11022022 first india lucknow

Sambhal: The turnout
in the first phase of as-
sembly polls shows
people are voting in
large numbers because
of the security extend-
ed to women and trad-
ers by the BJP’s double-
engine government,
Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath said on
Thursday.
“The double-engine
government of the BJP
has extended security
to sisters and business-
men, and therefore,
people are coming out
to vote,” the chief min-
ister said at a public
meeting in Chandausi
here.
Taking potshots at
Samajwadi Party chief
Akhilesh Yadav, the
chief minister said Ya-
dav gets angry on hear-
ing the name of his per-
fume trader “friend”
because he fears the
truth might come out.
Adityanath was ap-
parently referring to
SP MLC Pushpraj Jain
Pammi. Business
premises owned by
Pammi and other co-
logne producers were
raided by the income
tax department.
“There is a need for
bulldozers for the per-
fume trader friends,
mafia or Taliban-mind-
ed people like Shafiqur
Rahman Barq,” Yogi
said.
Barq, a Samajwadi
Party MP, had last year
reportedly said that
the Taliban’s takeover
of Afghanistan was
that country’s internal
matter. —PTI
People voting in large numbers due to security
provided by BJP govt to women, traders: CM Yogi
YOGI GOVT NEEDED
TO SAFEGUARD
MUSLIM WOMEN,
SAYS PM MODI
WEST UP CAMPAIGN
Saharanpur: Addressing his
first physical rally after the
announcement of the poll
schedule, PM Narendra
Modi on Thursday said
in Saharanpur that Yogi
Adityanath’s government
was needed in the state so
that no one could oppress
Muslim women. “Our govt
stands with every deprived,
victim Muslim women. No
one can oppress Muslim
women, and for this, Yogi
ji’s government is neces-
sary,” he said. A BJP gov-
ernment is necessary in UP
to keep women free from
fear and send criminals to
prison, he said. —PTI
CM Yogi felicitates PM Modi at a public rally in Saharanpur on
Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
PERSPECTIVE
JAIPUR | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022
04
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Published at 304, 3rd Floor, City Mall, Bhagwan Das Road, C-Scheme, Jaipur-302001, Rajasthan. Phone 0141-4920504. Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
Piyush Goyal@PiyushG
oyal
Had comprehensive talks over
lunch with my good friend
Australian Trade Minister @
DanTehanWannon in New Delhi.
We had an engaging discussion
on ways to further deepen India-
Australia economic and trade ties.
TOP TWEETS
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Refusing to yield to dualities is your
sacred duty. Do it; stay unmoved by them.
Or your mind’ll be in constant turmoil.
—THE BHAGWAD GITA
Nitin Gadkari@nitin_gadkari
Construction of 6-Lane Access
Controlled Greenfield Highway
section of NH-150C from Julekal
Village to Kurnool town terminating
on NH-40 as part of Solapur-
Kurnool-Chennai Economic Corridor.
gainst the back-
drop of a west-
ern diplomatic
boycott of the
Beijing Winter
Olympics,ChinaandRussia
havemarkedtheoccasionby
showing off their increas-
inglycloserelationship.Rus-
sia’s president Vladimir Pu-
tin posed for pictures with
ChineseleaderXiJinpingat
the opening of the 2022 Win-
ter Games, declaring their
opposition to further en-
largement of Nato and call-
ing on the western alliance
to “abandon its ideologised
cold war approaches”.
In a joint statement, the
two leaders announced a
new era in relations that
would“knownolimits”and
be“superiortopoliticaland
military alliances of the
cold war era”. Meanwhile
they said Nato must “re-
spect the sovereignty
, secu-
rity and interests of other
countries … and to exercise
a fair and objective attitude
towards the peaceful devel-
opment of other states”.
POLITICAL SIGNALS
Given these differences,
news of apparent security
cooperation
between the
two should be taken with a
pinch of salt. While there is
growing collaboration
be-
tween Chinese and Russian
armed forces, the primary
function of their military
cooperation consists in po-
litical signalling, rather
thaninpreparingforajoint
military action.
POSITIVELY
NEUTRAL
Russia seems to have moved
from a position of studied
neutrality on China’s poli-
cies in Asia-Pacific, to out-
rightcondemnation
of trilat-
eral security initiative be-
tween Australia, the UK and
the United States, “
AUKUS”
– and Washington’s
new In-
do-Pacific strategy in gener-
al. The joint declaration
notes that two countries are
seriouslyconcernedbysuch
developments.
Thus, the extent of poten-
tialChinesesupportforRus-
sia in face of another round
of western sanctions re-
mains uncertain. For now,
as one commentator
notes
“it is enough that China re-
mains positively neutral”.
THECONVERSATION
.COM
RUSSIA CHINA’S VIABLE FRIENDSHIP:
A NEW WORLD ORDER
two leaders announced
a new era in relations
that would “know no
limits” and be
“superior to political
and military alliances
of the cold war era”
A
airy tales are
tales only. Till
the time the
Prince actually
descends from
heaven, fights
it out and conquers the
throne. Life of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
is one such tale that you
have to pinch twice to
believe.
A self-made, self-less,
self-motivated
soul from
a non-descriptiv
e village
grows to a stature that he
becomes a living legend.
THE CHILDHOOD
Born to a poor family in
a small village of Guja-
rat Vadnagar, Modi faced
extreme hardships in
his formative years. His
parents - Damodardas
Modi and Hiraben -
though were financially
deprived but enriched
Narendra and his 6 sib-
lings with ethical values
and sanskar.
Modi’s school mates
and neighbours, recount
that he had a certain
spark since an early age
where even though he
used to be mischievous,
he still had the leader-
ship aspect to his person-
ality. A dare devil boy
Narendra would always
be ready to even risk his
life for wellbeing of oth-
ers. Living in scarcity
had only imbibed never-
say-die spirit in Naren-
dra. This helped Naren-
dra tide over all the ad-
versities around and
hone leadership skills to
prepare for a big battle
awaiting the young
Modi, who was gearing
up to leave his family
and home in the quest
for ‘tatvagyan’.
Before stepping out in
the wilderness, Naren-
dra wanted to study in
Sainik School, as he was
enamoured
with the
armed forces, and asked
his father for it. But for
Damodardas it was sim-
ply an unaffordable prop-
osition. The refusal from
his father further ignited
Narendra’s
desire to
wear uniform. He opted
to join junior NCC. But
the NCC invigilator said
that he did not meet the
height requirements
and
he could not be given a
place. However, a deter-
mined Narendra insisted
and the invigilator even-
tuallyaskedhimtofinish
three tasks- a sprint, a
frog jump and running
on one foot - within stipu-
lated time limit.
To the invigilator’s
surprise, he completed
and forced his way into
NCC the way he stormed
into Politics and reach
the zenith.
