The Ideas Page: Nari shakti and the art of image management 9 SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 2026 JOURNALISM of COURAGE KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 48 PAGES ₹6.00 (₹12 in North East states, ₹20 in Andaman) 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 , L U 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 DAY AFTER HISTORIC TURNOUT IN FIRST PHASE OF BENGAL POLLS TMC now extremely rattled, says PM; Mamata hits back: BJP’s joy short-lived Shah claims BJP will win 110 out of 152 seats that voted Thursday 2026 W E ST B E N GA L Kolkata, April 24 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 business as Usual By EP UNNY Express News Service New Delhi, April 24 Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves during a massive roadshow in Dum Dum, in North 24 Parganas on Friday. PTI West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee during campaign at Bhabanipur area, in Kolkata on Friday. PTI The wave of change that was visible in Bengal for a long time, first phase of voting has put a seal on it .... Every lamp that is about to go out flickers a little, the TMC’s lamp is also flickering a bit before it goes out.” I saw people turn out with clear intent, determined, united and ready to defend Bengal, its identify, and its future. Those who believe they can run Bengal from Delhi, dictate … divide, distort are deeply mistaken.” NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER MAMATA BANERjEE, WEST BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER DEcIsION Attempt to undermine Bengal will be met with decisive pushback: Mamata Press Trust Of India Kolkata, April 24 AbhIShEk’S jIbE At PM : ‘brANd AMbASSAdor for bENgAL toUrISM’ PAgE 4 WEST BENGAL Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday cautioned against forces trying to "impose their divisive agenda" in the state, and asserted that this assembly election is about resisting a systematic attempt to "weaken" the state and control it. Banerjee, who has been Manish Kumar Pathak Mumbai, April 24 Islamabad, April 24 lKALVAKUNTLA KAVITHA, daughter of former Telangana CM KCR, is set to officially launch her own political party. TRACK THIS AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPREss.cOM crisscrossing the state and addressing poll rallies since the lastonemonth,saidinaposton X that every attempt to "undermine" Bengal will be met with a decisive democratic pushback. “ThosesittinginDelhi,plotting to snatch Bengal's rights and impose their agenda, should understand it clearly that the people of Bengal are watching, and they will re- spond through their vote. This election is about resisting a systematic attempt to weaken Bengalandcontrolit,”theTMC supremo said. The chief minister was apparently referring to the sustainedcampaignbycentralBJP leaders in the state, including PrimeMinisterNarendraModi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and others. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 3 Trump sends Witkoff, 27 years after police shot Kushner to Pak for talks dead gangster, nephew kills ‘informant’, arrested with Araghchi today Munir Ahmed, jon Gambrell & jamey Keaten Happening today In major setback to AAP, seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs cross over to BJP 65onpollduty amongSIR exclusions,SC saysapproach tribunals Tanusree Bose & Sweety Kumari A DAY after the first phase of the Bengal Assembly elections recorded its highest ever voter turnout of over 92 percent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister AmitShahtermedthehighparticipation as a decisive signal against the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). While PM Modi said the TMC was “extremely rattled” and the turnout was a “seal on a long-visible wave of change”, Shah asserted that the numbers pointed to a BJP government in the state with an “absolute majority” and that the party will win 110 of152seatsthatwenttopollson Thursday. Addressinganelectionrally in Panihati in North 24 Parganas district on Friday, Modi said, “There was a wave of change visible in Bengal for a long time and yesterday’s first phaseofvotinghasputasealon it. This is why the TMC is now extremely rattled. Last night, the TMC was empowering its goons to take to the field…I will tell the people of Bengal, I will tell all the BJP workers, do not forget, this is the land of revolution, this is the land of the brave. And do not forget that every lamp that is about to go outflickersalittle,justlikethat, the TMC’s lamp is also flickering a bit before it goes out.” Sayingthatthefirstphaseof voting has declared an end to the TMC’s “jungle raj” and referring to the RG Kar victim’s mother, the BJP’s Panihati Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak and Ashok Mittal with BJP president Nitin Nabin and party leaders Anil Baluni (extreme left), Tarun Chugh and Arun Singh (extreme right) at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, Friday. PTI DECISION USPRESIDENTDonaldTrump issendinghisenvoysSteveWitkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan,theWhiteHousesaidFriday, just hours after Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi headed to the South Asian nation where officials have been trying to get the US and Iran to convene for a second roundofceasefirenegotiations. The trip comes as much of the world is on edge over a war that has snarled crucial energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz, clouded the global economicpictureandleftthousands dead across the Middle East. Security restrictions in Islamabad Friday ahead of the US-Iran peace talks. REUTERS White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview on Fox News Channel that the two will have talks with Araghchi on Saturday. “We’re hopeful that it will be a productive conversation and hopefully move the ball »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 WHEN MUMBAI gangster Sadiq Kalia was shot dead in a police encounter at Dadar in 1999, his nephew, Sadiq Javar, was barely two years old. And yet, 27 years later, according to Mumbai Police, Javar allegedly went looking for the man he blamed for it — an “informant” whose tip-off had allegedly led to Kalia’s killing by a team led by “encounter specialist” Daya Nayak. On the evening of April 20, the alleged informant Iqbal Ibrahim Seliya, 78, was alone at hishomeinNagpadawhentwo men