NEW DELHI 12 MAY 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 26  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard AN INFINITY OF PROMISE https://epaper.morningstandard.in CUTTING CRUISE FIGHT DIABETES WITH SLEEP PHOTO: PTI PLUS: 12 PAGES MAGAZINE Chinese Checkerboard EXCLUSIVE VOICES Anand Neelakantan Ravi Shankar Ajai Sahni Sunaina Anand Shampa Dhar-Kamath Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Namrata Joshi PHOTO: SHEKHAR YADAV Spot the Difference GOING ON THE RAILS Kejriwal hits roads, takes on BJP over ‘game of 1 nation, 1 leader’ Claims Mamata, Uddhav, Stalin, Tejashwi could end up in jails in govt bid to silence Oppn A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi OUT on a 21-day interim bail ordered by the Supreme Court, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday was scathing in his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, accusing them of orchestrating a perilous game of ‘one nation, one leader.’ He also sought to stir the leadership pot within the BJP, speculating on Modi’s successor as prime minister. The chief minister alleged that his incarceration was a “Modi move to quell opposition voices as AAP was a potential threat to the BJP”. “Mamata Banerjee, M K Stalin, Uddhav Thackeray and Tejashwi Yadav could face similar suppression if Modi secures victory in the Lok Sabha polls,” he said. Kejriwal received partial re- OFFERS PRAYERS AT HANUMAN MANDIR IN CP Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along with his wife Sunita and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann on Saturday offered prayers at the iconic Hanuman temple in Connaught Place. Kejriwal was accompanied by AAP leaders Saurabh Bharadwaj, Atishi and Sanjay Singh. Hours later in his post on X, Kejriwal said, “Reached the ancient Hanuman temple in Connaught Place and received the blessings of Hanuman ji.” lief from the Supreme Court on Friday after nearly 50 days of custody in the now-scrapped excise police scam case. In his first press conference after coming out of Tihar jail, the AAP chief cited instances of what he said was the diminishing stature of veteran BJP leaders like L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Manohar Lal Khattar. He exhorted the nation’s 140-crore citizens to join him in “safe- guarding” democracy . “Ours is a very small party it , has governments in just two states; it is a 10-year-old party . The prime minister left no stone unturned in crushing it,” he claimed. “Our top leaders - Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh and Satyendar Jain — have been jailed. If top leaders of big parties go to jail, the party is seen to be finished,” said Kejriwal. “He (PM) thought that AAP would be finished, but this is not a party but a thought, the more they (BJP) try to finish it, the more would it grow.” “The prime minister has started a mission — ‘one nation, one leader’. He will send all Opposition leaders to jail and dispose of all BJP leaders,” he said. The AAP leader also alleged a ‘war of succession’ involving UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Modi. “It is Yogi’s turn. If Modi wins the election, he will change the UP CM within two months,” he claimed. “Many people ask me: ‘Who is the PM candidate of the INDIA bloc’? I ask the BJP: who will be your Prime Minister? Modi ji turns 75 in September next year. Modi ji made a rule that whoever is aged 75 years will retire. So, I want to ask the BJP who is your PM candidate , after next year?” said Kejriwal. MORE REPORTS ON PAGE 6 THE Madras High Court has set aside the conviction and 20 years imprisonment awarded to a youth by a trial court for alleged sexual assault of a minor girl in 2021 by taking into account their subsequent marriage after the girl turned 18. Justice M Nirmal Kumar passed the orders while allowing an appeal filed by the youth who was convicted by the Special Court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act cases in Tiruvannamalai district in 2023 for sex- ual assault of the 16-year-old girl who was studying Class XI at the time of the incident. The judge cited Supreme Court’s orders and observations in two cases, which stated that courts cannot shut their eyes to ground reality and disturb the happy family life of appellant as well as the victimgirl in Pocso cases. “The conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant by the Tiruvannamalai court is set aside. He is acquitted of all charges,” the judge said. Saying that, with the acquittal, the “stigma of criminal case and conviction” no longer existed, Justice Nirmal Kumar