FRIDAY 17 MAY 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR HM’S VISIT TO KASHMIR TAKES POLITICAL CIRCLES BY SURPRISE ‘LONE WOLF’ CHARGED WITH SHOOTING SLOVAK PREMIER P9 SENSEX 73,663.72676.69 WEATHER PARTLY CLOUD SKY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 43 AND 25 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. P5 NIFTY 22,403.85203.30 P6 ` vs $ 83.50 CAA is latest guarantee of Modi: PM in Azamgarh ‘SP, Congress spreading lies about CAA, pushing country towards riots’ Max. 65 % Min. 25 % Max: 42.5 °C (+2) SUN RISES 05:29 hrs MOON RISES 13:40 hrs Min: 24.8 °C (-1) SUN SETS 19:06 hrs MOON SETS 02:24 hrs STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE AZAMGARH, 16 MAY THUMBNAILS Farmers harvest the paddy crops on a hot summer day, at an agricultural field, in ANI Morigaon on Thursday. Govt slashes prices of 41 medicines: The government has reduced the prices of 41 commonly used medicines and six formulations used to treat diseases such as diabetes, heart and liver ailments. Antacids, multivitamins, and antibiotics are among the medicines that will become cheaper, according to a notification issued by the Department of Pharmaceuticals and National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). P rime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that the latest example of what Modi's guarantee means is the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He said the country has started granting citizenship under the CAA. He accused the Samajwadi Party and Congress of spreading lies about the CAA, and trying to push the country towards riots. " You must have seen that just yesterday, refugees started getting citizenship under the CAA. All these people are Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi who have been living in the country for a long time as refugees and were victims of partition of the country done on the basis of religion," he said. Addressing an election meeting in Lalganj Lok Sabha seat in Azamgarh District, the Prime Minister said enthusiasm of Lalganj of UP clearly shows that the blessings of the people are with BJP-NDA. This was PM Modi's first public meeting in Purvanchal. Attacking the Congress, the PM said: “They climb the ladder of power by taking the name of Mahatma Gandhi but do not remember his teachings. Mahatma Gandhi had said that people tortured in other countries can come to India.” Mr Modi said that in order to save the honour, religion and culture of daughters, people were forced to take refuge in India due to hardships, adding that this was not the vote bank of Congress. “When atrocities took place there, what did the people in the INDI Alliance of Congress and SP do in the name of vote bank politics? They cre- ated a mountain of lies in the name of CAA and tried to throw the entire country, including UP, into riots. Till today, they say that Modi has brought the CAA but they will end it. No one can end it," he stressed. Mr Modi said that he has unmasked these hypocritical communalists who instigated fights between Hindu and Muslims for vote bank politics. “This is Modi's guarantee that whatever strength you may gather from anywhere in the country or abroad, no one can remove the CAA. In a few months, the refugees living like orphans from Bengal to Punjab will get respect and recognition and will be entitled to be called sons of Mother India," he said. The PM said that Kashmir was an election issue every time in the past fivesix decades. “You must have now noticed that the people opposing us have stopped speaking and have been locked out. They (opposition) go to those areas and say that Article 370 will be reinstated. The question is not about Modi, the way the fourth phase of voting was conducted in Srinagar ... after 40 years, democracy and the Constitution were glorified there,” he added. Mr Modi said the enthusiasm of the people of Srinagar shows that now no one will be able to do vote bank politics after abrogation of Article 370. " The mothers-sisters of the soldiers were worried about the blasts and stone pelting on the soil of Kashmir, which has now ended. It was Modi's guarantee. There were strikes in the country, there was danger of death, there were terrorist threats. Now the record has been broken. Such work can be done only by those who have love for their nation," he claimed. P12 SILVER 89,100 GOLD 75,545.00 RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY TEMPERATURE IPL 2024: LUCKNOW AND MUMBAI BATTLE IT OUT FOR PRIDE POLITICS AND MORALITY BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 80.430.15 Kejriwal’s statement a slap on the system, ED tells Supreme Court PARMOD KUMAR NEW DELHI, 16 MAY The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to take note of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stating in an election speech on 15 May, that he would not be going back to jail on 2 June ~ as ordered by the top court ~ if people vote for the broom ~ the AAP election symbol ~ the ongoing general elections to Lok Sabha. In a related development, the ED informed the top court that the Aam Aadmi Party too would be named as co-accused in the Delhi Excise Policy case. A bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta referred to their 10 May 2024, order by which Mr Kejriwal was granted 21 days’ bail with direction to return to jail on 2 June 2024, as the ED cited a speech