The editorial Page: Anna Hazare to Sonam Wangchuk, a tale of two fasts — and a democracy 8 TUESDAY, JUlY 21, 2026 JournAliSm of CourAge mumbai, late city, 18 Pages ₹5.00 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 , 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 REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 AS MONSOON SESSION bEGINS, PROTESTS ON STREETS OUTSIDE fIND EChO IN bOTh hOUSES Of PARLIAMENT Protesters storm heart of Delhi, police use lathis and tear gas to stop march Russia-Ukraine war: Four Indian sailors among 10 killed as missile hits ship Shubhajit Roy & Shaju Philip Delhi Police personnel disperse the protesters as they attempt to march towards the House, at Parliament Street, on Monday. Praveen Khanna CJP submits demands to Centre; protest will continue, say Wangchuk, Dipke Pragynesh, Sakshi Chand, Devansh Mittal, Drishti Jain, Alok Singh, Tabshir Shams & Nirbhay Thakur New Delhi, July 20 tenS of thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of education Minister dharmendra Pradhan took over the heart of lutyens’s delhi on Monday, breaking through police barricades and attempting to march to Parliament on the first day of the Monsoon Session. While the main group of CockroachJantaParty(CJP)activistswereconfinedbypoliceto the vicinity of Jantar Mantar, verylargenumbers—estimated tobe50,000ormore—ofmostly young men and women challenged the security forces at dozens of locations across the new delhi police district. Police and anti-riot forces responded with lathicharge, tear gas, and water cannon Nadda meets CJP team, but Govt signals: Will listen, won’t commit Liz Mathew New Delhi, July 20 After neArly three weeks of protests at Jantar Mantar by the Cockroach Janta Party, headlined by the hunger strike of activist Sonam Wangchuk, the Government finally swung into action Monday, with union Minister J P nadda meeting CJP representatives. outliningtheGovernment’s approach, even as thousands of protestersmarchedtowardsParliament demanding education MinisterdharmendraPradhan’s resignation, a senior Minister Asad Rehman New Delhi, July 20 CJP members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka with Union Health Minister J P Nadda in New Delhi, Monday. ani toldTheIndianExpressthatthe protesters have been given a hearing but there has been no Sons injured, a mother breaks down: ‘Attack on country’s children’ commitmentontheirdemands. “the protest is over,” he »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 118personnel injured,70 protesters detained,says DelhiPolice Injured protesters Devan Rathi (right) and Gaurav (top left) with their mother Santosh at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib. vidheesha Kuntamalla An injured Delhi Police personnel near Jantar Mantar. Praveen Khanna 189 99 editorial page can’t Have sabka vIsHwas wItH latHI and tear gas page 8 page 7 business as usual Pragynesh New Delhi, July 20 152 »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Hc to consIder sonam transfer to prIvate HospItal Vidheesha Kuntamalla 124 AS the anger over paper leaks spilled onto the streets of centraldelhionMondayandledto pitchedbattlesbetweenthepolice and protesters demanding the resignation of union education Minister dharmendra Pradhan, the opposition targeted the Centre and called for a discussion on the matter in Parliament. the demand for Pradhan’sresignationfoundan echoinbothhouses,despiteattempts by senior BJP leaders inside »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 delHI protest fInds ecHo In maHarasHtra p 4 Opp backs protesters, sees chance in ‘organic anger’ against Govt At Around 4 pm, amid the clamourofslogans,ambulance sirens and exploding teargas shells, hundreds of protesters streamed out of the gates of an iconic gurdwara in the heart of delhi — their refuge on a tumultuous afternoon. Some clutched damp handkerchiefs to their faces to ward offtheteargas,othersheldhalf- finished plastic water bottles theyhadhurriedlyfilledinside, and a few carried placards that read: “We are with Sonam Wangchuk.” only minutes earlier, many of them had rushed into GurdwaraBanglaSahibtoescapethe police lathi-charge and chaos unfoldingonParliamentStreet, where thousands of people hadjoinedtheCJP-ledmarchto demand the resignation of »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 By EP UNNY New Delhi, July 20 the delhi Police said “more than 118 police personnel”, includingsomeseniorofficers,sustained injuries as protesters attacked them with “stones and other objects” and “resorted to large-scaleviolence”onMonday. “during the scuffle, around 60protesterswerealsoreported to (have been)... injured,” it said »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Why Mumbai youths LATE GOAL GIVES SPAIN wORLD TITLE, LEAVES ARGENTINA DISTRAUGHT fought with family and As curtains fall, Spain have final went for Delhi protest say: ‘Huge feeling of liberation’ l Pallavi Smart Mumbai, July 20 WhenBudhirAJtoranesaw socialmediapostscallingactivist Sonam Wangchuk a “Chinese agent”, he decided he had to be in delhi. the final-year law student boarded a train from Mumbai on Sunday, travelling in the generalcompartmentafterfailing to get a confirmed ticket, to join Monday’s “Chalo Sansad” march. “Whatever is happeningissimplynotright.itiscompletely against the democratic rights of citizens to protest and demand answers from the government. i can’t just remain a spectator,” torane told the indian express. he is one of several young Mumbaikars who travelled overnight to the capital, some afterdifficultnegotiationswith worried parents, and one without telling his family at all. the protests began over alleged irregularities in the neet examination but have since widened into a larger movement demanding accountability from the government. Wangchuk’s detentionafterhishungerstrike »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 express at World Cup Sandip G New Jersey, July 20 A SWArM of raging red shirts piled over ferran torres when thefinalwhistleblewattheMetlifeStadium,crowningSpainas the World Champions for the secondtimeintheirhistory.torres’s goal in the 106th minute, which decided a turgid and Spain’s Ferran Torres lifts the trophy with teammates. reuters combative1-0finalwinbereftof dramatictwiststhatdefinedthe tournament, would be as im- mortalised as Andres iniesta’s extra-time winner in 2010. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E. explained opposition’s hopes In the current demonstrations, some Opposition leaders see an echo of the Anna Hazare movement. The BJP benefitted from Hazare’s campaign against corruption, eventually unseating the Congress from power in 2014. That is the sort of impact the Opposition is hoping to achieve this time too. New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, July 20 in the first deaths of indian seafarersintherussia-ukraine war, four indians were among 10 killed in a russian missile strike on a merchant vessel departingukraine’ssouthernport of odesa on Sunday. indiawasquicktocondemn the attack, without directly blaming russia. According to the ukrainian Air force, russian forces launched three Kh-59/Kh-69 cruise missiles during the attack.onemissilestruckthestarboard side of the Golden Leo, a turkish-owned merchant vessel sailing under the flag of Guinea-Bissau, igniting a fire. “on the evening of 19 July 2026, the vessel MVGoldenLeo was attacked while departing theportofodesa.Atthetimeof theincident,therewere17crew Grain carrier MV Golden Leo after it was hit by a Russian missile in the Black Sea close to Odesa, Ukraine, Sunday. aP the world page 14 Iran war: HoutHIs open new front on saudI arabIa members on board, including five indiannationals,”the Ministry of external Affairs (MeA) »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
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