HOME AWAY
FROM HOME
The rigorous NCC train-
ing instilled discipline
and selfless service. True
to his name, Modi, in-
spired by his namesake
Narendranath
Datta,
who was later known as
Swami Vivekanand,
de-
cided to leave his family
and mother to serve
motherland.
In 1967, at
the young age of 17, the
thought of becoming a
saint or sadhu came
when he saw a seer med-
itating immersed in a pit
near Vadnagar railway
station. That time Nar-
endra was going with his
family to attend a mar-
riage. The sheer sight of
the sage engrossed in
deep meditation
un-
mindful of happening
around caught his fancy
.
He refused to board the
train and stayed back
just to watch the ‘un-
worldly’ act of the seer
and serve him if he
(seer)) needed water or
food. This little spark
quickly turned into a big
fire and Modi left home
to head straight to Belur
Math to give life a new
dimension and himself a
new identity
. He rechris-
tened himself with a
new name’Aniket’
- one
who does not have a per-
manent roof.
But just changing
name didn’t alter his
fate. He was found too
young to practice renun-
ciation by senior inhab-
itants of math. Modi was
asked to go back and
complete formal educa-
tion before entering the
world of spirituality
.
THE HOMECOMIN
G
Disappointed,
Narendra
returned home and after
spending some time
moved to Ahmedabad to
work at his maternal un-
cle’s canteen. There he
happened to meet Vakil
Sahab, an RSS Pracha-
rak, who drew Narendra
into the Sangh. It was
Vakil Sahab, who en-
rolled him for further
studies and made ar-
rangements for his stay
in Hedgewar Bhawan of
RSS in Ahmedabad.
The colour of khakhi
was still new to Modi
when in 1971, he decided
to go to Delhi for staging
his maiden protest
against the non callous
attitude of Indira Gan-
dhi government towards
the plight of people liv-
ing in East Pakistan
(nowBangladesh),which
was being bulldozed by
the political might of
their fellow countrymen
of West Pakistan.
The demonstrator
s
cordoned off the Paki-
stan Embassy and police
rounded up all the dem-
onstrators,
including
Narendra who was later
put in Tihar Jail. The
creation of a new coun-
try Bangladesh post 1971
Indo Pak war has given
birth to a political prod-
igy in India who stepped
into politics for the
cause of Bangladesh and
now championing
the
cause of entire world.
The start of Modi’s
political life heralded
beginning of new era of
a swayamsevak
who sac-
rificed his life to the wel-
fare of his fellow coun-
trymen. He didn’t mind
risking his life and com-
fort for changing the dy-
namics of Indian politi-
cal system which was
being staled for so many
decades. His demeanour,
impeccable speech and
self-less service won one
and every heart within
the RSS. He became a
favourite of all his sen-
iors in the Sangh. Not
just in Gujarat, but
Sangh representativ
es
from other states also
started coming in con-
tact with him.
And this is where the
story actually begins.
Since the most volatile
part of India’s political
history was yet to unfold
and Narendra was to
play a part in it too.
(to be continued...)
The start of Modi’s political life heralded
beginning of new era of a swayamsevak
who sacrificed his life to the welfare of his
fellow countrymen.He didn’t mind risking his
life and comfort for changing the dynamics of
Indian political system which was being
staled for so many decades
F
SHASHIKANT
SHARMA
The writer is senior journalist
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
DUSTY LANES TO CROWNING GLORY:
THE MAKING OF PM MODI!
LUCKNOW l FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 91
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
The latest guidelines that will be effective from February
14 removed the demarcation of ‘at-risk’ and other coun-
tries. Further, the health ministry recommended 14 days
of self-monitoring post-arrival as against a seven-day
home quarantine which was mandated earlier.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday
said cryptocurrencies are a “threat to macroeco-
nomic and financial stability” and cautioned investors
against punting on them. Meanwhile, RBI left bench-
mark lending rate unchanged at 4 percent.
NO 7-DAY HOME
QUARANTINE
FOR INT’L
PASSENGERS
CRYPTO
CURRENCIES
A THREAT:
SAYS RBI GUV
CORONA CATASTROPHE
LAST CHANCE: SC SEEKS
MALLYA’S PRESENCE
New Delhi: The Supreme Court
on Thursday gave a final opportu-
nity to fugitive businessman Vijay
Mallya to appear before it before
the apex court pronounces
sentence in contempt case filed
by the banks, in which he was
found guilty.
P4
61.06%
VOTER TURNOUT
INUPPOLLS1STPHASE
The highest
turnout is
reported
in Shamli
(66.01%) and
the lowest in
Ghaziabad
(52.43%)
RLD chief
Jayant
Chaudhary
misses voting
deadline
EVM glitches
reported from
some booths,
Akhilesh urges
EC to take action
The Election
Commission
revises polling
dates for
Manipur
assembly. Now
the first phase
will go to the
poll on Feb 28
instead of 27,
and the 2nd
phase is
on March 5
instead of 3
1
2
3
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Over 60 per
cent voter turnout was
recorded in the first
phase of polling held
on Thursday across 58
assembly constituen-
cies in 11 districts of
Uttar Pradesh.
Polling closed at 6
pm following a one-
hour extension be-
cause of Covid-19 pro-
tocols. The day passed
off peacefully with mi-
nor technical snags in
EVMs at some places,
election officials said.
Additional Chief
Election Officer
(ACEO) BD Ram Ti-
wari said, “There were
reports of a technical
error in EVMs at some
places.” Those EVMs
were being replaced as
the reports came in, he
added.
On the Samajwadi
Party’s allegation that
poor voters were not
allowed to exercise
their franchise in Dun-
dukheda village in
the Kairana assembly
constituency, Tiwari
said the district magis-
trate concerned was
asked to look into the
matter.
Modi in Saharanpur
champions Yogi govt
Lakhimpur violence: Ashish gets bail as
Alld HC questions charges, rejects probe
Karnataka hijab row reaches SC,apex
court says let K’taka HC hear case first
Prayagraj: While
granting bail to Union
Minister Ajay Mishra
Teni’s son Ashish
Mishra in the case in-
volving the killing of
farmers in Lakhimpur
Kheri last year, the Al-
lahabad High Court
questioned the charges
against him and reject-
ed the police probe.
The Allahabad High
Court raised questions
about some of the
charges listed by the po-
lice against Ashish
Mishra, including fir-
ing at protesters. “Con-
sidering the facts and
circumstances of the
case in toto, it is evident
that as per the FIR, the
role of firing was as-
signed to the applicant
(Ashish Mishra) for
killing the protesters,
but during the course
of investigation, no
such firearm injuries
were found either on
the body of any of the
deceased or on the body
of any injured person,”
the court said.
Defence Counsel Salil
Kumar Srivastava said,
“During arguments on
the bail application, we
raised several issues in-
cluding that Ashish
Mishrawasfalselyimpli-
cated as he was not pre-
sent at the spot. The
court today granted bail
to Ashish Mishra. The
courtorderisnotupload-
ed yet on its website.”
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court on Thurs-
day refrained from giv-
ing a specific date for
the urgent listing of a
plea seeking trans-
fer of petitions
from the Karna-
taka High Court,
which is current-
ly examining the
permissibility of hijab
in schools and colleges.
Senior advocate Ka-
pil Sibal mentioned the
matter before a bench
headed by Chief Justice
NV Ramana.
Sibal submitted that
this deals with what is
happening in Karnata-
ka,anditsspreading
in the entire coun-
try
. Sibal said the
exams are just
two months away
and his client has
filed the petition today
(Thursday). The Chief
Justice emphasized that
let the high court hear
the matter first.
HC ADJOURNS
HIJAB HEARING
TILL FEB 14
‘SCHOOLS TO OPEN
SANS RELIGIOUS
DRESS CODE’
Bengaluru: The three-
judge full bench of Chief
Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi,
Justice J M Khazi and Jus-
tice Krishna S Dixit, which
was formed on Wednes-
day, said said it wants the
matter to be resolved at
the earliest but till that time
peace and tranquility is to
be maintained.
Saharanpur: Address-
ing his first physical
rallyaftertheannounce-
ment of the poll sched-
ule,PrimeMinisterNar-
endra Modi on Thurs-
day said in Saharanpur
that Yogi Adityanath’s
government was needed
to keep Uttar Pradesh
riot-free.
A BJP government is
necessary in Uttar
Pradesh so that the poor
continuetogetfreetreat-
ment of up to Rs 5 lakh
in good hospitals, Modi
said, adding that it is
also needed so that mon-
ey keeps going into the
bank accounts of small
farmers. —PTI
PM TARGETS CONG
FOR CDS MENTION
YOUR ONE VOTE CAN SHAPE BRIGHT
FUTURE OF UTTAR PRADESH: SHAH
POWER FOR ALL
HOMES: PM IN GOA
Srinagar: PM Modi while
addressing ‘Vijay Sankalp
Sabha’ in Uttarakhand’s
Srinagar city lashed out
at Congress for using
late Chief of Defence
Staff (CDS) General
Bipin Rawat’s name to
gather votes. New Delhi: Union Home Min-
ister Amit Shah on Thursday
urged upon the people
to cast their votes
in maximum
numbers to help
elect a govern-
ment that can
provide security, well being and
good governance along with
development in the state. UP
CM Yogi Adityanath also urged
voters to cast their votes.
Panaji: Ahead of the
Assembly polls in Goa,
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi held a grand rally
in Mapusa. He empha-
sised on Swachh Bharat
outreach and electricity
for all homes. Goa means
governance, opportuni-
ties, and aspirations.
Bengaluru: Karnataka
Chief Minister Basavaraj
Bommai on Thursday
said that the state will
reopen schools till class
10 without any religious
dress code from Febru-
ary 14. For classes 11th
onwards decision will
be made later on, the
CM added.
DALIP SINGH RANA,
KNOWN AS GREAT
KHALI, JOINS BJP
New Delhi: Wrestler Dalip
Singh Rana, popularly
known as The Great Khali,
on Thursday joined the
Bharatiya
Janata
Party at its
headquar-
ters in Delhi.
He joined
the party in the presence
of Rajya Sabha MP Arun
Singh, MoS Jitendra
Singh and Lok Sabha MP
Sunita Duggal. “I’m glad
to have joined BJP… I
feel that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s work for
the nation makes him the
right PM. So, I thought
why not be a part of his
governance for the na-
tion’s development. I was
influenced by the BJP’s
national policy,” Rana was
quoted as saying by ANI.
Bijnor: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh
Yadav launched an all-out attack
on PM Modi and threw back
a challenge at PM who had
ridiculed his alliance with
Jayant Chaudhary at an inter-
view yesterday, saying UP has already seen
the “Do ladkon wala khel”. We are sons of
farmers and the farmers this time consider
this election with their honour, he said.
WE ARE SONS OF FARMERS:
AKHILESH REPLY TO PM
Ashish Mishra
U.P. ASSEMBLY POLL 2022-PHASE-1
61.06%
VOTER TURNOUT
INUPPOLLS1STPHASE
Bijnor: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh
Yadav launched an all-out attack
on PM Modi and threw back
a challenge at PM who had
Jayant Chaudhary at an inter-
view yesterday, saying UP has already seen
WE ARE SONS OF FARMERS:
AKHILESH REPLY TO PM
The highest and lowest turnout
Shamli
66.01%
Uttar Pradesh
65.32%
Muzaffar Nagar
62.90%
Mathura
63.75%
Voting in 2017 polls
in the same region.
Ghaziabad
52.43%
Uttar Pradesh Lucknow
NEW
CASES
289
NEW
CASES
2,326 NEW
DEATHS
13
A senior citizen voter being carried on a cart to a polling booth in
Agra on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Justice Bhandari to take
oath on Feb 14 as regular
CJ of Madras High court
Chennai: President Ram
nath Kovind on Thursday
appointed 17 judges in high
courts of Madhya Pradesh,
Madras, Orrisa, and Andhra
Pradesh. Justice Munish-
war Nath Bhandari, who
had been appointed as
the Acting Chief Justice
of the Madras High Court
recently, has been made the
Chief Justice of the High
Court. Justice Bhandari will
take oath as CJ of Madras
High Court on February
14. A communication to
this effect was signed by
the President of India and
issued on Thursday. Justice
M N Bhandari was trans-
ferred to the Madras High
Court in November last year
and he assumed office as
the ACJ on November 22.
Born on September 30,
1960, Justice Bhandari en-
rolled himself as a lawyer in
May, 1983. He was elevated
from the Bar to the Bench
of the Rajasthan High Court
in July, 2007 and trans-
ferred to the Allahabad High
Court in March, 2019, from
where he was transferred
and posted as the ACJ of
the Madras High Court in
November last year.

UTTAR PRADESH
LUCKNOW | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2022
02
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Development, bulldozer to run side by side
First India Bureau
Bijnore: Accusing his
predecessors of failing
to undertake develop-
ment work in the state,
the Chief Minister said
that Samajwadi Party’s
development was only
limited to the boundary
walls of ‘Kabristan’
(graveyard), adding “It
is only the BJP govern-
ment that can take Ut-
tar Pradesh on the path
of development and
prosperity
.”
Addressing a public
meeting in the Nagina
and Nathaur assembly
constituencies of Bi-
jnor, the CM contrasted
the development works
by his government with
that of the erstwhile SP
regime. “Roads, water,
electricity, hospital,
schools, degree col-
leges, attention was
never paid to such basic
infrastructure and
needs in their govern-
ment. Even Bijnor was
declared as a dark zone
in their government,”
Yogi said.
Listing the develop-
ment works carried out
by his government, the
CM stated that the BJP
government is estab-
lishing a medical col-
lege in Bijnor and there
will be no shortage of
medical facilities and
doctors in the district.