said the case cannot be quoted for disqualification against the appellant or the survivor in their future endeavours. The appellant was pursuing a degree course when Covid intervened. During the lockdown, he stayed at a relative’s house near the survivor’s residence. The survivor, being taken care of by her grandmother, was a Class XI student then. He had befriended her before falling in love and later both had developed intimacy leading to physi, cal relationship. BEGUSARAI, once known as the Leningrad of Bihar, dramatically took a right turn in the past two Lok Sabha elections, riding on the back of the Modi wave. This time, however, the Communist Party of India (CPI) is working overtime to wrest its stronghold from the BJP . Unlike 2019, it’s going to be a direct contest between the BJP and the Opposition bloc. The BJP has fielded Union minister and its fire brand leader Giriraj Singh (71) as its candidate again. He is locked in a tough fight with CPI’s Awadhesh Ku- mar Rai (72), two-time MLA from Bachhwada assembly constituency in Begusarai district. Rai is the joint candidate of the Opposition INDIA bloc comprising the RJD, the Congress, and three Left parties. The candidature of Rai, a Yadav by caste (OBC), shows the Left party’s intent to tap the RJD’s solid MY (MuslimYadav) support base. In the 2019 election, Giriraj had won the seat by defeating CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar (now with the Congress) by a margin of over 4 lakh votes. This time, the CPI’s optimism stems from two factors — anti-incumbency against Giriraj and the Opposition’s joint fight against the BJP . In 2019, the RJD, a major regional party had also fielded its can, didate, Tanveer Hasan, who Awadhesh Kumar Rai and Giriraj Singh (R) ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR SHAH SAYS NO CHANGE IN QUOTA POLICY Union home minister and BJP’s chief strategist Amit Shah alleges that Congress wants to snatch away SC/ST and OBC quotas and give them to Muslims, as they did in K’taka | P9 RUSSIA TAKES CONTROL OF 6 UKRAINE VILLAGES In a surprise ground offensive, Russian military claims it has “liberated” six villages in Ukraine’s east P11 Kharge’s turn to write to poll body P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi THE war of words between Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and the Election Commission (EC) continued on Saturday as the former shot off another letter in response to the poll body’s strong rebuttal on voter turnout data. In a post on X, Kharge said it was surprising how the EC responded to his “open letter” while ignoring other complaints. “The open letter is addressed to our alliance partners and not to the Commission. Surprisingly the EC wanted to , Mallikarjun Kharge in Patna | PTI respond to this letter while ignoring several other complaints given directly to it,” Kharge wrote. The poll panel responded to Kharge’s open letter with a strongly-worded missive. It accused him of “attempting to push a biased narrative under the guise of seeking clarifications”. The open letter alleged that the “delay in the release of voter turnout data was an attempt to doctor the final results”. Responding, the EC termed the allegations baseless and “reflective of a biased and deliberate attempt to spread confusion”. In his letter, Kharge further expressed his misgivings about the language of the letter by the EC and said he will not press on the issue as the agency is under pressure. 45-yr-old kills 5 of his family, shoots himself N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow FOOD FOR THOUGHT Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman interacts with students during lunchtime at Andhra/Telangana Bhavan canteen on Saturday | PTI BJP sees red as Left tries to wrest Begusarai, de-saffronise it R A M A S H A N K A R @ Patna Of Creator and Curator Energies INTERVIEW ASSERTING that Narendra Modi will be the prime minister till 2029, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday clarified that there was no confusion in the party in this regard. He was responding to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s barb on the informal 75-year age cap in the BJP to hold electoral office. Speaking at a press conference here, Shah asserted, “I want to tell this to Arvind Kejriwal and company and the INDIA bloc that you have nothing to be happy about Modiji turning 75. There is no such provision in the BJP’s constitution. Modi will complete this tenure and continue to lead the country in the future. There is no confusion in the BJP .” He alleged that the INDIA bloc leaders knew