walked in and attacked him with a chopper. They struck him more than 20 times and left only after making sure hewasdead.WhenSeliya’swife and son returned home, police said, they found him lying in a pool of blood. Four days later, on Friday, theMumbaiCrimeBranchsaid it had tracked down and arrested the alleged killers, Javar and an associate Naushad Mithani (22), in Nagpur. According to police, Javar’s uncle Sadiq Kalia grew up in Kalachowki under difficult circumstances, selling shoes on the footpath to get by in the 1990s. When members of the Dawood Ibrahim gang came aroundcollectinghafta(protection money), Kalia refused to pay.That“fearlessness”caught the attention of gangster THESUPREMECourtonFriday askedseveralpetitionerswhose names were deleted from the voters’ list following the Special IntensiveRevision(SIR)inWest Bengal, including 65 who said theywereonelectiondutyinthe state,toapproachtheAppellate Tribunals set up to adjudicate such grievances. The directive was issued by abenchofChiefJusticeofIndia Surya Kant, and Justices JoymalyaBagchiandVipulMPancholi, even as it refused to entertain the petitioners’ plea againsttheirexclusionfromthe rolls. Appearing for the petitioners, Senior Advocate M R Shamshad said what was happening was ironical. “A person who is conducting the election can’t vote,” he said, adding there are 65 such petitioners. Shamsad submitted that their duty orders initially mentioned their Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers, but those were subsequently deleted. He contended that there was “ex facie arbitrariness” as they were not given any show-cause notice before their names were deleted. The court, however, asked »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jai Jawan Singh l Vikramjit Singh Sahney jatin Anand & Liz Mathew From Delhi: l Narain Dass Gupta l Sanjay Singh l Swati Maliwal New Delhi, April 24 IN A huge setback to the AAP, seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha members, constituting twothirds of the party strength in the Upper House, crossed over to the BJP Friday, creating ripples in political circles, especially in Punjab where AAP’s rule will be tested in Assembly elections early next year. Addressing a press confer- LOK SABHA: 3 l Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer l Malvinder Singh Kang l Raj Kumar Chabbewal. All from Punjab ence in New Delhi, AAP MP Raghav Chadha, removed as »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Faultlines surface in Punjab AAP, wider churn feared Kanchan Vasdev Chandigarh, April 24 THEDEFECTIONofseven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MPs is not merely a setback in Delhi, but could have an effect in Punjab, where the party’s government faces Assembly elections in less than a year. WhathastheAAPleadership concerned is the deep organisationalrolesthatRaghavChadha and Sandeep Pathak hadinPunjabandthe influence they wieldedalltheseyears rightfromselectionof candidates ahead of the 2022 polls. E. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jai Kisan Lal Bahadur Shastri National Memorial Trust in collaboration with National Museum, Govt. of India cordially invites you to the nd 32 Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial Lecture on “Ethics of Public Life in an Age of Technology” to be delivered by Dr Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud Former Chief Justice of India Date : Saturday, April 25, 2026 Time : 05:00 PM »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Venue : Auditorium, National Museum, Janpath, New Delhi-110011 l HE HAD RETURNED HOME TO AVENGE HIS BROTHER’S KILLING Saudi job to Op Sarp Vinash: J&K man who had key role in 2003 strike on terror stronghold dies at 63 Arun Sharma ists who had established a parallel state there. This week, the hero of HilWHEN HIS brother was killed kaka, Tahir, a Muslim Gujjar , by terrorists in 2002, Fazal diedofaheartattackinUttarakTahir left his job as a supervisor hand and was laid to rest in his at a marble company in Saudi nativeMurrahvillage.Hewas63, Arabia to seek revenge. And andissurvivedbytwowivesand threeminorsons. that’s exactly what PAGE 1 A Special Police he did: he would be Officer in Jammu & seenasinstrumental Kashmir Police, in the Indian Army’s Operation Sarp Vinash, an ex- Tahir began working as a timercise to purge Hilkaka — a ber merchant after his retirehamlet nestled in the moun- ment two years ago and was on tains of Surankote tehsil in a business trip to Uttarakhand Jammu’s Poonch — of terror- when he had a heart attack. AAPinParliament AAP calls it ‘betrayal’, accuses RAjYA SABHA: 10 From Punjab: l Ashok Kumar MitBJP of another tal l Harbhajan Singh l Raghav Chadha l Rajinder San‘Operation Lotus’ deep Kumar PathakGupta lBalbir l Sant Jammu, April 24 anchor Fazal Tahir, 63, died of a heart attack. He was laid to rest in Poonch district’s Murrah village “He called around 8 pm Wednesday to tell me that he had some chest pain and had visitedahospital.Buthesaidhe felt fine thereafter and told me he would return home Thursday. But half an hour later, I got a call from someone accompanying him. He had passed away,” his younger brother Maksood Fazal said. Operation Sarp Vinash marked a turning point against cross-border terrorism in the area. It led to peace in Poonch district and neighbouring Rajouri, both along the Line of Control with Pakistan. Around 80 terrorists were killed during the operation. Among those who died in the operation was paratrooper Sanjog Chhetri of 9 Para, who was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra in 2004. Butseveralbelievetheoperationwouldnothavesucceeded withoutTahirandhisteamof20 people, all of whom gave up lucrative jobs in Saudi Arabia. The hero of Hilkaka When The Indian Express Bharat Ratna Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Dr Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud (1904-1966) Former Chief Justice of India The memorial lecture can be viewed at: YouTube http://ytube.Lbsim.ac.in Prof. Praveen Gupta Director Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management for Invitation, please contact : Col (Retd.) Ajay Sood (Registrar & CAO, LBSIM) : 9958137595 Dr. Sheetal Singh (Head, LBSM) : 8979175656 Email: cao@Lbsim.ac.in, Lbsmemorialdelhi@gmail.com Organised by : Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, Delhi »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata