04022022 first india lucknow

‘Zero’ communal riots, UP 2nd-largest economy: Yogi
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Addressing
a press conference here
before leaving for Gora-
khpur where he will file
his nomination papers
on Friday, Chief Minis-
ter Yogi Adityanath on
Thursday spoke of the
achievements of his
government, mention-
ing most prominently
that there had been not
a single communal riot
in the state and UP’s
economy had been lift-
ed from number 6 to
number 2 among the
country’s states.
He also said that un-
der the guidance of
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi, his govern-
ment’s Covid manage-
ment had been appreci-
ated world-wide.
“In the second wave,
we set up over 551 oxy-
gen plants in view of
oxygen crisis. We have
alsomanagedtosuccess-
fully contain the third
wave.Activecasesinthe
state have reduced by
about 60,000 in the
last 15 days,” the
CM said.
“UP’s econo-
my from 1947-to
2017 was at 6th,
7th spot (in the
country). No work was
done in 70 years. But in
merely 5 years,
we have suc-
c e s s f u l l y
helped the
UP econo-
my reach
the 2nd
spot,” he
s a i d ,
emphasising that this
was achieved despite
the Covid pandemic.
He said UP was
the first state to
deploy women po-
lice personnel at
all gram panchay-
ats. “It’s also the
first state that
saw no riots, ter-
ror activities in
the last 5 years
and first
state to
use new technology to
promote e-prosecu-
tion,” he pointed out.
The chief minister
said his government set
up forensic labs to help
in better investigations.
Talking about police re-
forms, he said, “We
worked towards mod-
ernisation of the force
and providing modern
equipment and better
facilities for the police,
including better hous-
ing facilities.” Adity-
anath accused his pre-
decessors of failing to
undertake police re-
forms and said they
wanted to use the de-
partment as their “per-
sonal tool”.
“Police recruitment
could not be held in the
previous regime. We re-
cruited 1.5 lakh person-
nel in a transparent
manner and promoted
thousands of them,” he
said. They only in-
dulged in ‘bandar baat’
in the name of develop-
ment and the Akhilesh
Yadav government’s de-
velopment was Turn on P2
5-YR REPORT CARD
CM Yogi Adityanath addresses a press
conference on the five yrs of his govt at
BJP office in Lucknow on Thursday.
—PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
LUCKNOW l FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 84
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West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Twitter
shared a video of an interaction between a police of-
ficer and CM Mamata Banerjee. “Did the Governor call
you? Did he instruct you? What to or what not to do?
Remember you are on state government duty,” she said.
Sensex declined 770 points or 1.3% to end at 58,788
level, while the NSE Nifty shut shop at 17,560, down
220 points. During the day, both the indices had
touched a low of 58,654 and 17,511, respectively.
Among sectors, all the key indices ended in the red.
DID GUV CALL
YOU?: DIDI
LASHES OUT AT
POLICE OFFICER
SENSEX ENDS
770 PTS DOWN;
NIFTY TOPS
17,750-MARK
CORONA CATASTROPHE
Uttar Pradesh Lucknow
NEW
CASES
862
NEW
CASES
5,316 NEW
DEATHS
23
42NOT4
...Chinese soldiers killed in Galwan Valley
clash, claims Australian newspaper report
Mohd Fahad
New Delhi: The ac-
count of the Galwan
violence in Australian
newspaper “The Klax-
on”, pieced together by
a group of social media
researchers, claims the
Chinese soldiers who
drowned in the Galwan
river in June 2020, were
in retreat after the clash
with Indian troops. The
report says China had
lost 42 soldiers in the
clash, many more than
the four it had claimed.
At least 38 PLA soldiers
were washed away
.
Anthony Klan, the
Editor of the Australi-
an paper said that the
Indian soldiers had
come to ascertain
whether the Chinese
has removed their en-
campments in the buff-
er zone when the scuffle
broke out. “In heading
back across the river...
the evidence is, the Chi-
nese soldiers got
washed away,” he said,
adding that much of
this information was
from “first-hand ac-
counts deleted from the
Chinese social media”.
PM MODI TO ADDRESS FIRST
VIRTUAL RALLY IN U’KHAND TODAY
New Delhi: Ahead of
the upcoming Assem-
bly elections in Utta-
rakhand, Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi
will address his first
virtual rally in the
state on Friday
.
PM will address vot-
ers of 14 Assemblies
virtually in four dis-
tricts of Uttarakhand
including Almora,
Bageshwar, Cham-
pawat, and Pithora-
garh district.
Indian diplomat to skip Beijing Winter
Olympics over Galwan torchbearer
Disputed border with nuclear
neighbours stretching India’s
security resources: Naravane
New Delhi: India has
already witnessed
“trailers” of what con-
flict in the future will
look like, along the
country’s unsettled and
active border, Indian
Army Chief General
MM Naravane said on
Thursday
.
He said India faces
“unique, substantial
and multi-domain chal-
lenges” and “disputed
borders with nuclear
neighbours, coupled
with state-sponsored
proxy war, stretches
our security apparatus
and resources”.
Speaking, along with
the chiefs of the Indian
Navy and IAF, at the
Pragyan Conclave or-
ganised by the Centre
for Land Warfare Stud-
ies think tank, Nara-
vane said, “We are al-
ready witnessing trail-
ers of future conflicts.
They are being enacted
dailyontheinformation
battlefield, in the net-
works and cyberspace”.
New Delhi: Describ-
ing China’s choice of a
PLA soldier involved
in the Galwan Valley
clash as a torchbearer
in the Beijing Winter
Olympics event as “re-
grettable”, India on
Thursday said its en-
voy will not attend the
opening or closing cer-
emonies of the games
in the Chinese capital.
This was conveyed
by Ministry of Exter-
nal Affairs spokesper-
son Arindam Bagchi at
his weekly briefing.
Qi Fabao, a regiment
commander of the Peo-
ple’s Liberation Army
who had fought during
the Galwan Valley
clashes with Indian
troops in June 2020 and
received a commenda-
tion for his role in the
fight, was one of the
torchbearers for the
Olympic flame for the
WinterOlympicsbegin-
ning in Beijing on Fri-
day
. His images were
tweeted by an English-
language news outlet.
TORCHBEARER
INCIDENT VERY
SHAMEFUL: US
PAK NSA: WANT
TO MOVE AHEAD
WITH INDIA
2 PAK MILITARY
BASES ATTACKED
US: DON’T ENDORSE
RAHUL’S REMARKS
A top United States
lawmaker has criticised
China for choosing a
soldier involved in the
Galwan valley clash as
a torchbearer for Beijing
Olympics 2022. Senator
Jim Risch, a Republican
who is a Ranking Mem-
ber of the US Senate
Foreign Relations Com-
mittee, called the move
“shameful” and said
that the US will continue
to support the sover-
eignty of India. Beijing
on Thursday kicked off
a three-day Olympic
torch relay.
Islamabad: Pakistan
wants to be “at peace
with India” but the “en-
abling environment”
has to come from New
Delhi, the country’s
National Security Ad-
viser Moeed Yusuf has
said in an interview on
Thursday. “Pakistan
wants to be at peace
with India. But the sad
reality is that India
is now in a situation
where the prevailing
ideology of the Indian
government, if I may
say so, has blocked all
avenues,” he added.
Quetta: Insurgents in the Pa-
kistani province of Balochistan
attacked two military bases
overnight, killing seven sol-
diers while losing 13 of their
own men, the army said on
Thursday, in the latest violence
in the resource-rich region
where China is investing.
US does not endorse Rahul
Gandhi’s comment that China
and Pakistan are closer than
ever due to PM Modi’s inef-
fective policies, said US State
Department spokesperson
Ned Price.
Shah cautions Jayant: Akhilesh
doesn’t even listen to his father
MULTIPLE SHOTS FIRED AT AIMIM’S ASADUDDIN
OWAISI’S VEHICLE ON WAY TO DELHI; ONE HELD
Meerut: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on
Thursday claimed that some miscreants fired
shots at his vehicle while he was on his way to
Delhi after attending a poll event at Kithaur in
Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut. The incident is being
probed by Hapur Police and one person has
been arrested. “A while ago, shots were
fired at my car at Chhijarsi toll gate.
Four rounds were fired. There were
three-four people, all of them ran
away leaving the weapons there.
My car’s tyre got punctured. I got
into another car and left. We are
all safe,” he tweeted in Hindi.
Aditi Nagar
Bulandshahr: BJP leader
Amit Shah on Thursday
cautioned Rashtriya Lok
Dal president Jayant
Chaudhary over his
party’s tie-up with Sa-
majwadi Party, say-
ing Akhilesh Ya-
dav does not even
listen to his father
and uncle then how would he
listen to him. Addressing a poll
event in Anupshahr assembly
constituency in Bulandshahr
district of western UP, the Un-
ion Home Minister also
claimed that the SP will not be
able to form government in UP.
BJP national president JP
Nadda on Thursday was cam-
paigning in Uttar Pradesh’s
Sirathu. He attacked the Sama-
jwadi Party (SP) in his speech.
“Their (Samajwadi Party)
leaders are contesting elec-
tions either from jail or on bail.
Will you (public) bring such
people to power in the Uttar
Pradesh?, Nadda said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath said that his
government has been able to
take UP’s economy to the sec-
ond spot in the country
.
The bullets holes
on Owaisi’s car.
China had confirmed only four deaths, but the report claimed, “PLA soldiers panicked
into retreat and at least 38 of them drowned.” India had lost 20 personnel
Doordarshan will not telecast
the opening and closing
ceremonies of the Beijing
Winter Olympics
May lead to injustice:
MHA asks HC to pause
hearings on marital rape
New Delhi: The Centre
on Thursday asked the
Delhi high court to de-
fer hearings on a batch
of petitions seeking to
criminalise marital
rape, saying that it
needs time to conduct
an effective consulta-
tive process before
reaching any conclu-
sion, and that the ab-
sence of such a process
by the executive and
legislature “may result
in some injustice to one
section or other”.
The high court is
hearing a bunch of PILs
filed in 2015 by various
organisations who
sought to strike down
the exception in the In-
dian rape laws.
HC STAYS
HARYANA’S 75%
LOCAL QUOTA
IN PRIVATE SECTOR
The Punjab and
Haryana high court on
Thursday stayed the
Haryana law providing
75% reservation in
industries to youngsters
with domicile of the
state. Pleas were filed
by industry bodies,
including Gurgaon
Industrial Association.

UTTAR PRADESH
LUCKNOW | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022
02
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All mafia of UP is either in jail, or has left UP or is in SP’s candidate list: Shah
SHAH CONFIDENT OF BJP FORMING
GOVT WITH TWO-THIRD MAJORITY
Bulandshahr: Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah on Thursday said
that the Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party (BJP) will
form government in
Uttar Pradesh with a
two-third majority.
While addressing a
public meeting in An-
upshahar, “I am sure
that this time also in
Uttar Pradesh, under
the leadership of
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi, Yogi Adity-
anath is going to be-
come the CM with a
two-thirds majority.”
The Home Minister
said that all mafia
from UP is either in
jail, have left the state,
or are there in the Sa-
majwadi Party’s list of
candidates.
“We had said that
we will free western
UP from the mafia and
have done what we
told. Today no mafia in
the entire UP has the
courage to do any-
thing wrong. Mother
and sisters are com-
pletely safe. In the last
five years, there has
been an exodus of ma-
fia under the BJP rule.
Mafia is now only
three places. Either
out of state or in jail or
eager to become MLA
in Akhilesh Yadav’s
list. Our CM Yogi has
done the work of
straightening the ma-
fia by turning it up-
side down,” said Shah.
He said that BJP has
worked for the trans-
formation of UP and
Modi worked for secur-
ing the country.
“Crores of rupees are
being recovered in the
raids of their loved
ones. That money be-
longed to SP goons.
BJP has worked to
transform UP. PM
Modi has done the
work of securing the
country
. If the BJP gov-
ernment is formed in
UP, then the hands of
Modi will be strong,”
he said.
In a raid at perfume
trader, Rs 250 crore
was recovered. Now
Akhilesh has a prob-
lem that why Modi is
giving orders to con-
duct raids. Akhilesh,
what is your problem
with raid?” he added.
“SP, BSP and Con-
gress opposed the ab-
rogation of Article 370
in Jammu and Kash-
mir and had said that
there would be vio-
lence there, but not
even a single stone was
pelted at that time. To-
day Kashmir is an in-
tegral part of Mother
India.”, said Shah on
the Kashmir. —ANI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah holds a mace during a public rally at Loni in Ghaziabad on Thursday.
SHAH ON JAYANT
Nadda accompanies
Dy CM Maurya as he
files nomination
Kaushambi: BJP na-
tional president JP Na-
dda accompanied Uttar
Pradesh Deputy Chief
Minister Keshav Pras-
ad Maurya on Thursday
when he filed his nomi-
nation from Sirathu in
Kaushambi district, for
the upcoming Assem-
bly polls.
“Keshavji has worked
efficiently in last five
years, has always lived
up to expectations. I
wish him the best,” Na-
dda said.
Earlier, Maurya ex-
uded confidence that
Bharatiya Janata Party
will win the upcoming
Assembly elections
even if Samajwadi Par-
ty (SP), Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP) and Con-
gress came together.
Speaking to ANI, the
BJP’s National Presi-
dent had said, “This
election is not being
fought by Keshav Pras-
ad Maurya but a worker
and the people of Sir-
athu are fighting this
election and I am sure
the people will give
their blessing to me.”
The SP has fielded BJP
ally Anupriya Patel’s
sister Pallavi Patel
against Uttar Pradesh’s
Deputy CM from the
Sirathu assembly con-
stituency
. —ANI
Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya with BJP National President
JP Nadda and Apna Dal (S) National President Anupriya Patel after
filing nomination in Kaushambi on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Swami Prasad
Maurya accused of
blackmailing BJP
Lucknow: Dalit leader
Kamlesh Paswan on
Thursday accused the
former BJP leader Swa-
mi Prasad Maurya of
blackmailing party
leadership for election
tickets in the upcoming
Assembly polls in Uttar
Pradesh for family
members, which the
party refused.
While speaking to
ANI, Kamlesh Paswan
said, “I am directly ac-
cusing Swami Prasad
Maurya that he was
seeking election tickets
for some family mem-
bers by blackmailing
the BJP, which the par-
ty refused and so, he
joined another party.”
Paswan further said,
“Swami Prasad Maurya
was a three-time MLA.
The Bharatiya Janata
Party gave him honour
when no one else did, he
added. —ANI
Kamlesh Paswan
HC seeks status
report on Kasganj
custodial death case
First India Bureau
Prayagraj: The Alla-
habad High Court on
Thursday sought a sta-
tus report on the magis-
terial inquiry ordered
in the custodial death
case, in which 22-year-
old Altaf was killed in
police custody in Kas-
ganj district.
Altaf, 22, who was
called for interrogation
in an abduction case,
had died in police cus-
tody at Kotwali police
station in Kasganj on
November 9 2021.
Hearing a writ petition
filed by one Chand Mi-
yan, father of the de-
ceased, a division bench
comprising of Justices
Anjani Kumar Mishra
and Justice Deepak
Verma directed the gov-
ernment advocate to file
a status report of the
inquiry conducted by
the magistrate by Feb-
ruary 8, 2022
The petitioner had
requested the court to
direct the CBI to take
over the investigation
of this alleged custodial
death case and to pro-
ceed against all the con-
cerned police officers
and such other persons
found to be involved in
the incident. The court
was also requested to
direct the constitution
of a court-monitored
special investigation
team (SIT) to take over
the investigation.
The petitioner -
Chand Miyan, who is
father of Altaf has
contended that he has
no faith in the state po-
lice and its investiga-
tion into the matter.
Hence, he has made a
request for a probe by
the central bureau of
investigation (CBI) or
a court-monitored in-
vestigation.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: In a striking
indication of improved
economy of the people
in UP, the state now
earned the third spot in
the list of states boast-
ing the highest popula-
tion investing in the
stock market.
The state-wise regis-
tered investors accord-
ing to the BSE, shows
that of the total of 6.9
crores investors in In-
dia, out of which UP
accounts for 52.3 lakh,
the third highest num-
ber in India.
Maharashtra, with
the highest number of
1.49 crore investors,
tops the list while Guja-
rat, with 85.9 lakh inves-
tors, occupies the sec-
ond place.The data, as
on June 2, 2021, shows
that Tamil Nadu with
42.3 lakh, and Karnata-
ka with 42.2 lakh inves-
tors, are placed on the
fourth and fifth posi-
tions, respectively
. Oth-
er states are West Ben-
gal (39.5 lakh), Delhi
(37.3 lakh) and Andhra
Pradesh (36 lakh).
It is to be noted that
state’s Gross State Do-
mestic Product (GSDP)
grew at a CAGR of
around 8.43% between
2015-16 and 2020-21. Ag-
riculture and service
sector are among the
drivers of economy
leading to a steady in-
crease in incomes.
There are a total of 16
states – excluding Ma-
harashtra and Gujarat
- that have more than 10
lakh registered inves-
tors each. Rajasthan,
West Bengal, Delhi,
Andhra Pradesh, Mad-
hya Pradesh, Haryana,
Telangana, Bihar, Kera-
la, Punjab, Odisha, As-
sam and Jharkhand
each have over 10 lakh
registered investors, as
per BSE data.
UP among top 3 states in stock investing population
ECONOMIC SURGE

Agriculture,
and service
sector are
key drivers of
income in
Uttar
Pradesh’s
economy,
leading to
investments
BETTER ECONOMY
Cases of dacoity came down by
58%, murder by 23%, claims Yogi
Continued from page 1
seen only in the bound-
ary walls of ‘kabristan’,
he said, accusing the ex-
CM of favouring Mus-
lims.
Comparing the SP
government in 2016-
2017 with his regime on
the basis of NCRB data,
Adityanath said cases
of dacoity’ came down
by 58 per cent, loot by 64
per cent, murder by 23
per cent, kidnapping by
53 per cent, dowry kill-
ing by 8 per cent, and
rape by 43 per cent.
“Despite being a big
state, we achieved suc-
cess in bringing down
these cases. We intro-
duced the anti-conver-
sion law and the Uttar
Pradesh Recovery of
Damages to Public and
Private Property law,”
he said.
Yogi said 155 hard-
core criminals were
killed in encounters,
while another 3,638
were injured in raids
during his tenure.
“13 police personnel
were killed and 1,236 po-
licemen were injured.
As many as 48,038 peo-
ple were arrested under
the Gangster Act, while
the National Security
Actwasinvokedagainst
694 criminals,” he said.
Illegal properties worth
Rs 2,046 crore belonging
tocriminalswereseized
and demolished, he
said.
He said better law
and order practice
changed the image of
the state and, as a re-
sult, MoUs for invest-
ment proposals worth
Rs 4.68 lakh crore were
signed in its first invest-
ment summit. A record
Rs 3 lakh crore worth
projects have already
been executed, he said.
Even during COVID-19,
the state received in-
vestment proposals
worth over Rs 66,000
crore, he said.
CM Yogi Adityanath along with Dy CM Dr. Dinesh Sharma and Union Minister Anurag Thakur address
a press conference over achivements of UP government at BJP office in Lucknow on Thursday.
BJP started 'Vikas Yoga
Aasana': Rajnath Singh
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Days
ahead of the UP As-
sembly polls, Defence
Minister Rajnath
Singh took a jibe in a
cryptic message at
the Opposition and
said that there are 84
Yogasans in total out
of which the ruling
BJP has done 83 in
the form of develop-
ment and while one
‘Sirasan’ was left for
opposition parties.
Addressing a rally,
Singh said, “After
BJP came to power
‘Vikas Yoga Aasan’ is
prevalent in UP. Jab
Hoga Kanoon ka
Shaasan Tab Karega
Vikas Yoga Asana.
Law and order have
been so good in UP
now, that 83 out of 84
Yogasan is being
done through ‘vikas’
(development) here.
We have left one Yo-
gasan for the Opposi-
tion. You know which
Yogasan is left for
them. We have left
Sirsasan for them.” ,
Rajnath went on to
say in the rally
.
Rajnath Singh
AIMING VICTORY
Allahabad High Court
BJP’s candidate from Lucknow (North) Neeraj Bora shows the victory symbol, after filing his
nomination at the District Collectorate.
SP candidate from Lucknow Central Ravidas
Mehrotra shows the ‘V’ sign after filing
nomination papers on Thursday.
BJP candidate Jai Devi shows the victory
sign as she arrives to file her nomination
paper from Malihabad assembly seat.
AIMIM candidate Uzma Parveen after filing
her nomination paper for upcoming UP polls.
On the last day of filing the
nomination papers contestants
from Lucknow and neighbouring
constituencies showed up
confident, ready-to-fight faces
at the Collectorate on Thursday.
—PHOTOS BY SUMIT KUMAR
CONFIDENT!
—PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
—FILE PHOTO
—PHOTO BY ANI

UTTAR PRADESH
03
CRUCIAL READ
WINDY, RAINY DAY IN CITY
Lucknow: The state capital saw cold winds and
some rain on Thursday with maximum temperature
recorded at 22.6 degrees Celsius, one degree below
normal for this time of the year, and minimum tem-
perature 10.6 Celsius, 2 degrees above normal. The
Met department said forecast for Friday is generally
cloidy sky with one or two spells of rain or thunder-
showers. Sunrise is expected at 06:51.
UP STF NABS
CRIMINALS IN
SEPARATE RAIDS
Lucknow: UP STF
has arrested assistant
teacher working on
grounds of fake docu-
ments from Gorakhpur
district. STF sources
here said acting on
tip-off STF team arrested
Vishwajeet Kumar,
resident of Sahjanva
village under Bhiti Rawat
police station area for
getting job on grounds
of fake documents.
He was arrested from
New Rampur Colony.
Arrested accused were
identified as Lokesh Ku-
mar Sharma, Anil Kumar
and and about 14 quintal
hemp was recovered.
LKO UNIVERSITY
SIGNS THREE
PACTS
Lucknow: Three Memo-
randums of Under-
standing (MoUs) were
signed by the University
of Lucknow on a single
day, VC professor Alok
Kumar Rai informed.
One (MoU) Memoran-
dums of Understanding
was signed with the
Institute of Wildlife Sci-
ences for collaboration
in teaching, research
and training. Another
MoU was signed with
Biotech Park, Govt of
India, and a third with
Life Care Innovation Pri-
vate Limited headed by
Vigyan Ratna Jitendra
N. Verma.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: More than
90 per cent of the people
who have taken at least
one dose of a Covid-19
vaccine in UP could
have developed resis-
tance against the virus,
according to a se-
ro-prevalence survey
undertaken by the state
health department-
Sharing the findings,
Additional Chief Secre-
tary, Health and Family
Welfare, Amit Mohan
Prasad said: “Samples
for the survey were tak-
en about a fortnight.”
Amit Mohan Prasad
said that the total num-
ber of doses adminis-
tered in the state
crossed 26.46 crore
mark.
This includes 15.82
crore first dose takers,
10. 48 crore fully vacci-
nated people and 15.35
crore precaution dose
recipients, besides
teenagers. He also
urged people due for
their second or precau-
tion dose to come for-
ward and get inoculat-
ed and adhere to the
Covid-19 prevention
protocol in individual
and social interest.
More than one crore
teenagers in UP have
taken the first dose of
the Covid-19 vaccine
which means that over
71 per cent of the esti-
mated eligible popula-
tion in the state has re-
ceived the first dose.
Meanwhile, the Union
Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare has
written to state govts,
including UP, to ramp
up the second dose cov-
erage of adolescent and
young persons. In a let-
ter to the CS, the Minis-
try has asked the state
to develop an effective
communication strate-
gy to draw children and
youths to vaccination
centres. —ANI
First India Bureau
New Delhi: BJP candi-
date from Sarojini
Nagar constituency
Rajeshwar Singh filed
his nomination paper
at the district collector-
ate office here in Luc-
know on Thursday as
nomination process for
the third phase came to
an end.
Clad in a saffron ‘dho-
ti’ and ‘kurta’, Singh,
who was a joint director
in Enforcement Direc-
torate before he took
voluntary retirement
from the service and
joined BJP recently,
was accompanied by
deputy chief minister
Dinesh Sharma, Jal
Shakti Minister Mahen-
dra Singh and several
other party leaders. He
brushed aside the ‘out-
sider’ tag as the UP
Minister Swati Singh
had won the election
from this seat in 2017
but was denied the tick-
et this time. “I belong to
Lucknow and have
served on various posi-
tions in traffic police’’
Singh said.
Sero Survey: 90 per cent in UP have developed resistance against Covid-19
WIN OVER VIRUS