Lashing out at the
previous government
for the poor law and or-
der situation in their
regime, Adityanath re-
marked, “Between 2012
and 2017, only anarchy
and riots prevailed in
the state. Of the ‘two
boys’, the one from Luc-
know used to throw the
state into the fire of ri-
ots, while the other
used to watch the spec-
tacle sitting in Delhi.”
Yogi also commented
that the Samajwadi Par-
ty failed to ensure safe-
ty and security to the
daughters of the state,
the daughters could not
go to school, even the
traders were scared of
moving out late in the
evening.
SAMAJWADI PARTY’S DEVELOPMENT WAS ONLY LIMITED TO BUILDING BOUNDARY WALLS OF KABRISTANS, SAYS CM YOGI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during a public meeting for the
State Assembly elections, in Saharanpur on Thursday.
RECORD PAYMENT
BJP raised voice when innocent farmers were shot: CM
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Chief Min-
ister Yogi Adityanath
on Thursday said that
last five years of the
BJP government were
dedicated to uplift-
ment of poor, villag-
ers, farmers, youth
and women and the
saffron party will con-
tinue to work ensuring
development, good
governance and na-
tionalism.
Addressing a public
gathering in Saha-
ranpur on Thursday,
Yogi drew a compari-
son with the previous
Samajwadi Party gov-
ernment, and hit out
at the opposition over
the law and order and
accused it of indulg-
ing in corruption and
nepotism in govern-
ment jobs.
“Under SP rule, the
state’s dignity and
safety was handed
over to the criminals,
gangsters and miscre-
ants. The youth and
traders were made to
flee to other places
while the BJP used
bulldozers to run
down illegal posses-
sions of the crimi-
nals,” he asserted.
Furthermore, Yogi Ad-
ityanath said that this
is the same Saha-
ranpur that remained
neglected in the previ-
ous governments was
referred to as the ‘See-
mant Jila’, under
BJP’s rule, Saha-
ranpur was made to
progress.
People in the rally attended by CM Yogi, PM Modi.
VOTES CAST IN ASSEMBLY
SEATS OF 9 BJP MINISTERS
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Of the 9
BJP ministers con-
testing in this first
phase, the most prom-
inent is Suresh Rana,
minister for cane,
who is standing from
the Thana Bhawan
Assembly seat in
Shamli district.
In 2012, he had won
the seat with a razor
thin margin of 265
votes but in 2017, his
margin increased to
over 16,000 votes.
But the minister
has been facing resis-
tance on the issue of
insufficient increase
in cane MSP and
pending arrears.
The second minis-
ter contesting in this
phase is Atul Garg
from Ghaziabad. He
defeated the BSP can-
didate with a margin
of over 70,000 votes in
2017 and fights to re-
tain his seat.
Shrikant Sharma,
UP Power Minister, is
also facing a crucial
test in his constituen-
cy Mathura. In 2017,
Sharma had defeated
Pradeep Mathur of
Congress with a mar-
gin of over 1.43 lakh
votes.
Mathur is a three-
term MLA from this
seat and has been
working overtime to
regain his seat this
time.
The fourth minis-
ter in the fray in the
first phase is Sandeep
Singh, grandson of
late Kalyan Singh.
He is seeking
re-election from At-
rauli in Aligarh,
which is considered a
stronghold of the
Kalyan Singh family.
Kalyan Singh had
won from this seat
eleven times, a record
in itself.
Anil Sharma, min-
ister of state for envi-
ronment, is seeking
re-election from Shi-
karpur seat in Bu-
landshahr district.
The seat is with BJP
for the last five elec-
tions. This is Shar-
ma’s second election.
The sixth minister
is Kapil Dev Agarwal
from Muzaffarnagar
Sadar seat, which has
been the epicentre of
farmers’agitationand
Agarwal faces a tough
challenge here.
Dinesh Khatik, who
holds the flood control
portfolio, was appoint-
ed minister four
months ago in Sep-
tember 2021. He rep-
resents the Hastina-
pur constituency in
the UP Assembly
.
Hastinapur has a his-
tory of not repeating
its representatives
and this factor plays
heavily on the minds
of voters here. Khatik
comes from an RSS
background and owns
brickkilnsinthearea.
Dr G.S. Dharmesh,
social welfare minis-
ter, too seeking
re-election from his
AgraCanttseatwhich
is in the reserved cat-
egory
.
Sandeep Singh Atul Garg
CHOOSE A GOVT CAREFULLY, JUST
LIKE FIXING A MARRIAGE: JP NADDA
Lucknow: As Uttar
Pradesh voted for the
first phase of the as-
sembly polls, BJP pres-
ident JP Nadda on
Thursday said voters
should select a govern-
ment based on past per-
formances rather than
promises, just as mar-
riages are fixed after
making a thorough en-
quiry
.
Addressing a rally in
the Biswan, Sitapur dis-
trict, Nadda claimed
that the BJP is the only
national party left in
the country, while the
others have been re-
duced to a family or a
region.
“Voters should not
judge political parties
by what they promise
but rather by what they
have done in the past.
“When you go to fix a
marriage, you do it af-
ter enquiring every-
thing. So when you are
selecting a government
for five years, you must
find out about the party
that is coming to pow-
er,” Nadda said.
Taking a swipe at po-
litical rivals, he said,
“Tell me whether the
National Conference
and the PDP are parties
of families or not? In
Haryana, isn’t the Lok
Dal a party of a family?
In Uttar Pradesh, isn’t
the Samajwadi Party of
one family?”
“Isn’t the RJD in Bi-
har a party of a family?
In West Bengal, the par-
ty of Mamata (Baner-
jee) belongs to a family,
is it not?,” he asked.
He went on to name
the Biju Janata Dal in
Odisha, the TDP and
the YSR Congress in
Andhra Pradesh, KCR’s
party in Telangana,
DMK in Tamil Nadu,
besides Shiv Sena and
NCP in Maharashtra.
The India National
Congress has been con-
fined to some states, he
added. —PTI
BJP’s National President JP Nadda was welcomed at Lucknow airport by BJP Mahanagar
President Mukesh Sharma along with BJP State Gen Secy Govind Narayan Shukla and Lucknow
Mayor Sanyukta Bhatia. —PHOTO BY ASHOK DUTTA
NO CASTE BIAS IN BJP: NADDA
M Tariq Khan
Lucknow: Impressive
voter turnout marked
the end of polling for
round one of the seven-
phased UP polls 2022.
But its not politi-
cians alone whose fate
hangs in balance.
Every time a new
party comes to power,
many officials are
shunted out from “sen-
sitive posts.”
Since a new regime
almost always affects
an administrative
overhaul soon after tak-
ing over power reigns,
the ‘Steel Frames’ anxi-
ety is understandable.