the NDA would cross 400 seats and had resorted to spreading misconceptions. Shah rubbished allegations that the BJP would scrap reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs. Despite full majority in Parliament in the last two terms, the BJP never initiated any steps as alleged by the Congress, Shah said. He added that the BJP priorities were the construction of the Ram Mandir, abrogation of Article 370, reservations for women, and continuing SC, ST and OBC quotas. Responding to recent comments by Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, Shah asserted that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir belongs to India. HC sets aside jail term to student in Pocso case after he marries survivor R S I V A K U M A R @ Chennai ‘Best PR is Word of Mouth’ MODI TO STAY PM TILL 2029: SHAH E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad (From left) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with wife Sunita offers prayers at the Hanuman Mandir in Connaught Place, and during a roadshow at Mehrauli on Saturday SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS polled 2 lakh votes, splitting the anti-BJP votes. “Giriraj is facing the ire of voters. He has done nothing for the welfare of the people in the past five years. All he did was to raise the banner of ‘Hindutva’ without missing any opportunity to hurl abuses on Muslims. Will the people of Begusarai vote for him for this?” asks Randhir Kumar Singh, a resident of Rosera. Randhir, who owns a departmental store in the subdivisional town, says that even those belonging to Giriraj Singh’s caste (Bhumihars) are not happy with him. Randhir’s anger against the BJP nominee is corrobo- rated by Vijay Kumar Singh, a retired government employee of Begusarai town. “Giriraj mainly is relying on ‘Modi magic’ to win the election this time again,” he remarks. The ground situation is different from that of 2019 because there is a united Opposition candidate. However, this in itself may not be enough to defeat Giriraj. The CPI candidate’s chances will greatly dependent on how well he is able to woo the Muslim-Yadav vote base of the RJD. On the other hand, BJP supporters believe Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blitzkrieg will overshadow all other issues and Giriraj will win. MORE REPORTS ON PG 6, 7, 9 & 10 A bu s i n e s s m a n i n U t t a r Pradesh’s Sitapur, a town about 90km from state capital Lucknow, allegedly killed his family of five members, including his mother, wife, and three minor children, before committing suicide by shooting himself. The district police said on Saturday that Anurag Singh was mentally disturbed and battling alcoholism. The incident was reported from Palapur village in Sitapur early Saturday morning when the police received information that a man killed his family at his residence. Sitapur SP Chakresh Mishra said that a police team rushed to the spot to find the bodies of two minor children outside and the other bodies inside the house. Police sources said that while two bodies appeared to have sustained bullet injuries and the others were allegedly killed by a blunt object. The deceased were identified as Anurag Singh’s mother Savitri Devi (60), his wife Priyanka (40), and his three children Ashwini (12), Ashvi (10), and son Advait (6). The police said gunshot injuries were found only on the bodies of Anurag and his wife while his mother’s head was smashed with a hammer. The children were also hit with a hammer and then thrown from the second-floor balcony of the house to the ground floor. A preliminary inquiry revealed that Singh owned 100-bigha (33 acres) land on which he used to do far ming by staying in his village while his family stayed in a Lucknow residential complex. Two of the kids were studying at a well-known public school of Lucknow. Sources claimed that at the time of the incident, Anurag’s brother Ajit was also present in the house. Ajit is the sole witness to the macabre episode, sources said. EXPRESS READ 3 dead, 23 injured in storm-related incidents Three people, including a 19-year-old woman, were killed and 23 injured in storm-related incidents in Delhi, as strong winds uprooted trees and electricity poles and led to portions of walls collapsing across the national capital. Power supply was also disrupted in many areas as a dust storm swept the national capital late on Friday. In Shaheen Bagh, 19-year-old Shireen Ahmed was critically injured when a portion of a wall of an adjacent building collapsed on her. She was taken to a hospital where doctors declared her dead, a police officer said. P3