More than one
crore teenagers
(71% of eligible
population) in
UP have taken
the first dose of
the Covid vax
RAJESHWAR SINGH FILES NOMINATION
BJP candidate and former ED Joint Director Rajeshwar Singh
along with Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma in Lucknow on Thursday.
Lucknow: With Samajwadi Party (SP) fielding Raju
Gandhi as their candidate for the Lucknow Cantonment
seat, the speculations that the SP would field BJP MP
Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s son Mayank Joshi from the seat
have been put to an end. Soon
after the BJP denied the ticket
to Mayank and fielded state Law
Minister Brajesh Pathak from
the seat, there were speculations
that SP would field him from the
seat. But with SP going ahead
with Raju Gandhi, the specula-
tions have been put to rest. As
per sources, SP waited till late
in the evening for Mayank to make up his mind to join
the party after which it gave the ticket to Gandhi. Earlier,
Rita Bahuguna Joshi said she would give up her Lok
Sabha membership if her son does not get a ticket from
Lucknow Cantt seat. But after he was denied a ticket she
said she “respects the decision of the party.”
NO LUCK FOR RITA JOSHI’S SON
AS SP FIELDS ANOTHER NOMINEE
Spotlight on Singh's
IPS wife Laxmi
M Tariq Khan
New Delhi: The
plunge into politics
by Rajeshwar Singh,
the former joint di-
rector of Enforce-
ment Directorate
and now BJP candi-
date from Sarojini
Nagar in Lucknow
has inadvertently
brought focus on his
better-half Laxmi
Singh for all the
wrong reasons.
Reason: this
doughty lady IPS
well-known for her
brave-exploits in
dealing with crimi-
nals is presently
posted as Inspector
General (IG) Luc-
know, Range. Due to
its proximity to Luc-
know and some ju-
risdictional over-
reach of its police on
certain areas part of
the Sarojini Nagar,
political eyebrows
are being raised
over continuation of
‘Lady Singham’ on
her present post cit-
ing propriety and
conventions that
govern free and fair
elections. According
to sources, the DGP
office and the home
department have
prepared a list of of-
ficers to replace Lax-
mi should the Elec-
tion Commission of
India (ECI) take note
of murmurs in the
Opposition parties
camp.
First India Bureau
Gorakhpur: Chandra
Shekhar Azad of Azad
Samaj Party, candidate
from the assembly seat
of Gorakhpur in the
upcoming elections has
raised objection
against Gorakhpur’s
SSP Vipin Tada and has
written to the Election
Commission demand-
ing immediate removal
of the SSP.
The founder of the
Azad Samaj Party has
also demanded the re-
moval of CO Gora-
khnath Ratnesh Singh
and Inspector Gora-
khnath Manoj Singh
and levelled allegations
against duo as BJP
agents.
Chandra Shekhar
Azad alleged that SSP
Dr. Vipin Tada is the
son-in-law of BJP MP
Dr. Satyapal Singh Ma-
lik and has a personal
attachment to BJP due
to this. He added that
BJP and the Chief Min-
ister have appointed po-
lice officers of their
own caste in the assem-
bly seat in order to ben-
efit in the upcoming
elections.
First India Bureau
Barabanki: Aparna
Yadav, the daughter-in-
law of Mulayam Singh
Yadav, who recently
joined the BJP, faced
protests by workers of
the Samajwadi Party
during campaigning for
the UP elections here on
Thursday
.
She was on the way to
address a meeting in
Mauthari village under
the Sadar assembly seat
in favour of a BJP can-
didate when a group of
Samajwadi Party (SP)
workers jeered at her
and raised slogans
praising party chief
Akhilesh Yadav.
Eyewitnesses and po-
lice said some SP work-
ers came in front of her
vehicle while staging a
protest against her.
They said some BJP
workers beat up an SP
activist who was among
those raising pro-Akh-
ilesh Yadav slogans. Of-
ficer-in-charge of Sant-
rikh police station Lal
Chandra Saroj said one
SP worker was held
while others fled on see-
ing the police. “The BJP
is the party which re-
vived the age-old rich
culture and tradition of
India,” she claimed. She
lauded the PM for pro-
viding free vaccines to
citizens. —ANI
First India Bureau
Prayagraj:The Luc-
know Bench of the Alla-
habad High Court has
ordered the Vice Chair-
man, Lucknow Develop-
ment Authority(LDA)
to consider shifting the
cremation ground lo-
cated in Jankipuram,
Lucknow to another lo-
cation.
The Division Bench
of Justice Attau Rah-
man Masoodi and Jus-
tice Narendra Kumar
Johari passed this or-
der while hearing a PIL
filed by Brajesh Kumar
Gupta. A public inter-
est litigation has been
filed by the petitioner
who himself is a resi-
dent of the area where-
in the alleged crema-
tion ground is situated.
In this petition, the in-
terest of the petitioner
is inseparable but the
Court is not swayed
away by any such ob-
jection to reject the
prayer for the reason
that the impact of cre-
mation of dead bodies
is quite measurable in
a densely populated
area and the same calls
for attention at the end
of administrative au-
thorities. The Court, in
the facts and circum-
stances of the case,
would expect the Vice
Chairman, Lucknow
Development Authori-
ty to look into the griev-
ance of the petitioner
sympathetically and
consider relocation of
the cremation ground
at an appropriate place
so that the environ-
mental issues as well as
other causes giving
rise to the PIL are duly
addressed. —ANI
Laxmi Singh
1 HELD FOR
‘ATTACK’ ON
SIDHARTH
NATH SINGH
Prayagraj: There was
commotion when a
man seemed to come
threateningly near Cabi-
net minister Siddharth
Nath Singh when
Singh was going to file
his nomination here
on Thursday. Police
detained the man and
interrogated him.
Senior Superintendent
of Police Ajay Kumar
said that there was no
attack on the minister.
He said that there was
some commotion and
one person identified
as Himanshu Dubey,
resident of Jaunpur
district, was detained.
The SSP said that
during interrogation,
Himanshu said that he
was a supporter of the
minister but the min-
ister was not hearing
his issues and so he
was going to commit
suicide in front of him.
The BJP workers and
supporters of Siddharth
Nath Singh nabbed
Dubey when he seemed
about to attack the min-
ister and handed him
over to the police.
YOUNG CHALLENGER
Samajwadi Party candidate from Lucknow North seat Pooja Shukla arrives to file her
nomination paper for UP election 2022 at district Collectorate office in Lucknow on Thursday.
Azad demands
removal of
Gorakhpur SSP
‘YOGI’S MAN’
LKO UNIVERSITY
SIGNS THREE
Three Memo-
randums of Under-
standing (MoUs) were
signed by the University
CRIME ROUND-UP
POLICE
RECOVER
MISSING
MINOR BOY
Meerut: Police have
recovered a 10-year-
old missing child from
Nangal Kashti village
under Kankarkhera
area here and
arrested one accused.
Police sources here
said Prince, the
10-year-old son of
construction labourer
Jay Singh, resident
of Nanglatashi village
was missing since
Wed. A ransom call
was received on the
mobile phone of the
brother of missing
child and a demand
of Rs 10 lakh was
placed. Investigations
revealed that a relative
of Jay Singh was
behind the kidnapping
over personal feud.
MINOR GIRL RAPED DURING
MAGH MELA IN PRAYAGRAJ
Prayagraj:In a horrific incident a man raped eight-
year-old minor girl during Magh mela in tent there.
Police have registered case against accused under
POCSO act and manhunt was launched to nab the
criminal. In her complaint mother of victim told
police she was selling flower, garland in Magh mela
She said that when she was out to sell flowers,
Ramesh, friend of son of husband’s sister raped her
minor girl and escaped after crime.
Aparna Yadav faces SP protest
while on campaign trail
Shift cremation ground from
Jankipuram: Ald HC to LDA
PAY ATTENTION
—PHOT0 BY SUMIT KUMAR
—FILE PHOT0
—FILE PHOT0
—PHOT0
BY
SUMIT
KUMAR
—PHOT0
BY
SUMIT
KUMAR
—FILE PHOT0

