FRIDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2023 www.thestatesman.com twitter.com/thestatesman facebook.com/thestatesman INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR BIDEN BRUSHES OFF IMPEACHMENT ISSUE P11 SENSEX 67,519.0052.01 WEATHER GENERALLY CLOUDY SKY. LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN/THUNDERSHOWERS. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 36 AND 27 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max.91% Min. 55% TEMPERATURE Max: 37.6°C (+4) SUN RISES 06:06 hrs MOON RISES 07:00 hrs Min: 27.8 °C (+3) SUN SETS 18:27 hrs MOON SETS 18:46 hrs THUMBNAILS An artist makes an idol of Lord Ganesha for the upcoming Ganesh Chaturthi festival, at Dhalpur, in Kullu on Wednesday.  ANI Anantnag encounter: The army operation against the terrorists in the Kashmir valley continued for the second day, a day after two senior Army offices and a J&K police DSP were killed in a gunfight in Anantnag district. Police claimed to have "encircled" two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in the higher reaches of Anantnag district of south Kashmir. NIFTY 20,103.1033.10 ‘ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION NEED OF THE HOUR’ KAVITHA SUMMONED BY ED AGAIN IN DELHI LIQUOR SCAM CASE P4 ` vs $ 83.0304 PAISE P5 GOLD 60,430.00 PM castigates Opp over Sanatan Dharma ‘Bharat is the Vishwamitra in the world today,’ the PM asserted GAURAV CHANDRA BHOPAL, 14 SEPTEMBER aunching a scathing attack on the Opposition coalition ‘INDIA’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said people should be vigilant and prepared to give a fitting reply to the openly increasing attacks by such forces and organisations that aim to destroy the centuries-old Sanatan Dharma in the country. Addressing a large gathering at Harkal in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh during the foundation laying ceremony of a petrochemical complex worth Rs 49,000 crore at the Bina refinery and other industrial units worth Rs 1,800 crore across MP, the Prime Minister asserted: “Bharat is the Vishwamitra in the world today.” He pointed out how India had shown its worth as a global leader through the successful hosting of the recent G20 Summit in New Delhi. “The success of G-20 is not Modi’s success but it is the success of the 140 crore Indians,” the PM said amidst The success of G-20 is not Modi’s success but it is the success of the 140 crore Indians. L NARENDRA MODI PRIME MINISTER OFINDIA Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a warm welcome from Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in Bina on Thursday.  ANI loud applause and cheers by the crowd. “However, there are certain organisations that are hell-bent on destroying the country’s image and dividing the society and the nation,” Mr Modi said. Calling the Opposition alliance NDA by mistake, and then immediately correcting himself by terming it 'INDI Alliance' (INDIA), Mr Modi charged: “The opposition alliance has no leader and their political ideology is also confused.” “Nonetheless, the aim of the INDI Alliance is to destroy Bharat’s culture and tradition by attacking Sanatan Dharma,” the PM said. Stressing the power of the Sanatan Dharma, Mr Modi said the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi said ‘Hey Ram’, as his last words. The PM also mentioned Devi Ahilyabai Holkar, Rani of Jhansi, Sant Ravidas, Rani Durgavati, Mata Shabri, Maharishi Valmiki and the martyrs of the Indian freedom struggle who upheld the power of Sanatan and laid down their lives and fought against oppression. The PM congratulated MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and the state government for successfully organising different meetings of the G20 groups in the state. He said the Union government has given Rs 49,000 crore for Bina’s petro- WENGER CONFIRMS VISIT TO INDIA IN OCT chemical complex, and that sum is more than the annual budget of some of the states in the country. “This is a clear indication of our commitment to the development and welfare of MP,” the PM asserted. Stressing the importance of transparency in governance and exterminating corruption for the development of any state or country, the Prime Minister recalled the time when Madhya Pradesh was considered amongst the BIMARU states in the country. “Those who ruled in Madhya Pradesh for decades had nothing to offer apart from crime and corruption,” the PM charged, in a reference to the Congress that ruled in MP for many years before 2003. He said during that time, no industrialist dared to come to MP but now investors are lining up to set up projects in MP and the Bundelkhand region. P12 SILVER 73,500.00 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 92.601.40 Special session: BJP, Congress issue whip for all MPs to be present INDIA to stay away from news shows of 14 anchors STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 14 SEPTEMBER NEW DELHI, 14 SEPTEMBER With the Lok Sabha expected to take up several important Bills during its Special Session scheduled from 18 to 22 September, both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have issued a whip to their MPs to attend House proceedings on all days. The three-line whip of the BJP Parliamentary Party said: “All BJP Members in Lok Sabha are hereby informed that some very important Legislative Business will be taken up for discussion and passing in the Lok Sabha from Monday, the 18th September to Friday, the 22nd September, 2023.” “All Members of BJP in Lok Sabha are therefore, requested to be positively present in the House throughout on all the five days i.e. from Monday, 18th September to Friday, the 22nd September 2023 and support the Government’s stand,” the Whip issued by BJP’s Chief Whip (Lok Sabha) Rakesh Singh said. The Congress also issued a three-line whip to all its MPs, in view of some key agenda that may be brought in during the session. "Very important issues will “Very important issues will be taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha from 18 to 22 Sept,” the three-line whip states. be taken up for discussion in the Rajya Sabha during this special session i.e. from September 18 to 22, 2023. All members of Congress party in the Rajya Sabha are requested to kindly remain present in the House from 11 a.m. onwards till the adjournment of the House from September 18 to September 22 without fail and support the party's stand," the three-line whip states. "This may be treated as most important," it added. A similar whip was issued for all Congress MPs of the Lok Sabha. A special discussion on Parliament’s journey of 75 years, starting from the Constituent Assembly is listed for 18 September, the first day of the Special Session. The government has also listed the Bill on the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners to be taken up for consideration and passage during the session. A day after the first meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc’s coordination committee, the sub group of media on Thursday announced to not participate in the news shows of 14 anchors. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera shared a note of the INDIA bloc media group decision on his 'X' handle and said, "The following decision was taken by the INDIA media committee in a virtual meeting held this afternoon." In the note, the media group of INDIA said: “Persuant to the decision taken by the INDIA coordination committee in its meeting on September 13, the INDIA parties will not send their representatives on the shows and events of anchors: Aditi Tyagi, Aman Chopra, Amish Devgan, Anand Narsimhan, Arnab Goswami, Ashok Shrivastav, Chitra Tripathi, Gaurav Sawant, Navika Kumar, Prachi Parashar, Rubika Liaquat, Shiv Aroor, Sudhir Chaudhary and Sushant Sinha.” The INDIA bloc also announced 19 member working group for IANS media.