“Unless UP bucks the
trend no government
has got a second term
since 1985. Several of
our colleagues, there-
fore, are keeping their
ear to the ground to as-
certain which way is
the wind blowing,”
quipped a senior offi-
cial requesting ano-
nymity
.
However, those who
have finished their in-
nings who are more vo-
cal on the subject.
“I can bet that major-
ity of those at the helm
today will not get good
postings if there is a re-
gime change. Such peo-
ple are in all govern-
ments. Every govern-
ment thinks it will re-
turn to power, but we
have polls, and things
change. But all govern-
ments need good bu-
reaucrats,” says Rakesh
Verma, who took pre-
mature retirement from
his post but is active on
social media to express
his thoughts.
NOT ‘KHADI’ ALONE, CIVIL SERVANTS, TOO, KEEN ON OUTCOME
POLL SPICE
Lok Bhawan in Lucknow.
‘ENJOY CHANGE’
“Bureaucrats generally
prefer change. They
have enjoyed power
with one party for 5
years. They want to do
the same with another
party. Because one
section is always ig-
nored,” points out SP
Singh, another former
civil servant
BSP FACES FLAK
Seema Singh, mother of Sara Singh and Nidhi Shukla, sister of Madhumita Shukla, staged
a dharna outside the BSP office in Lucknow on Thursday against the party giving ticket to
Aman Mani Tripathi, accused of killing Sara Singh and Madhumita Shukla.
—PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
Disgruntled BJP
MLA Surendra
Singh joins VIP
First India Bureau
Ballia: BJP MLA
Surendra Singh on
Thursday joined the Vi-
kassheel Insaan Party
(VIP) of Mukesh Sah-
ani, a minister in the
Bihar government.
Singh resigned from the
primary membership
of the BJP after he was
denied a ticket.
Singh, the MLA of
Bairia area in the dis-
trict, who has hogged
headlines for his con-
troversial statements,
told reporters that Raja
Ram Bind, the national
vice president of VIP,
came to his residence
and declared him the
candidate of his party
.
BJP MLA Surendra Singh has
resigned from BJP’s Primary
membership.
BJP is for industrialists, not public: Maya
Haridwar: The Bahu-
jan Samaj Party (BSP)
chief Mayawati, while
addressing a political
rally in Uttarakhand’s
Haridwar, made a veiled
attack on the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) say-
ing that it formulates
economic policies not to
help citizens but to fa-
vour industrialists and
capitalists.
Ex UP Chief Minister
Mayawati further said,
“BSP is the only party
that does not work with
the money of capital-
ists, unlike other politi-
cal parties which for-
mulate economic poli-
cies not to help citizens
but to favour industrial-
ists.”
According to her, the
other parties have at-
tained power at the Cen-
tre and state with the
help of their industrial-
ist friends. —ANI

UTTAR PRADESH
03
Bulandshahr: A
groom in UP on Thurs-
day hit the polling booth
in his wedding dress to
cast his vote in the first
phase of UP elections. A
groom reached Char
Khamba polling station
in the Sadar assembly
seat here to cast his vote
before joining his mar-
riage procession on
Thursday
.
Balram performed
the Ghudchadhi cere-
mony’, but came to the
polling station on a mo-
torcycle. The first
phase of polling, which
started at 7 am and will
continue till 6 pm, is
being held in 58 assem-
bly seats spread across
11 districts in the west-
ern part of UP. Balram
said he felt it necessary
to exercise his fran-
chise. After casting his
vote, his marriage pro-
cession left from his
house for Loni.
The Char Khamba
polling station is a mod-
el polling booth built on
DM Colony Road. The
booth was decorated
with balloons and vot-
ers were welcomed
with drum beats. Mean-
while, at booth number
421 of Anupshahr area
in the district, people
had to wait for hours in
the queue before they
were able to cast their
votes due to a technical
glitch EVM.In the sev-
en assembly seats of
the district, 50.81 per
cent voter turnout was
recorded till 3 pm, offi-
cials said. —PTI
Groom casts vote before marriage procession
UP first to fully
vaccinate 11
crore people
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The Keeping
the pace of vaccination
in top gear, the state of
UP became the first
state in India to fully
vaccinate over 11 crore
individuals. The state
on February 10, crossed
a major landmark with
more than 11 crore peo-
ple 11,00,16,234 receiv-
ing both the doses of
Covid-19 vaccine so far.
The most populous
state has so far given
over 27,35,42,006 ‘Shots
of Life’ to people.
In addition, the state
has also achieved the
landmark of adminis-
tering the first dose of
the covid-19 vaccine to
over 100 percent of the
eligible adult popula-
tion. While over 76 per-
cent of the population
is fully vaccinated in
the state. Committed to
providing additional
protection cover to the
priority group, UP
started administering
booster shots to the
frontline and health-
care workers as well as
senior citizens from
January 10.
Over 18.80 lakh ‘pre-
caution doses’ have
been administered in
thestatesofar.Strength-
ening its fight against
the Covid-19 pandemic,
the UP govt has decided
to vaccinate all children
between 15 to 18 years
of age in a time-bound
manner. So far, over
1,25,14,360 teens have
been administered vac-
cine doses in the state.
According to the latest
figures on CoWin, UP
has administered 16.16
crore first doses of the
vaccine so far.
—PICTURE FOR REPRESENTATION






NO 1. VAX DRIVE (Anticlockwise from
top) People outside
a polling station in
Dadri; queues in Agra;
A sadhu and two
others at a booth in
Vrindavan; Muslim
women at a booth
in Kairana; Women
at Vaidpura village,
Gautam Budh Nagar; A
man carries his elderly
mother at a polling
station in Meerut; Men
check their Voter IDs
in Dadri; A woman
shows her inked
finger in Dadri.
—PHOTOS BY PTI
ONE VOTE,
COUNTING
CRUCIAL READ
OMAR: JK HAS LESS CRIME, BETTER
LIVING STANDARDS THAN UP
TEN HELD FOR ATTACK ON POLICE
TEAM IN PILIBHIT
Srinagar: National Conference leader Omar
Abdullah on Thursday hit out at Yogi for
asking people to return the BJP to power or
face the possibility of the state turning into a
“Kashmir, Kerala or Bengal”. “He should be
so lucky. JK has less poverty, better human
development indices, less crime generally
better standards of living than U.P. What we
lack is good governance over the last 4 yrs but
that is a temporary phenomenon,” he tweeted.
Pilibhit: Ten people were arrested here on
Wednesday for allegedly attacking police per-
sonnel in Banganj village when they had gone
there to resolve a dispute. Sub-Inspector
Jitendra Kumar, along with Head Constable
Anil Kumar and Constable Mohit Pal were
patrolling Zara Chowki area when they got
information that some people in village Ban-
ganj were assaulting and abusing others over
some issue.