PERSPECTIVE
04
l Vol 2 l Issue No. 84
l RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229.
Printed and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of
First Express Publishers. Printed
at Amar Ujala Ltd. B-5 Amausi
Industrial Area Kanpur Road Luc-
know. Published at 98, Friend’’s
Colony, Raheem Nagar, Dudouli
Road, Madiyaon, Lucknow (UP).
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Vishal Srivastav
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
Promoted by First India
News International Pvt. Ltd.
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Man is bound by his own
action except when it is
performed for the sake of
sacrifice. Therefore, Arjuna,
efficiently perform your duty,
free from attachment, for the
sake of sacrifice alone.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Nitin Gadkari
@nitin_gadkari
In addition to the bypasses constructed
in eight cities/towns/villages of Madhya
Pradesh (Mauganj, Hanumana,
Raghunathganj, Raipur Karchulian,
Manganwa, Devtalab, Gudh and Vilayatghat
Chandia). Under the one-time investment
policy, works worth `83 crore have been
approved in the roads leading through those
cities. #PragatiKaHighway #GatiShakti
Kiren Rijiju
@KirenRijiju
There is no reservations in Judiciary. But
efforts are being made to create better
representation. However, Govt has urged the
Collegium to ensure the inclusion of women
and persons from backward communities,
SC & ST while recommending names for
appointment of Judges.
TOP TWEETS
GUNSHOTS FIRED
AT AIMIM’S OWAISI
VEHICLE BUT WHY,
AND WHODUNIT
lectioneering in Ut-
tar Pradesh took an
ugly turn when shots
were fired at Asadud-
din Owaisi’s vehicle
at a toll plaza on Hapur-Delhi
road. One of the alleged assail-
ants has been arrested. The
AIMIM’s Lok Sabha MP was re-
turning to Delhi after campaign-
ing. The question being asked is
whowouldhavemadesuchadar-
ing attempt at a busy toll plaza
and why? Owaisi obliquely men-
tioned Dharm Sansad’s recent
meeting at Haridwar in which he
was allegedly targeted. Last year,
the Hyderabad MP’s official resi-
dence in New Delhi was vandal-
ized by Hindu Sena members.
Couldthisactalsobethehand-
iwork of Hindu elements? Or, are
there other vested interests in-
volved? The Dharm Sansad,
some maulanas, and even Owai-
si, make fiery communal speech-
es. Campaigning also has vitiat-
ed the communal atmosphere in
Western UP and it is not likely to
stop until two days before voting.
Anyactof communalviolenceor
provocation must be condemned
in the interest of the nation.
E
n important an-
nouncementmade
by Union Finance
Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman was
about blending ethanol with
petrol and making its usage
mandatoryfromOctober2022.
Unblended petrol will invite
additional excise duty from
October. This is expected to
make private oil retailers in
the country start dispensing
ethanol mixed fuel. Sithara-
man said in her speech that
blendingof fuelwasapriority
of this government.
“To encourage the efforts
for blending of fuel, unblend-
ed fuel shall attract an addi-
tional differential excise duty
of Rs 2/litre from the 1st day
of October 2022,” the Finance
Minister said. Private retail-
ers don’t sell blended petrol
and it is only public sector oil
companies which are selling
blended oil. Due to the oxygen
contentinethanol,blendingit
withpetrolreducesemissions
and is thus good for the envi-
ronment. Increased blending
will also bring down India’s
oil import bill which is a fac-
tor in India’s high inflation.
At present only 8 percent
ethanol is blended in petrol
sold by state-owned oil com-
panies. It is to be raised to 25
percent by 2025. The addition-
al excise will work as a disin-
centive, especially for private
oil companies. It is estimated
that around 335 crore litres of
ethanol was produced in the
country in 2021. Uttar
Pradesh is among the highest
producers of ethanol in the
country
. To achieve the target
of 25 percent, ethanol produc-
tion has to be raised mani-
fold. Automakers told the Pe-
troleum Secretary Tarun
Kapoor last year that they
were ready for ethanol com-
pliant vehicles. The only chal-
lenge is finding ways to in-
crease ethanol output.
ETHANOL BLENDING
TARGET IS TOO HIGH
Unblended petrol will
invite additional
excise duty from
October. This is expected
to make private oil retailers
in the country start
dispensing ethanol
mixed fuel. Sitharaman
said in her speech that
blending of fuel was a
priority of this government
A
BJP CONFIDENT OF MAKING IT
ALONE IN MANIPUR
ven as the BJP is aiming to
bag 40 plus seats in the as-
sembly election in Manipur,
the party clearly exhibits its
confidence. All these hap-
pened in the 2017 assembly
elections when the BJP had
bagged 21 seats out of the
60-House Assembly and led
the coalition government
which was formed with the
support of the Naga People’s
Front (NPF), National Peo-
ple’s Party (NPP), Lok Jan-
shakti Party (LJP) and an
independent candidate.
Though Congress was the
single-largest party and se-
cured 28 seats, it fell short of
forming the government.
However,duringtherun-up
to this year’s Assembly elec-
tion, speculation was rife if
the recently-concluded cru-
cial state assembly elections
in West Bengal, Assam, Kera-
la,TamilNaduwouldpossibly
have an impact in the Ma-
nipur polls. Interestingly, it
may be noticed that notwith-
standing all that happened in
theelectionsintheremaining
states…inAssam,theBJP-led
NDA coalition was able to re-
tain power… even as the re-
sult in the neighbouring West
Bengal is there for all to see.
Following the post-2014 po-
litical scenario in the entire
country, the fall of the Grand
Old Party in the electoral
process (of Manipur) had
created a “void” that was
waiting to be taken up. The
influence of regional politi-
cal parties like Manipur Peo-
ple’s Party (MPP), People
Democratic Alliance (PDA)
which had once played a
huge role in the politics of
Manipur have slipped from
their stance in the post-cease
fire (2001) political scenario
in Manipur. Manipur and its
people display a high degree
of ethnic politics and region-
al parties have always flour-
ished in the state and the re-
gion. The parties are deeply
rooted in ethnic lines and
values but following the 2001
truce… these parties failed to
capture and capitalize on the
masses’ aspirations.
In 2017, when Th. Shyam-
kumar defected from Con-
gress to BJP after winning
the election, which triggered
a huge controversy in the po-
litical arena. Currently, this
is an accepted norm. Sample
this… the former president
of the Manipur Pradesh Con-
gress Committee (MPCC) Go-
vindas Konthoujam, 12 key
members of Naga People’s
Front (NPF), Lok Janshakti
Party (LJP) MLA Karam Shy-
am, former Congress MLA
from Sagolband constituency
RK Imo, Congress MLA from
Saikul Constituency,
Yumthang Haokip, Congress
MLA from Wangkhei constit-
uency
, Okram Henry had also
joined BJP
. The list goes on.
However, every situation
has its pitfall… the current
scenario in the saffron camp
reveals overcrowding of in-
tending candidates, with
each constituency having not
less than 3 or 4 potential BJP
candidates. Why delay in an-
nouncing the list. The BJP’s
delay in announcing its can-
didates had led to widespread
speculations that all was not
well. The party was finding it
difficult to choose candidates
as there are four to five (tick-
et) aspirants in every constit-
uency
. The BJP was expected
to announce its first list of
nominees by January 26.
However, three days after the
deadline, the party was still
unable to make up its mind.
BJP HAS TO ADDRESS
LOYALTY FACTOR
Angry BJP workers of Ma-
nipur on Sunday burnt effi-
gies of Chief Minister N
Biren Singh and the state unit
president Sharda Devi as well
as flags. They also ransacked
local offices and shouted slo-
gans against the ruling par-
ty’s list of assembly poll can-
didates which featured defec-
tors from the Congress ignor-
ing many loyalists. Several
BJP leaders including those
who were aspirants for party
tickets but were left out to ac-
commodate recent defectors
also resigned from the prima-
ry membership of the party
.
WHY BJP
EMERGED STRONG
This mainly depends on the
old formulation of dependen-
cy in NE politics that leads to
choosing a parallel govern-
ment. Basically
, NE survives
on Centre. However, this “old
school”conceptalwaysdoesn’t
hold good, as the last few dec-
adeshaveshownchanges.Per-
haps, the changing mode of
governancemighthavekicked
off a huge acceptance of the
BJP in the state.
FALL IN INSURGENCY-
RELATED CASES
Insurgency-related activities
in the NE in 2021 have re-
duced 80% as compared to
2014. Manipur has witnessed
a constant declining record
of insurgency-related cases;
from 233 in 2016 to 167 in 2017
and 127 in 2018, according to
the MHA security report.
From lowering the insurgen-
cy-related incidents to bring-
ing developments, the pre-
sent BJP government has
surpassed the performance
of any government before.
NEW GOVT MUST
ADDRESS AFSPA STATUS
Following Nagaland’s Mon
district firing incident where
14 civilians were killed in se-
curity forces firing on Decem-
ber 4 and 5 last year, heavy
demands for removal of AF-
SPA have been echoed across
the region and the issue has
been raised by many political
parties during the Assembly
polls campaign in Manipur.
The new government will
have to clear its stance on the
AFSPA position soon.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
E
However, every situation
has its pitfall… the current
scenario in the saffron
camp reveals overcrowding
of intending candidates,
with each constituency
having not less than 3 or 4
potential BJP candidates.
Why delay in announcing
the list. The BJP’s delay in
announcing its candidates
had led to widespread
speculations that all was
not well. The party was
finding it difficult to choose
candidates as there are four
to five (ticket) aspirants in
every constituency. The
BJP was expected to
announce its first list of
nominees by January 26
Following the post-2014
political scenario in the
entire country, the fall of
the Grand Old Party in
the electoral process
(of Manipur) had created a
“void” that was waiting to
be taken up. The influence
of regional political parties
like Manipur People’s
Party (MPP), People
Democratic Alliance
(PDA) which had once
played a huge role in the
politics of Manipur
have slipped from their
stance in the post-cease
fire (2001) political
scenario in Manipur
ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Associate Editor,
Free Press Journal, Mumbai and former
Managing Editor, First India

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INDIA
05
CONG CM FACE TO BE REVEALED
ON SUNDAY, AFFIRMS CHANNI
New Delhi: Punjab
Chief Minister Charan-
jit Singh Channi on
Thursday said that the
Congress will declare
its chief ministerial
face for the state on Feb-
ruary 6.
Former party chief
Rahul Gandhi is expect-
ed to visit the poll-
bound state on Sunday.
Sources said he is likely
to make the important
announcement.
Rahul Gandhi had an-
nounced during his last
visit to Punjab on Janu-
ary 27 that the Congress
will go into the Punjab
assembly election with
a CM face and that the
decision on it will be
taken soon after con-
sulting party workers.
Congress president
Sonia Gandhi has al-
ready started consulta-
tions with party leaders
andworkersonthechief
ministerial candidate.
The party is seeking
responsesfromCongress
leaders and workers
through its Shakti app.
Over the past several
weeks, Punjab Chief
MinisterCharanjitSingh
Channi and state Con-
gress chief Navjot Singh
Sidhu have, directly or
indirectly
, made a case
for themselves to be de-
claredastheparty’schief
ministerial candidate.
The Congress ap-
pears to be putting its
weight behind Channi,
who belongs to the
Scheduled Caste com-
munity and has been
fielded from two assem-
bly seats of Chamkaur
Sahib and Bhadaur.
The state goes to the
polls on Feb 20. — PTI
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Punjab Chief Minister Channi and State party chief Navjot Sidhu.
‘PEOPLE WANT AAP
TO FORM NEXT GOVT’
Dhuri: People of Punjab
are tired of giving chances
to the Congress and the
SAD for the
last 44 years
and now
want the Aam
Aadmi Party
(AAP) to be
in the sad-
dle, says the party’s chief
ministerial face Bhagwant
Mann. He says people of
Punjab want change and
are keen to see the AAP
form the next government
because they know that
the party has delivered in
Delhi and will serve them
here as well.
GOA CANDIDATES
TO PLEDGE LOYALTY
TO CONG TODAY
Panaji: Congress’s
Assembly poll candi-
dates in Goa will take a
pledge of loyalty to the
party in the presence of
its senior leader Rahul
Gandhi on Friday, when
he will be on a day-
long visit to the state,
a party functionary
said. During the visit,
Gandhi will also ad-
dress a public meeting
in Sankhalim Assembly
constituency, which is
currently represented
by state Chief Minister
and BJP leader Pramod
Sawant, he said. Elec-
tions to all 40 Assembly
seats in Goa will be
held on February 14
and the results will be
declared on March 10.
Congress didn’t make
Jakhar CM just because
he is Hindu: Chadha
First India Bureau
Chandigarh: AAP Pun-
jab affairs co-in-charge
Raghav Chadha, react-
ing to Punjab Congress
leader Sunil Jakhar’s
statement about Chief
Minister selection, said
that Congress has al-
ways been doing politics
on the basis of caste-re-
ligion. Congress is also
conspiring to divide the
people on the basis of
casteandreligionbygiv-
ing religious color to the
politics of Punjab. The
biggest example of this
is senior Congress lead-
er Sunil Jakhar. Even
after the support of 42
MLAs,SunilJakharwas
notappointedasCMjust
because he is Hindu.
Addressing the me-
dia here, Chadha cited
the statement of Sunil
Jakhar, in which he
said that 42 MLAs
agreed on Jakhar’s
name in the Congress
MLAs’ meeting held af-
ter the removal of Ama-
rinder Singh, Deputy
CM Sukhjinder Rand-
hawa got 16, Preneet
Kaur 12, Navjot Sidhu 6
and Channi had the
support of only two
MLAs. He said that it is
very shameful that
Congress did not make
Jakhar the CM just be-
cause he is Hindu and
appointed Channi as
the CM with the sup-
port of only 2 MLAs.
Party chief Sonia
Gandhi begins
consultation with
leaders on CM face
ELECTION BUZZ

z Keshav Prasad
Maurya files nomina-
tion from Sirathu

z Farmer body SKM
appeals to farmers
to punish BJP in UP:
Yogendra Yadav

z BJP will be reduced
to its 2012 tally: UP ex-
Minister who recently
switched to SP

