’ relatives at a tribute ceremony in Srinagar. PTI Bashaarat Masood & Naveed Iqbal Srinagar, November 15 MOHAMMAD AMIN Mir last spoketohisyoungerbrotheron the phone Friday night. “I am busy,”hesaid.“Iwillfinishwork soon and return home.” Mir, a head constable at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) posted at the District Police Lines, Srinagar, was part of the team that went to the Nowgam police station to collect samples from the explosivemaking materials that went off late Friday night. Barely 35 minutes after the brief phone conversation, a powerful blast ripped through »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RED FORT CAR ExPLOSION 10 years after Dadri man lynched over beef Clues that confirmed Umar drove suspicion, UP govt moves to withdraw case i20 car: Charred limb, black shoe Manish Sahu Lucknow, November 15 NEARLY A decade after 50year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched by a mob over rumours of cow slaughter and storing its meat at his home in Dadri’sBisadavillage,theUttar Pradesh government has decided to withdraw the case against the accused. “Wefiledthewithdrawalapplication,issuedbythegovernment in connection with Akhlaq Ahmed’s case, before thecompetentcourtonOctober 15. The court has not yet passed any order on the application and has fixed December 12 for hearing the matter,” said Bhag SinghBhati,AdditionalDistrict Government Counsel (ADGC), Gautam Buddha Nagar. “It is for the court to decide whether the case will be withdrawn or not. Until then, the trial will continue. So far, the testimony of the first prosecution witness — the complainant and the deceased’s daughter, Shaista — is underway. Her cross-examination is yet to be done,” Bhati said. He Mohammad Akhlaq, 50, was lynched in 2015 also confirmed that all 15 accusedfacingtrialinthecaseare currently out on bail. Confirming the move, District Government Counsel (DGC), Gautam Buddha Nagar, Brahm Jeet Singh, said that after receiving the government’s letter regarding the withdrawalofAkhlaq’scase,he forwarded it to the ADGC concernedforfilingtheappropriate application before the court. Defence counsel B R Sharma also confirmed that withdrawal application has been moved by the government counsel in the court. On September 28, 2015, a mob gathered outside Akhlaq’s house after an announcement »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Alok Singh New Delhi, November 15 INVESTIGATORS RELIED on key forensic clues to establish thatUmarNabiwasdrivingthe car that exploded near Delhi’s Red Fort on November 10, including a charred portion of a leg found near the accelerator and a black sports shoe lying beside the wreckage, The Indian Express has learnt. Theblastalmostcompletely destroyed the car, sources said, leavingonlythefrontportionof Blast accused Umar Nabi the bonnet, a tyre and part of the gear lever intact. “Forensic teams recovered the lower portion of a leg from the driver’s side and sent it to a hospital mortuary for DNA analysis,” sources said. A DNA sample taken from Umar’smothermatchedtheremains during testing conducted Wednesday at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), they said. Investigatorsalsorecovered a sports shoe near the vehicle which, sources said, matched the footwear Umar was seen wearing in CCTV footage recorded across several locations in Delhi as he travelled toward »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 l IN VACANCIES FOR SOME BATTALIONS OF THE TERRITORIAL ARMY INFANTRY HOME & HEARTH, SECTION STRENGTH EARMARKED FOR WOMEN Another glass ceiling breaks: Women soldiers soon in Territorial Army Amrita Nayak Dutta for Jammu and Kashmir and three for the North-East, in 2004-05. IN A first-of-its-kind move, the In some of these TA H&H Army is planning to induct battalions,asectionstrengthof women soldiers in its Terri- vacancies has been earmarked torial Army (TA) battalions, for the induction of women aimed at gradually opening up candidates,amongthetotalvagreater opportunities for cancies, it is learnt. A section women in the force. usually comprises 10 soldiers. The Indian Express has This means a TA H&H batlearnt that the Directalion, which has PAGE 1 torate General of around 750 to 1,000 Territorial Army resoldiers, will now leased additional vahave a section of cancies for 2025-2026 for the women soldiers. Infantry Battalions TA Home & Whilethisinitiativeinitially Hearth (H&H) last month. entails inducting a section According to the TA web- strengthofwomensoldiersinto site,thereare11TAH&Hbattal- someoftheTAH&Hbattalions, ions,eightofwhichwereraised plans are to expand it to all TA New Delhi, November 15 anchor H&H battalions and subsequentlyincreasetheirnumbers. The TA H&H battalions, comprising the local population, have been raised in the northern and eastern theatres for counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. They assist the regular Army and civil administration in multiple tasks, such as intelligencegathering,roadopening, and assistance in case of natural calamities, among others. As of today, women are not allowed to join core combat armsoftheArmysuchasInfantry, Armoured Corps and Mechanised Infantry. Some of the combat support arms, such asCorpsofEngineers,theRegi- E. ExPlAINED Why this matters A contingent of women Agniveers from the Corps of Military Police marched during the Army Day parade in January this year. EXPRESS ment of Artillery and Corps of Signals and all services, have womenofficers.OnlytheCorps of Military Police inducts women as soldiers. Thelatestdecisiontoinduct women soldiers into infantry battalions TA (H&H) will allow Women are not allowed to join core combat arms such as Infantry, Armoured Corps and Mechanised Infantry. Some combat support arms have women officers. Only the Corps of Military Police inducts women as soldiers. them to break yet another glass ceiling. The TA is a citizen’s army of volunteers who willingly enrol in this arm to contribute to the nation’s defence. The TA provides the volunteers an ideal opportunity to receive military training in their spare time and to serve the nation in times of national emergency and internal disturbances. In May this year, during OperationSindoor,theMinistryof Defence had announced activating 14 of 32 infantry battalions of the Territorial Army for deploymentacrossthecountry until February 2028. Presently, the TA has a strength of approximately 50,000 personnel comprising 65DepartmentalTAunits,such as Railway, IOC, ONGC and Non-Departmental TA units of InfantryBattalion(TA),including Home & Hearth Battalions, Ecological Battalion (TA) affiliated to various Infantry Regiments and Engineer Regiment (TA) for maintenance of Line of Control Fencing. ACompositeEcoTaskForce for the National Mission for Clean Ganga has also been raised. The Eco Task Force is dedicated to the development, preservation and maintenance of ecological balance and afforestation in difficult areas. Many celebrities, too, have either served or have been granted honorary ranks in the TA, among them Nana Patekar, Mohanlal,KapilDev,MSDhoni, and Abhinav Bindra.