NEW DELHI 08 DECEMBER 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in MAGAZINE PLAYING EXCLUSIVE VOICES BY THE ROLES Toy With Feelings to Grin and Bear it US rejects BJP’s allegations Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi IN its pushback to the BJP’s charges, the US embassy in Delhi said it was disappointing that the ruling party would make accusations that ‘deep state’ elements and the US government wwere trying to destabilise India. “The US government works with independent organisations on programming that supports professional development and capacity building training for journalists. This programming does not influence the editorial decisions or direction of these organisations,” according to a s p o ke s p e r s o n o f t h e U S embassy . It was responding to the BJP’s accusation on Thursday MAHAPANCHAYAT Delhi farmers to hold own meet on Dec 22 E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi AS farmers from Punjab and several parts of Uttar Pradesh gear up to march towards the national capital, their brethren in Delhi have also announced to hold a mahapanchayat in Mangolpur village of North West Delhi on December 22 regarding long pending issues of the national capital’s 360 villages. So far, the villagers of Delhi are peacefully voicing their crucial issues through the ‘Gaon Dehat Bachao Yatra,’ but, if need be, the people of the city’s villages will ‘gherao’ PM, L-G and the CM’s residence as a mark of their protest, the largest khap panchayat of North India Palam 360’s chief Chaudhary Surender Solanki. Solanki, while addressing a meeting of Delhi’s villagers and farmers at Pochanpur village in Dwarka, hit out at the governments, alleging that the city’s rural belt has been neglected for a long time while civic issues have piled up, forcing people to live in pathetic circumstances. He warned that if the Centre and the city government do not come up with written solution for the problems of the villages before December 22, the people coming from the city’s 360 villages will intensify protest. “Villagers will no more fall for false assurances and first demand their issues to be resolved before elections unless they will further intensify the movement. He said that in the upcoming mahapanchayat on December 22, the people coming from Delhi’s 360 villages will take part in large numbers. If required, then all the khaps and farmer union from North India will also be called,” he said. A Lot can Happen Over Coffee PLUS: 12 PAGES Polished Performance ‘SOROS, ROCKEFELLER, U.S. AID FUND OCCRP’ BJP said French media group Mediapart revealed that Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project was funded by US AID, George Soros and Rockefeller Foundation that US government and deep state elements were trying to destabilise the country The ruling party . alleged that the investigative journalism portal, Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), was providing ammunition to the Congress to target India and the BJP . “The US has long been a champion of media freedom around the world. A free and independent press is an essen- tial component of any democracy, enabling informed and constructive debate and holding those in power accountable,” the US embassy spokesperson added. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had said that elements in the US deep state have colluded with a group of journalists and with India’s Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, to put a spoke in the wheel of India’s growth story using unsubstantiated allegations and malicious reports without a “shred of evidence.” “In fact, 50% of OCCRP’s funding comes directly from the US State Department. OCCRP, therefore, functions as a media tool for carrying out deep state agendas,” the party said in a series of posts on social media. FOREIGN SECY’S VISIT Yunus press secy cagey on Hasina issue in talks with Misri. In August, Hasina’s BANGLADESH wants to 15-year-regime was ousted “normalise ties with its big by a student movement. She neighbour India,” said fled her country and took Shafiqul Alam, press secre- refuge in India. tary to Bangladesh’s Chief “We have an extradition Adviser Prof Muhammad treaty with India, and have Yunus. pressed for her extradition, Speaking to this newspa- but we will have to wait till per from Dhaka, Alam said all the legal formalities are they are keenly awaiting the completed. She has been invisit of India’s Foreign Sec- dicted by a tribunal here for retary Vikram Mismurder. She is also Temple ri to Dhaka on Dec accused of forced set on fire 9. “This is the first disappearances of high profile visit of thousands of people A group of the highest ranking people set fire to and rampant corofficer from India ruption. She is acan ISKCON after the August cused of mass extemple in a revolution and we Dhaka district on trajudicial killings look forward to during the August Saturday. The meeting him. There attack in Dhour revolution,” Alam are multiple issues alleged. village took of mutual interests place in the early On attacks on mibetween the two hours, Police are norities and their countries which places of worship searching for will feature in the in Bangladesh, culprits | P8 discussion. India is Alam acknowledged a big neighbour and a world that there have been “isolatplayer. We would like to con- ed” incidents, including Fritinue with our good rela- day night’s torching of a tions,” said Alam. Hindu temple outside Dhaka He refused to comment on by unidentified people and whether an extradition re- said that the interim governquest of the ousted Awami ment regrets communal vioLeague leader and former lence and is committed to prime minister Sheikh Hasi- protecting the rights of the na will feature in the talks minorities. B A L A C H A U H A N @ Bengaluru Security has been beefed up outside the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala on Saturday, after its security was breached | PTI Anand Neelakantan Dinesh Singh Ravi Shankar Makarand Paranjape Sumeet Bhasin Shankkar Aiyar Shampa Dhar-Kamath Geetha Ravichandran THE Delhi High Court on Saturday upheld a tribunal decision granting disability pension to a retired Army veteran, emphasising that a posting in a peace area does not automatically negate the link between service and disability . A division bench, comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur, dismissed the petition filed by the government and underscored that the Medi- Board later revised its opinion, stating that the