z ‘Hema Malini’
remark was sarcastic,
Jayant clarifies
SC BREATHER TO
PUNJAB MLA FROM
ARREST FOR A WEEK
New Delhi: A bench,
headed by CJI NV
Ramana, granted interim
protection from arrest
to Simranjit Singh Bains
in view of his lawyer’s
submission that Bains
should be permitted
to file his nomination
papers on Tuesday for
the upcoming assembly
poll. “We restrain the
State from arresting
the petitioner
till Thursday,”
directed the
bench, which
also com-
prised justices
AS Bopanna
and Hima
Kohli.
GATE 2022 EXAMS TO
BE HELD AS PER
SCHEDULE, SAYS SC
New Delhi: The
Supreme Court on
Thursday refused to
postpone this year’s
Graduate Aptitude Test
in Engineering (GATE
2022) exams amid
the third wave of the
coronavirus disease
(Covid-19), pointing out
that delaying the exams
might lead to “chaos
and uncertainty”
among students.
The GATE 2022
exams will
now be held
physically as
per schedule
on Febru-
ary 5, 6,
12, and 13.
IN THE COURTYARD
Atme, Syria: US special
forces carried out a
nighttime airborne raid
on Thursday in north-
western Syria during
which the head of the
Islamic State group blew
himself and his family
up,theWhiteHousesaid.
The operation was
the biggest blow to the
jihadist organisation
since his predecessor,
the better-known Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi, was
killed in a similar raid
in the same region of
Idlib in 2019.
A senior White House
official speaking on
condition of anonymity
ahead of an address by
Biden said Qurashi det-
onated a bomb during
the raid on the house
where he was staying in
the town of Atme.
In doing so, he also
killed members of his
own family, including
women and children,
the official said.
Qurashi, an Iraqi
from the Turkmen-ma-
jority city of Tal Afar
who was also known as
Amir Mohammed Said
Abd al-Rahman al-Maw-
la, replaced Baghdadi
after his death in a US
raid in October 2019.
ASyrianCivilDefence
said that at least 13 peo-
plewerekilled,including
six children, in shelling
andclashesaftertheraid
in northwestern Syria
near Atmeh on the Turk-
ish-Syrian border, media
reports. —Agencies
ISIS chief blows himself up during US raid
OFFENSIVE IN SYRIA
Washington: United States
President Joe Biden has
said the leader of ISIL
(ISIS) has been “taken off
the battlefield” following
an overnight raid in Syria
that also killed children
and women. A
senior US official
told reporters
ISIL leader
Abu Ibrahim
al-Hashimi
al-Qurayshi was
killed in the raid.
Biden said he would
address the nation
about the raid
at 9:30
am on Thursday. “Last night
at my direction, US military
forces in the northwest Syria
successfully undertook a
counterterrorism operation
to protect the Americans
and our Allies, and make
the world a safer
place,” Biden said
in the statement.
“Thanks to the skill
and bravery of our
Armed Forces,
we have taken off
the battlefield Abu
Ibrahim al-Hashimi
al-Qurayshi—the
leader of ISIS,”
Biden said.
POTUS CONFIRMS
Teachers to trace tipplers:
Will it actually work?
Mahesh Sharma
Bihar: Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar has be-
come so obsessed with
the very worn-out idea
of
prohibition that he
has used the entire ma-
chinery of the state
government to imple-
ment only prohibition.
The police and admin-
istration of Bihar is
engaged in the work of
enforcing the prohibi-
tion law 24 hours a day,
which is a way for them
to earn money
.
Liquor prohibition is
not implemented effec-
tively anywhere in the
whole of Bihar. Liquor
isbeingmadeandsoldin
every street and locality
.
In Nalanda, the home
districtof theChief Min-
ister himself, a dozen
peoplediedrecentlyafter
consuming spurious liq-
uor. Before that, in Di-
wali last year, around 40
people died due to drink-
ing in four districts. Un-
der the supervision of
the police and adminis-
tration of Bihar, the
work of making liquor
and selling it from out-
side is being done.
Amidst the failure of
the police and adminis-
tration, now the state
government has also
engaged the teachers
in the task of catching
up those engaged in
selling liquor and giv-
ing information about
the ‘consumers’.
An order has been is-
sued by the state gov-
ernment that teachers
should provide the in-
formation of such peo-
ple to the administra-
tion. For this, phone
numbers have been is-
sued and the identity of
the teachers has been
told to be kept confiden-
tial. Most of the teach-
ers reinstated in the
name of Shiksha Mitra
in Bihar are illiterate
and have been reinstat-
ed by bribing the chief
on the basis of fake
mark sheets. They were
not already doing the
job of teaching the chil-
dren. Now they have
been given a new job, in
which they will also en-
gage in business with
the help of police and
administration.
If someone honestly
gives news about this,
then there is the issue of
danger to his/her life.
Recently, an army colo-
nel, who had come to his
village on leave, was
shot dead by the liquor
mafia because the colo-
nel was stopping them
from selling liquor.
PROHIBITION LAW
Is Captain really the ‘Captain’ with PLC?
Sharat K Verma
Chandigarh: Captain
Amarinder Singh had
formed the party after
breaking away from the
Congress, so it seemed
thathewouldcontestthe
assembly elections as a
chief ministerial candi-
date with the support of
the BJP
. But the BJP has
already mellowed his
hopesbygivinghisparty
only 37 seats.
The BJP itself is con-
testing on 65 seats and
theelectoralcampaignis
being headed by former
Union Minister Vijay
Singh Sampla as its un-
declared chief ministe-
rial candidate. The BJP
had already announced
that if its government is
formed, a Dalit will be
madetheChief Minister.
So, Sampla fits the bill.
Captain’s problem is
that the 37 seats given to
him by the BJP are al-
most all in rural areas.
Seeing the displeasure
of the farmers, the BJP
itself did not want to
fight in the villages, so
it gave most of the vil-
lage seats to Captain’s
party and took the seats
of the city to itself. But
this is not even half of
Captain’s problems.
Even in the selected
urban seats that his par-
tyhasbeengivenashare,
their declared candi-
dates want to fight on
BJP’ssymbol.Justimag-
ine, what an embarrass-
ment it will be for any
party and leader that its
declared candidates do
not want to contest on its
symbol! Captain’s 10 de-
clared candidates have
askedfortheBJPsymbol
andtheBJPhasgivenits
election symbol to four.
Earlier, people close
to the Captain also
joined the BJP instead
of his party. His close
relative Arvind Khan-
na thought it better to
join the BJP than Cap-
tain’s PLC party
.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh.
BJP announcing
Sampla its CM
candidate may
sour the alliance
Avinash Pande
@avinashpandeinc
Expressing your
trust in me, heartfelt
thanks to the top
leadership, respected
Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji,
Shri RahulGandhi ji,
Smt. priyankagandhi
ji and the organisation
for giving the
responsibility of
the president in
the Coordination
Committee of
Congress.
Time
TWEET
CRUCIAL READS
MALEGAON BLAST
CASE: 17TH WITNESS
TURNS HOSTILE
New Delhi: In Malegaon
Blast Case, another witness
has turned hostile. The
witness is also claiming
that he was forced to take
names of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)
leaders in the case. The
witness in the court said
that he was kidnapped by
the Anti-Terrorism Squad
(ATS) and kept in illegal
custody for three-four days,
media reported. In the
matter, over 220 witnesses
have been examined, and
17 have turned hostile.
Notably, ex-Mumbai top cop
Param Bir Singh, currently
facing multiple cases of
extortion, was posted as
additional commissioner of
the ATS, when it probed the
Malegaon blast case.
Kolkata: As many as 108 municipal bodies of West
Bengal will go to polls on February 27, the State
Election Commission announced Thursday morn-
ing. It also mentioned that voting will not take place
at a ward in the South Dum Dum Municipality. SEC
Sourav Das said, “We have issued a notification to-
day (Thursday). The court has allowed to conduct
the polls in all the wards across 108 municipalities
except ward number 29 of the South Dum Dum
Municipality. We received the court order Wednes-
day. Date of nomination starts today (Thursday).”
WB: POLL PANEL ANNOUNCES ELECTIONS
FOR 108 CIVIC BODIES ON FEBRUARY 27
SPEAKERS MUST BE PUNISHED, DHARMA
SANSAD NO EXCEPTION: RSS LEADER
Mumbai: Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar has con-
demned the alleged hate speeches against minorities at
a recent Dharma Sansad in Haridwar and said all those
who make provocative and divisive remarks should be
punished as per law without any exception. He termed
the ‘politics of hate’ as ‘corruption’ and called all po-
litical parties and their leaders to hould refrain
from indulging in hate-mongering and pitting
one section of the society against the other.
The blast site and (inset) ISIS chief Qurashi.