UTENSIL SELLER OUT TO DARE DY
CM KESHAV MAURYA IN UP POLLS
Lucknow: Having contested many elec-
tions both at the state and the national
level in the past over two decades, a small-
time utensil seller has entered the poll fray
this time against UP Deputy CMKeshav
Prasad Maurya. Chhedu Chamar has filed
his nomination as an independent candi-
date from the Sirathu assembly segment
in Kaushambi district.
Lucknow: A minor
skirmish occurred be-
tween supporters of
Union Minister VK
Singh and Congress
leader Rajan Kant
within the premises of
a polling station here
on Thursday allegedly
when the BJP leader
addressed the media
and talked about the
work done by his party.
Gen (retired) VK
Singh after casting his
vote along with his
spouse Bharti Singh at
Schiller Institute of
Ghaziabad city began
interacting with the
media inside the
premises.
This led to a contro-
versy when Congress
leader Rajni Kant Raju
objected to it.
Raju objected that
Singh was campaign-
ing for his party and
was wearing a saffron
stole with BJP’s elec-
tion symbol lotus, say-
ing it was a “clear vio-
lation” of the Model
Code of Conduct in the
state. —PTI
RUCKUS AT GHAZIABAD POLLING
STATION OVER VK SINGH’S STATEMENTS

PERSPECTIVE
04
Vol 2 Issue No. 91 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 Lucknow.
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
Piyush Goyal@PiyushGoyal
Had comprehensive talks over
lunch with my good friend
Australian Trade Minister @
DanTehanWannon in New Delhi.
We had an engaging discussion
on ways to further deepen India-
Australia economic and trade ties.
TOP TWEETS
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Refusing to yield to dualities is your
sacred duty. Do it; stay unmoved by them.
Or your mind’ll be in constant turmoil.
—THE BHAGWAD GITA
Nitin Gadkari@nitin_gadkari
Construction of 6-Lane Access
Controlled Greenfield Highway
section of NH-150C from Julekal
Village to Kurnool town terminating
on NH-40 as part of Solapur-
Kurnool-Chennai Economic Corridor.
gainst the back-
drop of a west-
ern diplomatic
boycott of the
Beijing Winter
Olympics,ChinaandRussia
havemarkedtheoccasionby
showing off their increas-
inglycloserelationship.Rus-
sia’s president Vladimir Pu-
tin posed for pictures with
ChineseleaderXiJinpingat
the opening of the 2022 Win-
ter Games, declaring their
opposition to further en-
largement of Nato and call-
ing on the western alliance
to “abandon its ideologised
cold war approaches”.
two leaders announced a
new era in relations that
would“knownolimits”and
be“superiortopoliticaland
military alliances of the
cold war era”. Meanwhile
they said Nato must “re-
spect the sovereignty
, secu-
rity and interests of other
countries … and to exercise
a fair and objective attitude
towards the peaceful devel-
opment of other states”.
POLITICAL SIGNALS
Given these differences,
news of apparent security
cooperation between the
two should be taken with a
pinch of salt. While there is
growing collaboration be-
tween Chinese and Russian
armed forces, the primary
function of their military
cooperation consists in po-
litical signalling, rather
thaninpreparingforajoint
military action.
POSITIVELY NEUTRAL
Russia seems to have moved
from a position of studied
neutrality on China’s poli-
cies in Asia-Pacific, to out-
rightcondemnationof trilat-
eral security initiative be-
tween Australia, the UK and
the United States, “
AUKUS”
– and Washington’s new In-
do-Pacific strategy in gener-
al. The joint declaration
notes that two countries are
seriouslyconcernedbysuch
developments.
Thus, the extent of poten-
tialChinesesupportforRus-
sia in face of another round
of western sanctions re-
mains uncertain. For now,
as one commentator notes
“it is enough that China re-
mains positively neutral”.
THECONVERSATION.COM
RUSSIA CHINA’S VIABLE FRIENDSHIP:
A NEW WORLD ORDER
two leaders announced
a new era in relations
that would “know no
limits” and be
“superior to political
and military alliances
of the cold war era”
A
airy tales are
tales only. Till
the time the
Prince actually
descends from
heaven, fights
it out and conquers the
throne. Life of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
is one such tale that you
have to pinch twice to
believe.
A self-made, self-less,
self-motivated soul from
a non-descriptive village
grows to a stature that he
becomes a living legend.
THE CHILDHOOD
Born to a poor family in
a small village of Guja-
rat Vadnagar, Modi faced
extreme hardships in
his formative years. His
parents - Damodardas
Modi and Hiraben -
though were financially
deprived but enriched
Narendra and his 6 sib-
lings with ethical values
and sanskar.
Modi’s school mates
and neighbours, recount
that he had a certain
spark since an early age
where even though he
used to be mischievous,
he still had the leader-
ship aspect to his person-
ality. A dare devil boy
Narendra would always
be ready to even risk his
life for wellbeing of oth-
ers. Living in scarcity
had only imbibed never-
say-die spirit in Naren-
dra. This helped Naren-
dra tide over all the ad-
versities around and
hone leadership skills to
prepare for a big battle
awaiting the young
Modi, who was gearing
up to leave his family
and home in the quest
for ‘tatvagyan’.
Before stepping out in
the wilderness, Naren-
dra wanted to study in
Sainik School, as he was
enamoured with the
armed forces, and asked
his father for it. But for
Damodardas it was sim-
ply an unaffordable prop-
osition. The refusal from
his father further ignited
Narendra’s desire to
wear uniform. He opted
to join junior NCC. But
the NCC invigilator said
that he did not meet the
height requirements and
he could not be given a
place. However, a deter-
mined Narendra insisted
and the invigilator even-
tuallyaskedhimtofinish
three tasks- a sprint, a
frog jump and running
on one foot - within stipu-
lated time limit.
To the invigilator’s
surprise, he completed
and forced his way into
NCC the way he stormed
into Politics and reach
the zenith.
HOME AWAY
FROM HOME
The rigorous NCC train-
ing instilled discipline
and selfless service. True
to his name, Modi, in-
spired by his namesake
Narendranath Datta,
who was later known as
Swami Vivekanand, de-
cided to leave his family
and mother to serve
motherland. In 1967, at
the young age of 17, the
thought of becoming a
saint or sadhu came
when he saw a seer med-
itating immersed in a pit
near Vadnagar railway
station. That time Nar-
endra was going with his
family to attend a mar-
riage. The sheer sight of
the sage engrossed in
deep meditation un-
mindful of happening
around caught his fancy
.
He refused to board the
train and stayed back
just to watch the ‘un-
worldly’ act of the seer
and serve him if he
(seer)) needed water or
food. This little spark
quickly turned into a big
fire and Modi left home
to head straight to Belur
Math to give life a new
dimension and himself a
new identity
. He rechris-
tened himself with a
new name’Aniket’ - one
who does not have a per-
manent roof.
But just changing
name didn’t alter his
fate. He was found too
young to practice renun-
ciation by senior inhab-
itants of math. Modi was
asked to go back and
complete formal educa-
tion before entering the
world of spirituality
.