respondent’s subsequent posting in Ambala, a peace area, negated the service connection. Dismissing this rationale, the tribunal relied on the Supreme Court’s precedent, which held that disabilities arising after joining service are presumed to be attributable to or aggravated by service unless proven otherwise. The tribunal also referenced the 2008 AMMA SPEAKS HEART OF FIRE Paying it Forward SP threatens to exit the MVA over Uddhav Sena’s Babri glorification CM: Home for double-engine coordination S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar and others pay tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in Mumbai | PTI S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai THE Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra on Saturday refused to take part in the oath taking ceremony of the newly elected MLAs in protest against the alleged rigging of electronic voting machines (EVM) in the recent assembly elections. However, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar and others took their oath as MLAs. There was turbulence in the MVA, as the Samajwadi Party that has two MLAs in Maharashtra, threatened to walk out of the alliance. SP MLA Abu Azmi said the MVA was taking decisions without consulting them, including the boycott of the oath ceremony . Another SP MLA Rais Sheikh said his party was not comfortable with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena lauding the demolition of the Babri Mas- jid. “We will talk with our leaders and take the call on the MVA,” he said. As for the EVM issue, Ajit Pawar said that MVA was doing injustice to their voters. He said when the MVA did well in the Lok Sabha elections, they had no problems with the EVM. “Now, the Opposition is blaming the EVM This is nothing but cheating,” he said, adding they will have to take their oath on Sunday, else they will lose their assembly membership. Uddhav Sena’s MLA Aditya Thackeray said he suspected EVM rigging gave the Mahayuti the mandate. “We did not take oath in protest against the EVM rigging. We are raising our concern at the appropriate platform of the Election Commission of India. When the Markhadwadi village tried to conduct a mock poll to verify their voting through paper ballot, the local administration and the police disallowed it. Something is fishy he alleged. ,” Bizman shot dead after morning walk S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi A 52-year-old utensil trader was gunned down by two unidentified assailants on a motorcycle in Shahdara, while he was returning from morning walk on Saturday . The deceased, identified as Sunil Jain, a resident of Krishna Nagar, was fired upon with seven to eight rounds while returning home on his two-wheeler near the Yamuna Sports Complex. At the time of the attack, Jain was riding as pillion passenger on the vehicle driven by another individual named Sumit. Their two friends were accompanying them on another two-wheeler. When Sumit and Sunil stopped at Vishwas Nagar red light, two men wearing helmets shot Jain dead and fled on their bike parked nearby . According to the police, a PCR call was received at 8.36 am at the Farsh Bazar police station prompting them to rush to the scene. The police team found Jain critically injured at the crime scene. “Jain had been returning home from his regular morning walk at Yamuna Sport complex when two assailants on a motorcycle ambushed him,” DCP (Shahdara) Prashant Gautam said. HC upholds disability pension for retired Army man cal Board must carefully consider service conditions before denying disability benefits. The case centered on the respondent, who retired in 2012 after serving in challenging terrains, including high-altitude postings such as Leh. Initially, the Medical Board attributed his disabilities — coronary artery disease (CAD), primary hypertension, and open angle glaucoma — to military service. However, the ‘Rom-coms Give a Feeling of Comfort’ First day, first boycott by Aghadi lawmakers SERVICE ROW S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi Neighbourhood Watch guidelines for medical officers, which address the role of stress in aggravating conditions like hypertension, even in peace postings. The HC echoed these findings, rejecting the petitioner’s argument that Medical Board’s opinion was conclusive. The bench stressed that the Medical Board’s initial acknowledgment of service-related aggravation could not be disregarded merely due to the location of the officer’s later postings. Stress factor A set of 2008 guidelines address the role of stress in aggravating medical conditions even in peace postings. AMID continuing wrangling for plum portfolios in the ruling alliance, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday justified his claim on the home ministry, saying it would enhance coordination with the Centre. Both the BJP and the Shiv Sena are yet to thrash out a consensus on portfolio allocation, specifically home, which Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is keen on holding. Shinde’s argument is that finance and home are portfolios worthy of a deputy chief minister. If NCP’s Ajit Pawar can get finance with 41 MLAs, why can’t the Sena with 57 MLAs have home, he reasoned. Fadnavis said, “we feel the home ministry should remain with us for coordinating with the Centre on issues like Naxalism. Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde can also do coordination, but we strongly feel the home ministry should be with us.” He further added that as leader of the BJP in the state, he is always in contact with the party and its leadership in Delhi, one more reason why he should have the home ministry . In the outgoing Mahayuti government, Fadnavis as deputy chief minister was in-charge of the home portfolio. Of the 43 ministries, BJP wants to keep as many as 60% of them. EXPRESS READ Delhi air quality back to ‘poor’ category After a brief respite of three days, Delhi’s air quality dropped again to the ‘poor’ category on Saturday. The 24-hour average Air Quality Index of the city was recorded at 233 at 4 pm on Saturday, marking a deterioration from Friday’s reading of 197, which fell in the ‘moderate’ category. India advises citizens in Syria to return soon India on Saturday issued an advisory for its citizens in Syria to return at the earliest and also urged others to drop any travel plans to the insurgencyhit country. Reports on Saturday said Syrian rebels are closing in on Damascus from north and south, and have entered the city of Homs. | P7