INDIA
06
New Delhi: Kerala is
the only one out of eight
States with over 50,000
active Covid-19 cases
witnessing a surge in
new cases of infection
and an increase in posi-
tivity rate, the Central
Government said on
Thursday
. Kerala alone
accounts for 24 per cent
of all active cases in the
country. The second
State where data points
to an uptick in fresh
cases and positivity
rate is Mizoram.
The peak of the third
Covid-19 wave driven by
the highly transmissible
Omicron is slightly low-
er than that of the sec-
ond wave, which swept
thecountrylastyearand
killed lakhs of people.
The country on Thurs-
day reported 1.72 lakh
fresh cases, half the cas-
es recorded on January
21, which was the peak.
Cases have been falling
sincethen.HealthMinis-
try’sJointSecretaryLav
Agarwal told reporters
during a Press confer-
ence that 34 States/UTs,
including Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Tamil
Nadu,arenowrecording
a decline in cases.
“Consistent decline
in daily active cases,
daily positivity rate in-
dicate decreased spread
of infection,” Lav Agar-
wal said, adding that the
government has noted a
decline in case fatality
rate with an increase in
vaccination coverage.
Schools now open
in 11 States/UTs
An official with the
Ministry of Education
said schools are now
conducting physical
classes in 11 States/
UTs. At the same
time, 16 States/UTs
have allowed the par-
tial reopening of in-
stitutions. while
physical classes are
still prohibited in 9
States/UTs.
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: Many a
times it seems that the
Central Government
itself creates the situa-
tion of uproar and forc-
es the opposition to stay
out of both the houses
of Parliament by giving
some issue or the other.
Just imagine, how con-
venient it is that the
government has to an-
swer to the country on
inflation, unemploy-
ment and the bad condi-
tion of the economy,
then the issue of
Pegasus has come, on
which the opposition
will continue to create
ruckus. Such a system
has not yet developed in
India that the opposi-
tion should protest
against any issue, also
perform demonstra-
tions and when the Par-
liament is in session,
there is a meaningful
discussion. It is such an
irony that whatever
protests the opposition
parties will carry out
will be during the Par-
liament session. There
is no recollection of
any major demonstra-
tion outside Parliament
on the issue of infla-
tion, unemployment
and corruption. Con-
gress definitely did a
rally in Jaipur regard-
ing inflation, but it has
no meaning since pro-
tests should be an ongo-
ing process.
However,ineverySes-
sion, the Government
gives some ‘rattles’ in
the hands of the opposi-
tion. On the first day of
the last Session, the
Government suspended
a dozen MPs from the
Rajya Sabha for the en-
tire Session. This was a
completely wrong deci-
sion as the MPs were
suspended in the Winter
Session for creating a
ruckus in the Monsoon
Session of Parliament.
The work on this issue
remained stalled
throughout the Session.
Especially in the Rajya
Sabha, where the Gov-
ernment does not have a
majority
. Prior to this,
i.e. in the Monsoon Ses-
sion, the issue of
Pegasus dominated and
the opposition stalled
the work on it.
Prior to that the
Budget Session of Par-
liament was affected
due to Covid and was
postponed prematurely
due to the ongoing As-
sembly elections in five
States. At that time the
farmers’ movement
was also going on and
the opposition was cre-
ating a ruckus on that
issue as well. Before
that, i.e., the Winter
Session of 2020 was be-
ing held in the midst of
the farmers’ movement
and during the same
time, the three disputed
agricultural laws were
forcibly passed in the
Rajya Sabha, rejecting
the demand for voting
of the opposition. On
the contrary
, the MPs of
the opposition were
also suspended from the
house and they staged a
sit-in in front of the
statue of Mahatma
Gandhi on the Parlia-
ment premises through-
out the night. The two
Sessions before that
also happened in a half-
hearted manner due to
the pandemic. So, for
the last two years con-
tinuously, the proceed-
ings are being held in a
half-hearted manner.
Immense convenience to the Govt from opposition’s uproars!
KERALA, MIZORAM STILL SEEING
UPSURGE IN COVID CASES
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: Is it to be
expected that this time
the Chief Minister of
Uttar Pradesh will be a
member of the Legisla-
tive Assembly? In UP,
usually the chief minis-
terial candidates do not
contest the Assembly
elections. The current
Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath was a Lok
Sabha MP when he was
sworn in. Before him,
Akhilesh Yadav had
also took oath as the
Chief Minister while he
was a Lok Sabha MP
. Be-
fore him, Mayawati was
also not an MLA when
she became the CM. Af-
ter taking oath, these
three CMs took the
membership of the Leg-
islative Council due to
constitutional obliga-
tion. Therefore, this is
the first time in the last
nearly two decades that
the chief ministerial
candidates are contest-
ing the Assembly polls.
Adityanath is a con-
tender from the BJP and
is contesting the Assem-
bly elections from Gora-
khpur city seat. Akh-
ilesh Yadav is a contend-
er of the Samajwadi
Party and is in the fray
from the Karhal seat of
Mainpuri. Now the big
question is, can anyone
other than these two be-
come the Chief Minis-
ter? If Samajwadi Party
wins then there are no
ifs and buts. But there is
a doubt among political
observers who suspect
that if BJP wins then
the CM can change too?
Last time the party had
contested the election
undeclared in the name
of Keshav Prasad Mau-
rya and after the results
there was talk of mak-
ing Manoj Sinha as the
Chief Minister, howev-
er, it was Yogi Adity-
anath who became CM.
This time also such a
reversal is possible.
This time also BJP’s un-
declared contender is
Keshav Prasad Maurya
and this time he is also
contesting the Assem-
bly elections from Sir-
athu seat of Prayagraj.
Then there is the
third possibility of a
hung assembly. Even
then, apart from these
two, a third person may
come forward, who may
not be a member of the
Legislative Assembly
.
Will an MLA become the UP CM this time?
34 States including Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, UTs recording decline
in fresh cases, positivity rate, says Govt; schools fully open in 11 States, closed in nine
New Delhi: Media re-
ports about mass exodus
of migrant workers amid
the third wave of the
pandemic were untrue
and States have been
asked to be wary of ru-
mour mongering on this
issue, Parliament was
informed on Thursday.
The third wave hit the
country last month,
forcing states to impose
local restrictions to curb
the spread of Covid-19.
New Delhi: The Un-
ion Health Ministry
on Thursday re-
futed as “mis-
leading” media
reports which
claimed that 50
lakh unused
Covishield doses may
go waste by the end of
this month. It said the
Centre had proactive-
ly advised all state
governments
to review the
availability of
vaccines, right
from the start
of the drive, to
ensure that the wast-
age of doses is re-
duced to a minimum.
New Delhi: A “small
fringe group of pro-
Khalistan elements in
Canada” is spreading
anti-India feelings and
the Government is
closely engaged with
Canada over the issue,
MoS for External Af-
fairs V Muraleedharan
said on Thursday
.
Both governments
have recognised the
fundamental principle
of respect for sover-
eignty, unity and terri-
torial integrity of India
and Canada as the basis
of bilateral ties, Mu-
raleedharan told the
Rajya Sabha in re-
sponse to a question.
“The vast majority of
people of Indian origin
in Canada share a
warm emotional bond
with India and have
worked for the better-
ment of relations be-
tween India and Cana-
da,” he said.
“There is a small
fringe group of pro-
Khalistan elements
who spread anti-India
feelings through their
statements,” he said.
“The government of
India remains closely
engaged with the Gov-
ernment of Canada to
address our concerns
relating to anti-India
activities,” he said.
Muraleedharan said
the government main-
tains close contact with
Indians in Canada, and
its policy is to make
continuous efforts to
strengthen the bond
with the community
.
Khalistanis gaining
ground in Canada: MoS
New Delhi: The gov-
ernment is working
to ensure that Indian
workers are back to
their work and jobs
in the Gulf and is
pursuing the issue
with its counterparts
in the region at the
highest level, Exter-
nal Affairs Minister
S Jaishankar told the
Rajya Sabha on
Thursday
.
He also said with
the economic recov-
ery in the Gulf and
its increasing open-
ness to ease travel re-
strictions following a
receding trend in
Covid-19 cases, many
Indian workers are
now returning back
to the region.
As per the govern-
ment’s estimates, as
many as 7,16,662
workers returned to
India from the six
Gulf countries — the
UAE, Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,
and Bahrain — under
the ‘Vande Bharat
Mission’.
Govt pursuing return of
Indians with Gulf nations
CRUCIAL READ
New Delhi: The Border
Security Force (BSF) killed
a Pakistani intruder in
Punjab’s Ferozepur sector
as he did not stop and con-
tinued moving ahead in an
aggressive manner cross-
ing International Border, the force said. The intruder
was moving ahead of the International Border fencing
from the Pakistan side in the area of responsibility of
BSF at Border Outpost KS Wala in the Ferozepur sector
on Wednesday evening. The BSF personnel fired upon
the intruder as he entered into Indian territory. “On
February 2, 2022, during evening hours, alert BSF
troops observed some suspicious movement of an
intruder ahead of Border fencing coming from Pakistan
side in the area of BOP KS Wala, Ferozepur sector.
Thiruvananthapuram:
A tweet in Malayalam
by Sheikh Mohamed
bin Rashid Al Maktoum,
Vice President and Prime
Minister of UAE and Ruler
of Dubai, soon after his
meeting with Kerala CM
Pinarayi Vijayan in the
Emirates, has gone viral
on social media as sev-
eral expatriate Malayalis
shared it on their virtual
platforms. Besides the
tweet, the Dubai ruler also
shared the picture of the
reception given to Vijayan
at the venue of the Dubai
Expo 2020 on Wednes-
day. The tweet was later
shared by Vijayan on his
Twitter handle.
Mumbai: Former director
of Punjab and Maha-
rashtra Cooperative
(PMC) Bank Daljit Singh
Bal was apprehended
by the Mumbai police’s
Economic Offences Wing
(EOW) in Bihar, an official
said on Thursday. Bal,
who is wanted in the
PMC Bank scam case,
was arrested at Raxaul in
east Champaran close to
the India-Nepal border,
the official said. The EOW,
which is probing the
multi-crore scam, had
issued a lookout notice
against Bal and 10 former
directors of the bank. Bal
will be taken into custody
by the in Mumbai.
BSF SHOOTS DEAD PAKISTANI INTRUDER
ALONG FEROZEPUR BORDER OF PUNJAB
DUBAI RULER
TWEETS IN
MALAYALAM
FORMER DIRECTOR
OF PMC BANK
HELD IN BIHAR
New Delhi: External
Affairs Minister S Jais-
hankar targeted Con-
gress leader Rahul
Gandhi over his re-
marks that the BJP
Government’s policies
have brought “China
and Pakistan together,”
stating that “some his-
tory lessons are in or-
der” and that Pakistan
illegally handed over
the Shaksgam Valley to
China in 1963, when a
Congress government
was in office.
He said that China
built the Karakoram
highwaythroughPoKin
the 1970s and CPEC was
started in 2013 when
Congress-led UPA was
in power at the Centre.
Jaishankar also
slammed Rahul Gandhi
over his remarks in Lok
Sabha during debate on
the motion of thanks on
President’s Address
that the government
could not get a foreign
guest for Republic Day
.
EAMmountsblisteringattackonRaGa
ROW OVER REMARK
New Delhi: TMC MP
Mahua Moitra tweeted
a dare to what she called
the “heckler team” to
prepare for her speech,
a day after Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
tore into the Govern-
ment over issues.
“Am speaking this
evening in Lok Sabha
on President’s Address.
Just wanted to give ear-
ly heads up to BJP to get
heckler team ready and
read up on imaginary
points of order. Drink
some gaumutra shots
too,”Moitra tweeted.
Mahua asks
BJP to drink
gaumutra shots
Students denied entry in
K’taka college over hijab
Bengaluru: The hijab
versus saffron scarf tus-
sle is spreading to more
colleges of Karnataka,
with one allegedly shut-
ting its gates on stu-
dents wearing hijabs,
and Hindu students in
at least two other col-
leges wearing saffron
scarves in protest.
Officials of Kun-
dapur’s Government
PU College on Thurs-
day allegedly shut the
gates on students wear-
ing hijabs. The move
came after all colleges
were asked to maintain
‘status quo’ on dress
code by the State educa-
tion department.
Meanwhile, at the
Kundapur college, more
than 40 Hindu students
reportedly wore saffron
scarves on Wednesday
to protest against
around 27 Muslim stu-
dents wearing hijabs.
REPORTS ON
MASS EXODUS
FALSE: CENTRE
Media reports on wastage of
Covishield ‘misleading’: Centre
A healthcare worker collects a sample of a passenger in Patna. —PHOTO BY ANI
UP CM Yogi Adityanath and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav

NEWS
07
SC ADJOURNS
HEARING ON
AZAM KHAN’S
PLEA SEEKING
INTERIM BAIL TO
CAMPAIGN
The SC on Thursday adjourned
Samajwadi Party leader Azam
Khan’s plea seeking interim bail
to campaign in the upcoming
Uttar Pradesh assembly
elections. As the concerned
bench, which was scheduled to
hear the matter today, did not
assemble, the matter was
adjourned. Azam Khan has
moved the SC seeking interim
bail to campaign in the elections.
Khan has said in his plea that
the State has adopted all means
available to purposefully delay
the proceedings in these
remaining three bail applications
so as to ensure that the
petitioner is incarcerated during
the State Assembly Elections
scheduled to be held in the State
of Uttar Pradesh from February
10 to March 7 and cannot join in
the election campaign for his
party. In his bail plea, Azam
Khan has also mentioned that he
has been named as an accused
in various cases and despite
this, the petitioner has been able
to secure bail in other cases
pending against him but not able
to secure bail in three criminal
cases as the State has adopted
all means available to
purposefully delay the
proceedings in these 3 matters.
Khan has been lodged in Sitapur
jail since February 2020 last year
as many cases registered are
against him. —PTI
FAVOURED PCS
OFFICER
CHOSEN FOR
APPOINTMENT
PCS officer Sarvesh Kumar Dixit
of batch 1999 and the current
Vice Chairman of Jhansi
Development Authority have been
entrusted with the additional
charge of Additional
Commissioner, Jhansi Division,
by the UP government. Since the
model code of conduct has been
imposed in the state ahead of the
assembly elections in the state, a
special request letter by the
Commissioner of Jhansi Division,
Dr Ajay Shankar Pandey, was
sent to Appointment Department
for appointment of an Additional
Commissioner, following which
PCS Sarvesh Kumar Dixit was
given the additional responsibility
of Additional Commissioner
Jhansi. Sarvesh Kumar Dixit
before becoming the Vice-
Chairman of the Jhansi
Development Authority was the
Additional Commissioner of
Prayagraj. The state saw a spate
of 5 Additional Commissioners
retire on January 31st including
the Additional Commissioner of
Jhansi PCS Pramil Kumar. This
vacant post will now be held by
PCS Sarvesh Kumar Dixit while at
the same time, even though the
post of Additional Commissioner
is empty in Kanpur, Mirzapur, and
Azamgarh Divisions, no letter has
been sent to the appointment
department for an appointment
for the same from the respective
divisional commissioners. Even
though in the Kanpur division,
two additional commissioners
have retired, only Ajay Shakar
Pandey, Commissioner of Jhansi,
has made a special request to
appoint VC of Jhansi
Development Authority. This
special favour has only been
shown to Dixit who has for the
last 3 years been the VC of the
Jhansi Development Authority.
—Ahtesham Siddiqui
NECK--NECKFIGHTBETWEENBJP,RLD-SPALLIANCE
First India Bureau
Lucknow: West UP is
in for neck-and-neck
battle largely between
ruling BJP and Rashtri-
yra Lok Dal-Samajwadi
Party (SP-RLD) alliance
in first two rounds of
polling on February 10
and 14. The BSP led by
Mayawati by resorting
to careful caste-specific
ticket distribution has
also been trying to pitch
in the battle for ballot.
After one-year of tus-
sle with farmers on con-
troversial farms laws,
whichhavealreadybeen
repealed, the BJP has
been carefully avoiding
to touch any farm issue
except enumerating the
measures take by the UP
government for their
welfareincludingreduc-
ing the electricity bill by
half, payment for sugar-
cane dues, the RLD alli-
ance has been trying to
thrive on the anger of
farmers. In a tough con-
test between the two for-
mations, sources said
that the “caste and com-
munalism” are emerg-
ing factors to tilt the bal-
ance. After Delhi meet-
ing of the Jat commu-
nity efforts are being
made to create rift be-
tween the RLD and SP
and also create confu-
sion in the community
over their preference to
the alliance. Amit Shah
addressing a gathering
in Muzaffarnagar said
in the event of SP chief
AkhileshYadavwinning
the elections his ally
Jayant Chaudhury will
not bee seen by his side
and it will be likes of
Azam Khan and Atiq
Ahmad who will be with
him. Largely focussing
on Jat community
, Shah
said they have tradition-
ally fought the same op-
ponents. He also made
publicefforttoreachout
to Jayant Chaudhury
.
“
Akhilesh Yadav said we
(SP-RLD) are together,
but how long. This is
only till the counting”,
Shah commented. How-
ever Jayant Chaudhury
rebuffed the offer saying
hewasnotChavani(dim
wit) to change sides. Re-
minding the people of
2013 Muzaffarnagar ri-
ots which occurred dur-
ing the SP regime, Shah
said “no riot has taken
place during out rule be-
cause we established the
rule of law”. He empha-
sised that if not the BJP
then perpetrators of the
riots will succeed in
formingthegovernment
in UP
. Thus, right from
raising Kairana exodus
pitch to the Muzaffar-
nagar riots there are
desperate moves for po-
larisation to retain the
saffron base. However,
ground reports indicat-
ed that the BJP’s polari-
sation effort is unlikely
to yield desired results.
Analysts said while
caste division is palpa-
ble in rural areas the
communal divide was
not as intense as it was
during the last three
elections in 2014, 2017
and 2019 after Muzaffa-
rnagar clashes. In the
intense fight between
BJP and RLD alliance
there appeared to be ru-
ral and urban divide
also. Sources said in Ur-
ban areas the BJP could
perform well but in ru-
ral areas the SP-RLD is
likely to have an upper
hand. The BJP’s thrice
tested strategy of cash-
ing in on communal po-
larisation seems to have
suffered a setback after
yearlong farmers stir
which brought Jat-Mus-
lim-Gujjar together. The
communal harmony is
now reflecting in elec-
tionsastheregionisget-
ting ready for polling.
Inatoughcontestbetweenthe2formations,sourcessaidthat‘castecommunalism’areemergingfactorstotiltthebalance
—REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
‘ TO ENSURE COMMUNAL HARMONY’
CASTE FACTORS CLOUD HINDUTVA
MASCOT’S APPEAL IN WESTERN UP
Sardhana: If it’s Yogi
Adityanath for the
BJP in UP
, it’s Sangeet
Singh Som in the crit-
ical western region of
the poll-bound state,
both hardcore Hindu-
tva leaders and both
Rajputs. For Som,
however, the magic
might be waning this
time with his brand
of communal politics
unable to penetrate
the mobilisation of
caste in the region.
Som, a two-term
MLA from the Sard-
hana assembly seat in
Meerut district, had
hit the headlines for
his alleged links to
the 2013 Muzaffarna-
gar riots. Muslims,
nearly 20 per cent, and
Dalits, about 16 per
cent, are considered
the largest voting
groups in the Sardha-
na constituency.
Apart from these two
communities, there
are Rajputs, Gurjars,
Jats, Brahmins and
other backward class-
es in the constituency
.
The Dalit vote will
be key if Som is to win
fromtheseatagain.He
will be contesting
against Atul Pradhan,
who has been fielded
by the Samajwadi Par-
ty-Rashtriya Lok Dal
alliance, Bahujan Sa-
maj Party’s Sanjeev
Dhama and Congress’
Syed Rehanuddin.
Pradhanbelongstothe
Gujjar community
and he has contested
and lost against Som
in the last two elec-
tions. The mood in Ali-
pur village of Sardha-
na tehsil, about 25 km
from Meerut, which
has a Dalit majority
could hold some an-
swers. Most villagers
believe that a section
of the Dalit communi-
ty voted for Som in the
last polls and due to
division of votes, BSP
chief Mayawati’s po-
litical status reduced.
They feel this is not
good for the future of
their community
. BSP
candidate Dhama be-
longs to the Jat com-
munity. A Dalit pan-
chayat member in the
village said, “The can-
didate doesn’t matter
much, we have to in-
crease BSP’s vote per-
centage this time.”
The Panchayat mem-
ber said that most of
the population in the
constituency belongs
to the Jatav commu-
nity who are consid-
ered staunch support-
ers of Mayawati.
Sangeet Singh Som
KARISHMA THAKUR’S CHARISMA
KICKS OFF ELECTION OFFICE
First India Bureau
Kanpur: Kanpur’s Go-
vind Nagar Congress
candidate and party’s
women wing state pres-
ident Karishma Thakur
inaugurated her elec-
tion office amidst the
presence of senior lead-
ers of the Kanpur Con-
gress Committee.
Thakur was defeated in
the by-election held in
Govind Nagar by just
18000 votes as she got
only 15 days to contest
and prepare got over
1 lakh votes. Even after
losing, Karishma con-
tinued making her pres-
ence with her activism.
The same charisma
that was in the midst of
people, also impressed
the Congress leadership
which entrusted her
with the responsibility
of the state’s women
wing president. Raising
the slogan of Priyanka
Gandhi of ‘Nari Hoon
Ladh Sakti Hoon’, she
said, women of the or-
ganization in the state
worked to strengthen
the party
. In a conversa-
tion with First India,
Thakur said that the
people of the state were
suffering with inflation,
unemployment, women
oppression, education,
etc. In the name of de-
velopment, nothing was
evident, The Congress
party’s policies were
completely devoted to
the people and it was
clear that Congress was
the oldest single party
in the country to fight
for the people.
Karishma Thakur inaugurating
her election office in Kanpur.
‘ONCE AGAIN, LOTUS WILL BLOOM’
Agra: BJP candidates
are going door to door
appealing to the people
to vote once again for
the lotus symbol to make
BJP win. On Thursday,
former MLA, Union Min-
ister, and BJP candidate
from Cantonment Dr GS
Dharmeshs’s convoy reached Agra’s Sadar Bazar
where he was welcomed by all the shopkeepers.
Dharmesh said that in the last five years, the BJP
government has run many schemes for the develop-
ment of traders. Due to the Made in India campaign
by BJP, today there is a big demand for Indian goods
in the international market due to this, the income of
small businessmen in India has increased. He also
said, once again the lotus flower will bloom in UP.
Huge support for
SP’s campaign
First India Bureau
Agra: SP Metropolitan
President Chaudhary
Wajid Nisar reached to
encourage Gyanendra
Gautam, who carried
out a door to door cam-
paign on Thursday
. He
appealed to the people to
vote for the Samajwadi
Party with huge votes
and reach as many as
possible in the public
meeting of SP National
President Akhilesh Ya-
dav, who is reaching
AgraonFriday
.Gautam,
whoisengagedinpublic
relations, said that he
has not seen this much
affection and love from
the public earlier before.
Gyanendra with Wajid Nisar Suresh Awasthi
Dr GS Dharmesh
‘BJP to tackle
issues like
better edu,
health services’
First India Bureau
Kanpur: The Arya Na-
gar seat in Kanpur will
see a tough competition
between BJP SP as
both the parties are
fielding Brahmin faces
in the seat. In an inter-
view with First India,
BJP candidate senior
leader Suresh Awasthi
said that the election is
all about the welfare
policies of the Yogi gov-
ernment develop-
ment of UP the party
is not going to follow
the lines of caste, reli-
gion, etc. but develop-
ment as its main goal.
Awasthi said that the
party will tackle issues
like better education,
health services, devel-
opment of small and
medium entrepreneurs.
New Delhi: The Su-
premeCourthasdirect-
ed the Uttar Pradesh
government to re-ex-
amine its policy for pre-
mature release of life
term convicts prescrib-
ing a minimum age of
60 years saying pri-
ma-facie it does not
seem to be sustainable.
A bench comprising
Justices S K Kaul and
M M Sundresh ob-
served this while con-
sidering an appeal by a
convict seeking a direc-
tion for his premature
release from prison. As
per the policy, all con-
victswhohavecomplet-
ed the age of 60 and
have undergone custo-
dy of 20 years without
remission and 25 years
with remission, are eli-
gible to be considered
for premature release.
“We would like to ex-
press a great doubt on
the validity of this
clause prescribing a
minimum age of 60
years which would im-
ply that a young of-
fender of 20 years will
have to serve 40 years
before his case for re-
mission can be consid-
ered,” the bench said.
The top court directed
the competent author-
ity to consider the plea
by the convict within
three months.
IN THE COURTYARD
Re-examine age policy for early
release of life term convicts: SC
NOTICE TO PMO ON PLEA SEEKING
ACTION AGAINST PM NARENDRA MODI
Prayagraj: The Prayagraj
District Court has issued notice
to the Prime Minister’s Office
(PMO) on a petition seeking
registration of a case against
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
for wearing the uniform of
Indian Army. District Judge Nalin Kumar Srivastava
issued notice to the PMO on a petition filed by
Rakesh Nath Pandey under Section 153 (3) of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, seeking registration
of a case against Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
said a report in the Dainik Jagran. The application
alleged that on November 4, 2021, in Nowshera,
Jammu and Kashmir, the PM wore the uniform of
the Indian Army, which is an offence punishable
under Section 140 of the Indian Penal Code, so a
case should be registered against the PM. Earlier
on December 21, 2021, Chief Judicial Magistrate
Harendra Nath heard the application. At that time,
the court had said that the incident did not happen
within the jurisdiction of the court.
Sarvesh Kumar Dixit