of Mr Kejriwal stating “if you vote for broom, I won't have to go to jail on 2 June.” The Solicitor General Tushar Mehta arguing for the ED said: “It's a slap on the system by the petitioner. Petitioner treats himself as a special person. We treat him as any other person. Please see what he said on the first day. Your lordship said he will not say anything about the case.” However, the bench said that they have restrained SG Mehta referred to Arvind Kejriwal’s speech, where the AAP supremo had said that he would not have to go to jail if people voted for the “broom” symbol. Mr Kejriwal from saying anything on his role in the matter and not on the matter as such. As Solicitor General Mehta again referred to the statement by Mr Kejriwal in an election speech, Justice Khanna said: “That's his assumption, we don't know. What we felt was justified, we said. Our order was very clear. We specifically said we are not making an exception to anybody.” “We will not go into this,” the judge said, putting the matter to rest. The Enforcement Directorate also told the court that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be made coaccused in the alleged money laundering case linked to the Delhi excise policy case and the complaint in this regard is in the pipeline. Additional Solicitor General S.V Raju, also representing the ED, told the court that there is direct evidence of Mr Kejriwal demanding Rs 100 crore as kickbacks in the case and asserted that the Delhi chief minister is directly liable as he allegedly played a key role in formulating the excise policy. ASG Raju said that Rs. 100 crores went to AAP for its Goa election expenses. adding that there was evidence to show that Mr Kejriwal's stay at a seven-star hotel in Goa was partly funded by an accused. Naresh Mohan passes away Monsoon likely to arrive PoK will come back to India: Jaishankar in Kerala by 31 May: IMD STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 16 MAY Mr Naresh Mohan, wellknown media leader and a former member of the Board of Directors of The Statesman Ltd. died here on Thursday morning. He was 82. Mr Mohan was admitted to a city hospital a few days back. He suffered multi-organ failure leading to his demise. His last rites were performed at the Lodhi Road Crematorium this afternoon in the presence of his family, friends and admirers. Mr Mohan served The Hindustan Times in various management capacities, including as Executive President, for almost three decades before agreeing to become at the urging of colleagues Executive Director of the ailing United News of India news agency. He was also a member of The Tribune Trust for several years and served with distinction on the boards of The Statesman Limited and Jagran Prakashan Limited. Mr Mohan represented The Sunday Statesman in the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) for nearly two decades, until he decided last year that his health did not permit the engagement. Over the course of a career spanning more than five decades, he had served as Chairman of the Audit Bureau of Circulations and United News of India, and been President of INS in the early 1990s. He had also been a member of the Press Council of India and the industry represen- tative on Wage Boards. Mr. Rakesh Sharma, President, INS, has condoled Mr Mohan’s demise. RK adds: Nareshji, as he was called by everyone who knew him, had been a close friend for more than 45 years, indeed from the day I entered the profession of journalism as a trainee in The Hindustan Times in the late 1970s. Over the years, we worked closely together on the boards of United News of India, INS and The Statesman, where he could ignite any discussion with his profound knowledge of any subject concerning newspaper operations. Blessed with a razor-sharp memory, Nareshji's knowledge of the industry was encyclopaedic. He was the first port of call for information on the government's present and past media policy and the historical battles fought by media institutions. Not without reason was he called the "Bhishma Pitamah" of the newspaper industry. NEW DELHI, 16 MAY AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 16 MAY The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced that this year, the southwest monsoon is likely to set in over Kerala on 31 May, with a model error of ± 4 days. Southwest monsoon normally sets in over Kerala on 1 June, with a standard deviation of about seven days. IMD has been issuing operational forecasts for the date of monsoon onset over Kerala from 2005 onwards. An indigenously developed state-ofthe-art statistical model with a model error of ± 4 days is used for the purpose, according to an IMD statement. Last year, the monsoon arrived in Kerala on 8 June. The IMD had forecast the arrival on 4 June with a margin of ± 4 days. In its latest bulletin, the IMD has forecast heatwave conditions over Northwest India from 16 May and in the eastern region from 18 May. Concurrently, heavy rainfall, accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, and gusty winds, is anticipated over the southern states until 20 May. IMD has forecast aboveaverage monsoon rainfall in 2024, which augurs well for the country’s agricultural sector which was hit by erratic weather last year. The monsoon, which normally arrives in Kerala around 1 June and retreats in mid-September, is expected to total 106 per cent of the