THE HOMECOMING
Disappointed, Narendra
returned home and after
spending some time
moved to Ahmedabad to
work at his maternal un-
cle’s canteen. There he
happened to meet Vakil
Sahab, an RSS Pracha-
rak, who drew Narendra
into the Sangh. It was
Vakil Sahab, who en-
rolled him for further
studies and made ar-
rangements for his stay
in Hedgewar Bhawan of
RSS in Ahmedabad.
The colour of khakhi
was still new to Modi
when in 1971, he decided
to go to Delhi for staging
his maiden protest
against the non callous
attitude of Indira Gan-
dhi government towards
the plight of people liv-
ing in East Pakistan
(nowBangladesh),which
was being bulldozed by
the political might of
their fellow countrymen
of West Pakistan.
The demonstrators
cordoned off the Paki-
stan Embassy and police
rounded up all the dem-
onstrators, including
Narendra who was later
put in Tihar Jail. The
creation of a new coun-
try Bangladesh post 1971
Indo Pak war has given
birth to a political prod-
igy in India who stepped
into politics for the
cause of Bangladesh and
now championing the
cause of entire world.
The start of Modi’s
political life heralded
beginning of new era of
a swayamsevak who sac-
rificed his life to the wel-
fare of his fellow coun-
trymen. He didn’t mind
risking his life and com-
fort for changing the dy-
namics of Indian politi-
cal system which was
being staled for so many
decades. His demeanour,
impeccable speech and
self-less service won one
and every heart within
the RSS. He became a
favourite of all his sen-
iors in the Sangh. Not
just in Gujarat, but
Sangh representatives
from other states also
started coming in con-
tact with him.
And this is where the
story actually begins.
Since the most volatile
part of India’s political
history was yet to unfold
and Narendra was to
play a part in it too.
(to be continued...)
The start of Modi’s political life heralded
beginning of new era of a swayamsevak
who sacrificed his life to the welfare of his
fellow countrymen.He didn’t mind risking his
life and comfort for changing the dynamics of
Indian political system which was being
staled for so many decades
F
SHASHIKANT
SHARMA
The writer is senior journalist
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
DUSTY LANES TO CROWNING GLORY:
THE MAKING OF PM MODI!

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INDIA
05
CRUCIAL READS
Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has
arrested Balvinder Singh the Promoter — Director of the
PCH Corporation Ltd and other PCH group companies
under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in
a case relating to defrauding
banks to the tune of Rs 370
crore. Balvinder Singh was
arrested on Tuesday. He was
produced before a Special
Court in Hyderabad on
Wednesday, which remand-
ed him to judicial custody till
February 23. Earlier the CBI
in Chennai had lodged a case against him and others un-
der various sections of the IPC. The federal probe agency
had also submitted a charge sheet in this connection
before a Special Court.
ED ARRESTS PCH DIRECTOR BALVINDER
SINGH FOR `370 CRORE BANK FRAUD
CBI ARRESTS AGL
MANAGER FOR
ACCEPTING
`15,000 BRIBE
Indore: The Central
Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) has arrested the
Manager of Awantika Gas
Limited (AGL), Indore for
demanding and accepting
a bribe of `15,000 from a
man for clearing payment
of his bills. The incident
came to light when the
victim filed a complaint
against Vikas Gupta,
Manager of AGL, alleging
that the latter demanded
a bribe of `16,000 for
clearing payment of
his bills. The CBI laid a
trap to nab the accused.
The sleuths caught the
accused red-handed while
demanding and accepting
a bribe of Rs 15,000 from
the complainant.
BRITON ARRESTED
ON SUSPICION OF
RAPING WOMAN ON
FLIGHT FROM US
London: A British man
has been arrested on
suspicion of raping a
passenger on a flight from
the US to Heathrow. Offi-
cers boarded the United
Airlines flight at Heathrow
airport after being alerted
to the incident just after
6:30am on 31 January.
A 40-year-old woman,
also British, reportedly
complained to United
Airlines cabin staff on the
New Jersey to Heathrow
flight after she was al-
legedly forced to have sex
in business class while
others were asleep. The
man was later released on
bail as further enquiries
continue, the Metropolitan
Police said.
KEJRIWAL’S WIFE,
DAUGHTER TO
CAMPAIGN IN PUNJAB
Chandigarh: Delhi Chief Min-
ister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife
and daughter will lend their
weight to the
election cam-
paign of Aaam
Aadmi Party in
Punjab. They
will be visiting
the State on
Friday to sup-
port AAP on the campaign
trails. As per information
received by AAP, the party
chief’s wife Sunita Kejri-
wal and daughter Harshita
Kejriwal will seek votes for
chief ministerial candidate
Bhagwant Mann in the Dhuri
Assembly seat.
PEOPLE FED UP WITH
CONGRESS, SAYS
BHAGWANT MANN
Amritsar: Aam Aadmi Party’s
Chief Ministerial face for
upcoming Punjab Assembly
elections,
Bhagwant
Mann, on
Thursday said
that people
are fed up
with the ruling
Congress.
“Only 10 days are left for
Punjab polls. People want to
choose a new government
because they have been
disappointed by those whom
they had trusted for five
years. They are fed up with
both the Congress and the
SAD,” Mann said.
ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2022
WILL PROVIDE HONEST
GOVT IN GOA: KEJRIWAL
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal being received at Dabolim Airport ahead
of Goa Assembly elections on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra explains her party’s manifesto to a
motor mechanic in Rampur on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Panaji: Hitting out at
the BJP and the Con-
gress, Aam Aadmi Par-
ty (AAP) convener
Arvind Kejriwal on
Thursday alleged that
if any of these parties
is voted to power in Goa
again, it will “plunder”
the State exchequer,
leading to doubling of
the debt burden to Rs
50,000 crore.
He said the AAP will
provide a “corruption-
free and honest” gov-
ernment in the coastal
state. Elections for the
40-member Goa Assem-
bly will be held on Mon-
day
.
Addressing a public
meeting in Mayem as-
sembly constituency,
Kejriwal said Goa is
reeling under a debt
burden of Rs 24,000
crore, “which got accu-
mulated during the pre-
vious rule of the Con-
gress, the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) and
the Maharashtrawadi
Gomantak Party
(MGP)”. —PTI
Vote on unemployment,
inflation, says Priyanka
Rampur: Congress
general secretary Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra on Thursday
said the people of Uttar
Pradesh should vote on
issues of unemployment,
inflation, poverty, crime
against women and Dalits.
Congress leader held a
roadshow in Rampur.
She also interacted with
a tyre puncture repair
shop owner. Speaking to
ANI, Vadra said, “Vote on
issues of unemployment,
inflation, crime against
women and Dalits, poverty.
Think and vote. Cast your
vote for someone who is
working to resolve these
issues.” Voting for the first
phase of the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly elections began
on Thursday at 7:00 am.
