The Editorial Page: The Budget has delivered a googly — the retrospective tax 8 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE jAIPur, lATe CITy, 20 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 , lu 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 PosTal regn. no. JaiPur ciTy/001/2024-26 rePlY to disCussion on the motion oF thanKs on President’s address Can’t see me serving, so say ‘Modi teri kabr khudegi’: PM slams Cong speaker: asked Pm not to come, learnt Congress mPs would create incident ‘World markets waiting for India, trade deals have opened them up’ vikas Pathak New Delhi, February 5 PICKING ON the slogan ‘Modi teri kabr khudegi’ (Modi, your grave will be dug) used by some opposed to his government’s actions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in one of his sharpest attacks on the Congress, said Thursday that those who thought the post of the Prime Minister was reserved for their family were bitter that he had not only made it to the office but continued to remain there and were, therefore, running down all his efforts to serve the country. Replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address in Rajya Sabha — he could not speak in Lok Sabha Wednesday evening because the House was adjourned amid a Congress protest — Modi mentioned the slogan 21 times, linking it to the Congress opposition and questioning of his government’s actions, from the abrogation of Article 370 in J&K to ending insurgency in the »Continued on Page 2 Absolute lie, PM hiding behind Speaker: Priyanka express news service Pm narendra modi in rajya sabha Thursday. union ministers amit shah, rajnath singh, J P nadda, kiren rijiju were among those present. ANI E. We respect (Gen Naravane), Rahul using his name to mock Govt: FM EXPLAINED Divide deepens ahead of key polls The showdown inside and outside Parliament has deepened the divide, putting a question mark on the functioning of the House. It also sets the stage for bitter campaigns in the states where Assembly elections will be held this year. THE EDITORIAL PAGE PM FRAMES THE DEAL, CORNERS CONG P 8 Says Cong sending women MPs towards Treasury to act as ‘shield or deterrent’ liz mathew & P vaidyanathan iyer New Delhi, February 5 FINANCE MINISTER Nirmala Sitharaman said Thursday that the government did not have any issues with former Army chief General MM Naravane, whose unpublished book Four Stars of Destiny was held aloft by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to target the government over a military face-off with China in August 2020. In an interview to The Indian Express, Sitharaman said, “When I had a short stint as Defence Minister, I knew General »Continued on Page 2 EXPRESS interview nirmala sitharaman uNIoN fINANCe MINISTer PAGE 14 New Delhi, February 5 AS THE Lok Sabha passed the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address without the Prime Minister’s reply to the discussion on the address, Speaker Om Birla said Thursday he had “credible information that several members from the Congress” would create “an unprecedented incident after reaching the Honourable Prime Minister’s seat”, and that it was he who had “requested the Prime Minister not to come to the House” where he was scheduled to speak Wednesday. The Congress rejected the charge that its members wanted to cause any harm to the Prime Minister. On Wednesday evening, the Lok Sabha »Continued on Page 2 Happening India expects US tariffs to drop to today 18% in a week: Commerce Minister la ‘total shutdown’ has been called from 6 am to 6 pm in Kuki Zo-dominated areas of Manipur, days after government formation. lrbi governor Sanjay Malhotra will announce the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision on interest rate. The MPC is likely to maintain status quo. Track These and more on WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM dheeraj mishra & ravi dutta mishra New Delhi, February 5 STATING THAT India and the US will formally sign the first tranche of their new trade agreement by mid-March, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday that a joint statement on the deal will be released in the next four-five days after which US First tranche of new trade pact to be signed by mid-march: union commerce minister Piyush goyal. ANI tariffs will come down to 18 per cent through a White House executive order. “The first tranche of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) is almost ready, and we expect that in the next four-five days, we will finalise and sign a joint statement between the US and India. And based on that, the first phase of this partnership will begin...there is no investment »Continued on Page 2 Business as Usual By EP UNNY india-u.s. trade deal India has ‘significant potential’ to import more agri products: US harikishan sharma New Delhi, February 5 NATION MEGHALAYA COAL MINE BLAST: 18 KILLED, MANY FEARED TRAPPED PAGE 6 l DAYS AFTER US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Leslie Rollins said the India-US trade deal would expand access for American farm products, the US Department of Agriculture told The Indian Express that India has “significant potential” to step up agricultural imports from their country, which ‘deal will export more american farm products to india’s massive market,’ us agri secy Brooke rollins had said. AP fIle were earlier hampered by “high” and “unjust” tariffs. Responding to a questionnaire from this newspaper, addressed to Rollins, on the agricultural components of the trade deal, a USDA spokesperson stated: “India has significant potential to expand imports of US agricultural products. High tariffs, unjustified non-tariff measures and »Continued on Page 2 govT audiT shows 56% oF raJasThan’s govT schools are dilaPidaTed or need maJor work As school where 7 died starts new chapter, many others ‘unsafe’, teachers pitch in Parul Kulshreshtha Jhalawar, February 5 IN REPLY to a question in the Assembly last week, the Rajasthan government said that a technical audit had shown that over 56% of all rooms in government schools in the state were either dilapidated, unusable or required major repair work. At Kheiadi Ka Pura Government School at Manoharthana tehsil in Jhalawar district, the teachers have found a solution. It was in this district’s Piplodi village that seven students were killed and 20 injured when the ceiling of a classroom collapsed makeshift classrooms at kheiadi ka Pura government school, at manoharthana tehsil in Jhalawar district. PArul KulShreSThA in July 2025. The construction of a new building for the school started on Wednesday, six months later. With the building of the Kheiadi Ka Pura Government School demolished for being unsafe — the debris is yet to be cleared — its two teachers have been holding classes in two makeshift classrooms they helped fund. Jagdish Meena, one of the two teachers, says that after the July incident, the district administration demolished a majority of the school buildings or classrooms deemed to be in a »Continued on Page 2 Jaipur High capex to sustain growth, pvt investment also coming, says FM aanchal magazine, sandeep singh & anil sasi New Delhi, February 5 FINANCE MINISTER Nirmala Sitharaman said Thursday the government’s primary objective is to sustain growth, and even though the private sector is “moving out of the passive mode to invest”, her ministry has continued with the heavy lifting in capital spending in the Budget for 2026-27. In an interview to The Indian Express, Sitharaman said, “At the moment we are looking at sustaining growth and therefore, we will have to do it, so we are doing it. That will be our pri- mary object — sustaining growth.” The government has allocated Rs 12.22 lakh crore towards capex for next year, which is more than 11.5 per cent compared with 2025-26. The Finance Minister, however, said that there is a clear sign that one is able to see the private sector coming out to invest. “Investments earning passive income are now moving to investments in expanding capacities or setting up new businesses. This may be happening more in partnerships with people in the newer, frontier sectors, and probably less — this is a bit too early — in the »Continued on Page 2