long-term average this year. The monsoon plays a key role in the Indian economy as over 50 per cent of the country's farmland does not have any other source of irrigation. The monsoon rains are also crucial for recharging the country’s reservoirs and aquifers from which the water can be used later in the year to irrigate crops. Football legend Sunil Chhetri to retire after India's match against Kuwait AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 16 MAY Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri announced on Thursday that he will bring the curtain down on his international career after the country's FIFA World Cup qualification match against Kuwait, scheduled for 6 June. The 39-year-old striker revealed his decision by sharing a video on his social media accounts. “There is one day that I never forget and remember it quite often is the first time I played for my country man, it was unbelievable. But the day before, the morning of the day, Sukhi sir, my first national team coach, in the morning he came to me and he’s like, you’re going to start? I can’t tell you how I was feeling man. I took my jersey, I sprayed some perfume on it, I have no idea why. So that day, everything that happened, once he told me, from breakfast to lunch and to the game and to my first goal in my debut, to conceding late 80th minute, that day is probably that I will never forget and is one of the best days of my national team journey," Chhetri said in the video. “The feeling I recollected in the last 19 years is a very nice combination of duty, pressure and immense joy. I never thought, individually, these are the many games I have played for the country, this is what I have; good or bad, but now I did it... And the moment I told myself first, that yes, this is the game that is going to be my last, is when I started recollecting everything. It was so strange...” “So when I did decide that this is it, this is going to be my last game, I told my mom, my dad and my wife, my family first, my dad. My dad was my dad, he was normal, he was relieved, happy, everything, but my mom and my wife started crying and I told them, you always used to bug me that there are too many games, there is too much of pressure when you watch me and now that I’m telling you that, you know, I’m not going to play for my country anymore after this game. "And even they couldn’t, they couldn’t express to me as to why they, they burst into tears. It’s not that I was feeling tired, it’s not that I was feeling this or that, when the instinct came that this should be my last game, then I thought about it a lot and eventually I came to this decision," said Chhetri. The striker made his international debut against Pakistan on 12 June 2005. He was part of the title-winning Indian teams in the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008, the SAFF Championship in 2011 and 2015, the Nehru Cup in 2007, 2009 and 2012, as well as the Intercontinental Cup in 2017 and 2018.Chhetri is also third on the list of players with the most international goals with 94 in 150 matches behind Argentine star Lionel Messi (106 in 180 matches) and Portugal great Cristiano Ronaldo (128 in 205 matches). (See also Page 12) External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday asserted that Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK) is an inseparable part of India and it will come back to the country. "PoK is a different category because eventually PoK is India and it will come back to India, I don't think we should ever have any doubt about it. Pakistan has a lot of other problems, including in Balochistan and various other parts as well," Mr Jaishankar said during a 'Vishwabandhu Bharat' interaction in Nashik, Maharashtra. Earlier this week, while addressing a campaign rally in Palghar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also made it clear that "PoK was, is, and will continue to be an integral part of India" and no power can challenge this position. Reacting to the growing unrest and continued violence that is taking place in PoK, Mr Jaishankar said there was no doubt that people in PoK have been watching and getting affected with the massive development that has been taking place in Jammu and Kashmir over the last few years. "People in PoK are seeing the positive changes across the Line of Control and they are asking themselves that if things are like that, then why are we suffering and why are we accepting this kind of mistreatment? So, they are undoubtedly getting affected by all this," the EAM said. Complete chaos currently prevails in PoK's Muzaffarabad which has been rocked by violent protests as the locals, fed up with the rising inflation and high electricity bills, continue to clash with police over the past many days.
The Statesman is one of India's oldest English newspapers. It was founded in Kolkata in 1875 and is directly descended from The Friend of India (founded 1818). The Englishman (founded 1821) was merged with The Statesman in 1934. The Delhi edition of The Statesman began publication in 1931. The Statesman Weekly is a compendium of news and views from the Kolkata and Delhi editions. Printed on airmail paper, it is popular with readers outside India. The Statesman (average weekday circulation approximately 180,000) is a leading English newspaper in West Bengal. The Sunday Statesman has a circulation of 230,000.