FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 14 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA LC | NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW | SILIGURI | Thursday, 10 September 2026 SPORTS PERSPECTIVE Time to stop this charade WORLD NATION Ramesh flags ‘black money’ via fake parties, targets 3,260 RUPPs UAE warned Netanyahu of Hamas operation before 7 Oct Page 7 Page 5 Page 12 US Open: Shelton upsets defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in quarter-final Page 14 Marriage does not mean At ‘Gerua Samman Yatra’, Adhikari warns those ‘insulting’ saffron culture extinction of individual STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Let me give a clear message. I am only warning you. Think five times before writing or saying anything derogatory about saffron. Kolkata, 9 September A ddressing a gathering at Jadavpur in the city after a massive ‘Gerua Samman Yatra’, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday issued a strong warning against what he described as insults to saffron and Sanatan culture. He said the government would not tolerate derogatory remarks or writings against the saffron colour. “Let me give a clear message. I am only warning you. Think five times before writing or saying anything derogatory about saffron,” Mr Adhikari said at the gathering. Mr Adhikari also said the West Bengal government is planning a major overhaul of the higher education sector, announcing that a “historic” bill aimed at introducing a new policy for universities, teachers and non-teaching staff would be brought before the state SUVENDU ADHIKARI, WEST BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER Assembly during its special session beginning Thursday. He said the Assembly would hold a special session from 11 a.m. on Thursday and a major policy change in higher education would be taken up. “Tomorrow, a historic bill of the Higher Education Department is going to be introduced. The Cabinet has approved it and the Governor has given his consent. A special session of the Assembly is being held tomorrow. The West Bengal government is introducing a new policy for universities, teachers and education workers,” the Chief Minister said. Mr Adhikari added that he had asked the Higher Education Minister and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister to allow him 15-20 minutes to speak during the Assembly session. The Chief Minister also linked the proposed changes in higher education with his broader political and ideological campaign. Speaking at the Jadavpur rally, he said he had taken an oath to remove what he described Rajnath bats for stronger India-Sri Lanka maritime partnership STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 9 September Secure sea lanes, freedom of navigation, resp ect for international law and uninterrupted maritime trade are cr ucial to ensuring collective security and prosperity in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday, calling for closer maritime cooperation between India and Sri Lanka. Addressing Sri Lankan Deputy Minister of Defence Ar una Jayasekara , the commanders of the Sri Lankan Army, Navy and Air Force and senior officials at the Ministry of Defence in Colombo, Mr Singh said both countries were well placed to jointly safeguard peace, security and stability in the region. “Secure sea lanes, freedom of navigation, respect for international law and unhindered maritime trade are pivotal for collective security and prosperity of the Indian Ocean Region,” Mr Singh said. He emphasised that national security and economic growth were closely interconnected with geography and regional stability, and neither India nor Sri Lanka could remain indifferent to developments in their shared neighbourhood. Mr Singh said the two countries had strengthened their defence capabilities through capacity building and joint exercises but stressed the need to take the partnership further, particularly in the maritime domain. “We need to devise and implement joint protocols, sharpen the skills and share experiences to deal with emerging threats arising from the rapidly evolving global and regional dynamics,” he said, adding that the process needed to be continuous. The Defence Minister said India and Sri Lanka should develop new frameworks for a closer maritime partnership in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions). He proposed that India and Sri Lanka work towards an integrated Maritime Domain Awareness system capable of providing comprehensive maritime information in real time. Such cooperation, he said, could help tackle illegal fishing, suspicious vessels, narcotics trafficking, smuggling, terrorism and other maritime threats. as “anti-national” elements and those who allegedly insult saffron culture from the area. “I have taken an oath that in Jadavpur, the land of Sri Aurobindo and a Centre of Excellence, I will uproot those who raise slogans such as ‘Kashmir mange azadi’, those who give red salute to Kisanji, and those who have written ‘Gerua Tandav’,” he said. Mr Adhikari also invoked his earlier political battles, saying he had pledged in 2011 to remove the Communists Ravindra V Ghuge takes over as CJ of Calcutta HC STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 9 September Justice Ravindra V Ghuge was sworn in as the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday. Governor R N Ravi administered the oath of office to Justice Ghuge at 10 am in Courtroom No. 1 of the Calcutta High Court. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Speaker Rathindra Basu were among those present. Justice Tapobrata Chakraborty had been serving as the court’s acting Chief Justice until Justice Ghuge’s appointment. The Centre issued the notification appointing Justice Ghuge as Chief Justice on Saturday, nearly a month after the Supreme Court Collegium recommended his appointment. • Details: Page 3 Ashwini Vaishnaw: First indigenous bullet train to be launched in 2027 STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 9 September Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the inauguration of India’s first indigenously developed bullet train is fixed for 2027. The high-speed train will be on track by May-June next year for testing, he disclosed. Briefing the media after a meeting of the Union Cabinet in New Delhi, the Railway Minister said work on the bullet train project was progressing rapidly, with construction on the Surat-Vapi section of the planned MumbaiAhmedabad bullet-train corridor expected to be completed by December this year. “The train will be on track by May-June next year for testing. After testing, the inauguration will be done,” he said. On Tuesday, while addressing the ‘NaMo for Viksit Bharat’ event in Vadodara, Mr Vaishnaw noted that the first body frame of the high-speed train had recently been completed and sent for squeeze testing. On Wednesday, Mr Vaishnaw said that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved three multi-tracking projects of the Ministry of Railways with a combined estimated cost of Rs 10,783 crore, aimed at expanding rail capacity, easing congestion and strengthening freight and passenger connectivity. The projects ~ the Kharagpur-Jharsuguda (Bagdehi) fourth line, Katni-Pendra Road fourth line and Bilaspur (Uslapur)Pendra Road third line ~ will cover 14 districts across the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. from power and later vowed todefeatthe“Jamaatigovernment” in 2026 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I had taken an oath in 2011 to remove the Communists. I had also vowed to remove the Jamaati government in 2026 under Modi ji’s leadership. With your support, that has happened,” he said. He called upon his supporters to remain united and declared that saffron would dominate the political and cultural landscape of Bengal. “You stay with us. In the land of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Chaitanya and Pranabananda, saffron will prevail, saffron will prevail, saffron will prevail,” he said. Mr Adhikari further said he would return to Jadavpur shortly at the invitation of the Sanatan Sanskriti Parishad to organise recitations of the Hanuman Chalisa and the Bhagavad Gita, asserting that those allegedly insulting saffron culture would be “taught a lesson”. autonomy: Supreme Court STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 9 September The Supreme Court will commence hearing the batch of petitions seeking criminalisation of marital rape from next month. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant , Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana on Wednesday directed that the matter be listed for final hearing after three weeks on Wednesdays and Thursdays. This came after the Central government filed its affidavit on the matter. Currently, marital rape is excluded from the ambit of the offence of “rape” by way of Exception 2 to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which has replaced the IPC, has a similar provision. During the hearing of the case, the court remarked that marriage cannot result in an “extinction of individual autonomy” of a woman but the court must reckon with the existing statutory exception under the BNS before permitting prosecution for rape within marriage. “We fully appreciate the submission that there is no question of marriage resulting in an extinction of individual autonomy. Point well taken. Now see the law as it stands. It is a penal law. And therefore, before a person can be prosecuted, rightly or wrongly, a constitutional court has to render a verdict that the exception is unreasonable or manifestly arbitrary. Only then can prosecution on that score be permitted," Justice Bagchi said. The court said that it will examine two questions: one, whether a prosecution can be sustained even if the marital rape exception survives, and two, whether the exception itself is constitutionally valid. “We will answer both questions. One, suppose the provision is sustained, despite that, whether it constitutes an offence. (Two), their direct challenge is to the provision itself, that it is not liable to be sustained,” the CJI remarked. In this regard, the court said that it will examine the implications of reading down the exception, and whether an act expressly excluded from the offence can nevertheless be brought within it through interpretation.