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
57,21,140
TOTAL DEATHS
30,57,93,041
TOTAL RECOVERED
7,43,96,182
ACTIVE CASES
38,59,10,363
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
4,98,987
TOTAL DEATHS
3,97,70,414
TOTAL RECOVERED
15,33,917
ACTIVE CASES
4,18,03,318
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
If we are and become what we
repeatedly do then excellence is a
habit, isn’t it?
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Gyanendra Kumar Shukla
Lucknow: The BSP
,
whichhasbeenpolitical-
ly sidelined in the last
three elections, is going
through a very crucial
phase in the assembly
elections of UP
. BSP su-
premo is well aware that
these elections, in the
most populous state, are
like a do or die situation
for her party
. To ensure
the victory of her party
,
Mayawati has started
public meetings after a
long gap. She is aggres-
sively hitting out at the
BJP as well as SP
. In the
matter of distributing
tickets to the candidates,
the BSP has focused on
the Muslim and OBC
communities along with
theDalit-Brahminsocial
engineering formula.
The BSP chief has
prepared a well thought-
out bouquet of candi-
dates region-wise. While
Jat-Jatav and Muslim
faces have been given
priority in the western
region, Brahmin, Ksha-
triya and OBC candi-
dates are being given
preference in Central
and Purvanchal region.
Mayawati has tried to
mobilise Dalit-Muslim
votes by fielding maxi-
mumnumberof Muslim
candidates in western
UP
. BSP has fielded 16
Muslimcandidatesfor58
seats in the first phase.
There are 23 Muslim
candidates of 55 seats in
the second phase, five in
59 seats in third phase
and 16 of 60 seats in
fourth phase. Of the 61
candidates for the fifth
phase, nine are Muslim
candidates. BSP has giv-
en tickets to 44 Muslim
candidatesfor148assem-
bly seats of West UP
. In
areaswhereMuslimvot-
ers are less, non-Yadav
OBC candidates have
been given priority
. The
result of the calculation
of ticket distribution is
that in over two dozen
seats, the BSP seems to
be giving a tough compe-
tition to the SP
.
Bulandshar: Sama-
jwadi Party president
Akhilesh Yadav on
Thursday said followers
of Dalit icon Dr Bhim
Rao Ambedkar should
join the party’s effort to
oust the BJP from pow-
er so that democracy
could be saved and peo-
ple’s right protected.
Yadav said this
during a joint press con-
ference with Rashtriya
Lok Dal (RLD) presi-
dent Jayant Chaudhary
when asked about BSP
leader Mayawati, whose
party had contested the
2019 Lok Sabha polls in
alliance with the Sama-
jwadi Party (SP).
“Ambedkarwadi (fol-
lowers of Ambdekar)
should come with ‘sam-
ajwadis’ (socialists) as
we have to save the Con-
stitution and democra-
cy
. If these are not saved,
just think what will hap-
pen to our rights,” Ya-
dav said.
Yadav said his outfit
has support of different
partiesrepresentingvar-
ied sections of society
.
“We are multi-co-
loured people. We have
red, green, white and
blue--all with us,” he
said seeking the sup-
port of followers of the
Dalit icon when asked
about the BSP going
solo this time.
Yadav also mocked
CM Yogi, who in a re-
cent statement said he
will “cool down” those
hotting up passions af-
ter March 10, the date
when results of the state
Assembly polls will be
declared.
“He is our CM and
not any compressor
that he will cool us
down,” Yadav said, add-
ing that the chief min-
ister didn’t know what
he was saying.
Yadav said if his par-
ty forms the govern-
ment in the state, there
will be no “garmi” (ten-
sion) but “bharti” (ap-
pointment) as the youth
will be given jobs.
“Every youth will de-
feat the BJP this time as
they took away their
jobs,” he said.
Yadav said Aditya-
nath should “take care
of himself” as he is not
goingtobetheCMagain.
Rashtriya Lok Dal
chief Jayant Chaudhary
alleged that those in
power are “trying to de-
stroy”theunitybetween
both parties.
“A large number of
people are joining our
caravan. This has in-
creased the anger of the
BJP
. The chief minister
is using such language
which has never been
heard before from any
person occupying that
position,” he said. —PTI
Kaushambi: Ahead of
the UP polls scheduled
this month, Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) na-
tional president JP
Nadda on Thursday
lashed out at the Oppo-
sition on the issue of
Ram Mandir and said
that they were trying to
stop the constriction of
the temple while the
ruling BJP government
was trying to begin the
construction, and the
same political parties
are now busy visiting
temples.
Addressing a rally
here on Thursday,
Nadda said, “There was
a demand for the con-
struction of the Ram
Temple in Ayodhya. We
were trying to build the
temple, and others were
trying to stop the con-
struction. Now they are
busy visiting temples.
They are the same polit-
ical parties who had
firedatthe‘Karsevaks’.”
He further said the
Congress disrupted the
hearing of Ram Mandir
in the Supreme Court,
however, the construc-
tion is now underway
after the decision of the
top court.
“When the Congress
party was trying to dis-
rupt the Ram Temple
subject in Supreme
Court, but when you
brought the Modi gov-
ernment, because of
which, after the judge-
ment of the SC, a huge
Ram Mandir is under
construction today
. This
is the fight of ideals that
the BJP had fought. PM
Modi made the Kashi
Vishwanath Corridor
in Kashi,” he said.
Nadda alleged the
Opposition had only
disrupted religious
faith while BJP had tak-
en “culture and nation-
alism” along. —ANI
Pawan Lalchand
Dehradun: The Con-
gress, which is dream-
ing of returning to
power in 2022, has five
main arrows in its po-
litical quiver. These are
former Chief Minister
and Congress election
campaign committee
chairman Harish Raw-
at, state in-charge Dev-
endra Yadav, leader of
opposition Pritam Sin-
gh, state president
Ganesh Godiyal and
screening committee
chairman Avinash
Pandey.
These five leaders, in
their own way, have put
the country’s oldest
party in a close fight
this time.
Harish Rawat has
brought the slogan of
U t t a r a k h a n d i y a t
against big brand Modi.
Leader of Opposi-
tion Pritam Singh, the
state president till the
beginning of last year,
has sweated out against
the BJP’s double-engine
government from house
to house on the roads.
State President
Ganesh Godiyal, as an
ally of Harda, has
played an important
role in giving shape to
the election agenda.
Congress’s state in-
charge Devendra Yadav
has made constant ef-
forts to bring divided
party leaders under one
roof and mobilise them
on one platform after
taking charge of Rahul
Gandhi’s ‘Mission Vi-
jay’ in Uttarakhand. Ya-
dav has played the role
of a bridge between the
central and regional
leadership. For the first
time, the screening
committee has gone
from district to district
to select the candidates.
This campaign has
been headed by Avinash
Pandey as the President
of the State Screening
Committee. The effect
of this has been that the
usual revolt after the
announcement of Con-
gress candidates has
been comparatively less
this time.
BSP’s region-wise ticketing strategy may change electoral equations in UP
BACK IN BUSINESS

As a result of
the calculations
by Mayawati’s
strategists,
in more than
two dozen
seats, the BSP
seems to be
giving a tough
competition
to the SP
BSP chief Mayawati being felicitated at a public meeting in Ghaziabad on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI



MAYA FOR MUSLIMS
Akhilesh Yadav woos Dalits, asks them to help save constitution, democracy
‘FollowersofAmbedkarshouldjoinSP’
SP president Akhilesh Yadav during a campaign trail in Bulandshahr on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
BJP national president JP Nadda at Kaushambi on Thursday.
SP PLAINT
AGAINST
CM YOGI’S
‘LANGUAGE’
Lucknow: Ahead of
the UP Assembly
polls, Samajwadi Par-
ty (SP) on Thursday
wrote to the Election
Commission of India
(ECI) requesting it to
issue an instruction
to CM Yogi Adity-
anath to follow the
“language in accord-
ance of the Model
Code of Conduct.” In
its letter addressed
to the ECI, the SP
alleged that the Uttar
Pradesh Chief Min-
ister frequently uses
the words such as
“goons” and “mafia”
for the party during
election campaign-
ing. Earlier this week,
Yogi Adityanath had
said that SP’s ‘red
cap’ symbolizes
rioting and crimi-
nals. Following this
Samajwadi Party ally
RLD party’s chief
Jayant Chaudhary
said, “Youths, farm-
ers and labourers are
supporting SP-RLD
alliance, which
seems to be adding
to the BJP’s frustra-
tion... The language
he uses doesn’t suit
the CM’s post. He is
threatening us. He
probably couldn’t
understand the mood
of this region.”
CM IN FEAR OF HISTORIC DEFEAT: YADAV
Akhilesh Yadav set to break 'Noida jinx'
Akhilesh Yadav being gifted a cycle wheel, the party’s
election symbol, as a memento, during a campaign trail in
Bulandshahr on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Lucknow: In a big politi-
cal development ahead of
the Uttar Pradesh polls,
Samajwadi Party chief
Akhilesh Yadav isvisiting
Noida on Thursday even-
ing after a long gap of 11
years. Now the big ques-
tion is whether Akhilesh’s
visit to Noida for the
poll campaign will prove
to be a masterstroke.
Earlier on Thursday, the
SP chief said, “There is
another saying related
to Noida is that if a party
goes for the campaign
in Noida then it wins
the UP elections. Last
time, I visited Noida in
2011 and then formed
the government in 2012.
Yadav said he was sure
his visit to Noida would
also help him in form-
ing the government in
2022. “Noida jinx” is an
old political taboo in UP
politics which says if a
sitting CM visits Noida
he cannot hold power
for long and will not be
in power for another
consecutive term. —ANI
Oppn was trying to
stop construction of
Ram Mandir: Nadda
The BJP prez
said those who
were opposing it
were now busy
visiting temples
These are Cong’s five Pandavas in Uttarakhand battle
—PHOTO BY PTI
Harish Rawat Devendra Yadav Pritam Singh Ganesh Gondiyal Avinash Pandey
STAND WITH YOU
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra consoles family members of a rape victim, in
Bulandshahr on Thursday.
—PHOTO
BY
ANI

LUCKNOW, FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 4, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
t is truly said that ‘Truth is stran-
ger than Fiction’ and in Bolly-
wood one can say that ‘Real life is
hotter than Reel life’ when we see
the true life-based hits that have
made the box office records. And
when the story is about a woman
whoredefinesempowermentand
power,winningthegamewiththerawhand
lifehasdealther-thenexcitementrunshigh.
Add to this Alia Bhatt- a star who, has more
than proven her mettle- one starts counting
the day till the release.
GangubaiKathiawadiisallthisandmore.
Alia looks simply ravishing as the feisty
Ganga,looselybasedonthelifeof arealsex
worker in the book Mafia Queens of Mum-
baibyS.HussainZaidi.Thefirsttrailergar-
nerednotjust 40Mlikesbutahugeamount
of interestwiththebad-mouthingsexyAlia
in a never seen before avatar! The second
trailerwillbeouttodayandfingersareitch-
ing to click the play button.
Ever since the first look of Alia Bhatt
starrer Gangubai Kathiawadi has been re-
leased, fans have been eagerly waiting for
the film. Well, the Sanjay Leela Bhansali
directorialmadeittotheheadlinesrecently
after the new release date of the film was
announced. The anticipated blockbuster
movie is going to hit the theatres on Febru-
ary 25 and the trailer of the film will be re-
leasing today
, February 4. The first look of
Ajay Devgn was released on Thursday and
the preview of the second trailer was also
held for a select few and we bet it is going to
take your excitement levels high. Devgn
looks dashing and menacing in the poster.
All said and done, it’s Alia who is giving
sleepless nights with her daring,
bindaas,sexyandbadasslooksinthe
trailer. The raw dialogue gets a
glimpse of the no-hold-barred
script and movie which coupled
with Bhansali’s larger than life
extravagant handling promises
a blockbuster.
I
t is truly said that ‘Truth is stran-
ger than Fiction’ and in Bolly-
wood one can say that ‘Real life is
hotter than Reel life’ when we see
the true life-based hits that have
made the box office records. And
when the story is about a woman POWER PERSONIFIED
Gangubai Kathiawadi- the Bhansali film is already
creating a storm much before it’s release on Feb 25, in
reel life as in real life it portrays the power of a woman
who lives life strongly with the cards she is dealt!
SMOKING IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH
Preview of the trailer held in
Mumbai on Thursday
Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt during the
preview trailer at Mumbai on Thursday

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