Covering the Jat-dominant
belt of western Uttar
Pradesh, the first phase of
polls cover 58 Assembly
constituencies across 11
districts of the state. The
voting, which will conclude
at 6:00 pm today, is taking
place at 25,849 polling
stations and 10,766 poll-
ing centres. As many as
623 candidates are in the
fray on 58 Assembly seats
where polls are being
held today. As per the set
norms, the campaign-
ing for the first phase of
the UP polls ended on
Tuesday (February 8) at
6 pm, marking the start
of a 48-hour-long silence
period.
BJP WILL FORM GOVT IN MANIPUR WITH
MAJORITY, SAYS HIMANTA BISWA SARMA
Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa
Sarma on Thursday exuded confidence that the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will
return to power in Manipur, which is
slated to go to the Assembly polls on
February 27, adding that that the party
will form the government in the state
with a majority. “Election campaign-
ing has begun in Manipur, candidates
have been nominated. BJP will form a
government in Manipur with a majority,” said Sarma
while speaking to ANI here today. The tenure of the
Manipur Legislative Assembly, which consists of 60
members, is scheduled to end on March 19, 2022.
Akhilesh afraid of losing from
Karhal seat,says BJP’s Baghel
Agra: Agra Member of
Parliament (MP) and
Bharatiya Janata Party
candidate from Main-
puri’s Karhal Assembly
constituency SP Singh
Baghel on Thurs-
day said that the
Samajwadi Party
leader Akhilesh
Yadav is now
afraid of
l o s i n g
the elec-
tions. Baghel, who is
also a Union Minister,
said that Yadav is now
reaching out to the peo-
ple in Karhal constitu-
ency after becoming
aware of the stiff
challenge there.
Baghel, who has
beenpittedagainst
the SP leader
by the BJP
f r o m
Karhal
seat, said: “Yadav had
earlier said that he will
come to Karhal constit-
uency only after win-
ning the elections. Now,
he is asking for people’s
votes there. It shows
they (the SP) have the
fear of losing (the elec-
tions).”
Baghel claimed that
people have decided not
to cast their votes for
Yadav in Karhal seat.
Why should I listen to him
...asks Rahul during political rally in
U’khand in reply to PM’s interview
New Delhi: Taking a
dig at Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s inter-
view aired on Wednes-
day, Congress leader
RahulGandhionThurs-
day said that pressure
by central agencies
doesn’t work on him.
“In an interview yes-
terday, Modiji said ‘Ra-
hul doesn't listen’. Did
you understand what he
meant? It meant that
pressure by the En-
forcement Directorate
and CBI doesn't work on
Rahul and he does not
back down. Why should
I listen to him,” Rahul
Gandhi said at a public
rally in Uttarakhand.
Speaking to news
agency ANI, PM Modi
on Wednesday had said
that he cannot reply to
a person who does not
listen and does not sit in
the House. Asked
about Rahul Gandhi's
questions on unemploy-
ment and the India-Chi-
na issue, PM had said, I
have given facts on eve-
ry subject and spoken
on every subject on the
basis of facts. On some
subjects, our external
affairs and defence min-
istry have given de-
tailed answers and
wherever it was neces-
sary, I had also spoken.
How do I reply to a per-
son who does not listen,
and does not sit in the
House?” —Agencies
Rahul Gandhi Narendra Modi
RAHUL ALLEGES ONLY ONE-THIRD PM CARES SPENT
New Delhi: The latest audited report showed that “PM CARES”, which
was set up to deal with several emergencies collected `10,990 crore
in the 2020-21 financial year, while only `3,976 crore, one-third, was
spent. The government sources, however, said that several initiatives
have been approved, which would be funded by the “PM CARES”. For-
mer Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday had trained guns at the
Centre, accusing it of spreading lies on the “PM CARES” fund spend.
“PM CARES collected `10,990 crore till March 2021, spent `3,976
crore,” Gandhi tweeted with the caption “PM Lies”.
RAHUL ‘PROPOSES’,
MODI ‘DISPOSES’!
Moni Sharma
New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi
is neither the national
president of the Congress
party nor the leader of
the Congress in the Lok
Sabha. He does not hold
any post in the Congress
organization or holds any
post in the Parliamentary
Party. BJP leaders have
termed Rahul as ‘Pappu’,
i.e. he does not under-
stand anything and the
people of the country have
completely rejected him.
Despite this, whatever he
says, the entire BJP and
the entire central govern-
ment responds to it. Think,
his party does not have
enough seats in the Lok
Sabha to get the status of
the main opposition party,
yet he spoke on the Presi-
dent’s address, then on the
first day a dozen ministers
of the Center responded to
it and then Prime Minister
Narendra Modi came to
answer. In his long speech,
he only replied to Rahul’s
barbs. The Prime Minister
gave a detailed answer to
each and every thing Rahul
talked about.
Rahul Gandhi had attacked
Ambani-Adani’s unac-
counted earnings in Co-
rona and severe economic
crisis and said that ‘Double
A’ virus is the most
dangerous. Responding
to this, the Prime Minister
said that in the time of
Nehru and Indira, the
Congress government was
called Tata-Birla’s govern-
ment. Rahul had said that
Manmohan Singh’s gov-
ernment had brought 27
crore people out of poverty
line in 10 years and Modi
government brought 23
crore below poverty line.
In response, the Prime
Minister said that the
Congress government had
changed the definition of
poverty in 2013 to make
17 crore rich. Responding
to Rahul calling India a
union of states, the Prime
Minister said that India is
a nation and a living soul
for them. When Rahul had
talked about the failure of
Make in India and people
not getting employment,
then the Prime Minister
targeted him and said that
everything has become a
joke for him.
‘PM hurt by
attack on
industrialists’
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: Usually the
leaders of the parties
are hurt by the attack
on their party, when
their policies are ques-
tioned, or with the per-
sonal attack on them-
selves, but the Prime
Minister gets hurt
when questions are
raised on the industri-
alists. He feels that by
questioning the indus-
trialists, people them-
selves are putting him
in the dock. That’s why
when Rahul Gandhi at-
tacked the Ambani-
Adani’s unaccounted
earnings during the
pandemic and said that
the ‘double-A’ variant is
the most dangerous, the
PM got hurt, that he re-
plied in Parliament. He
told Rahul that people
used to call the govt of
your grandmother and
grandfather as Tata-
Birla’s government.
Responding to the
criticism of two big in-
dustrialists of the coun-
try by Rahul Gandhi, he
said, ‘They also have a
role. Will you humiliate
them? What approach is
it?Thosewhoarewrong
have left the country.”
Earlier in Lucknow, PM
had said that even Ma-
hatma Gandhi used to
stand with Birla with-
out any hesitation.
Worrisome situation
in Bengal: Dhankhar
New Delhi: West Ben-
gal Governor Jagdeep
Dhankhar on Thursday
took a dig at the state
government by appeal-
ing to the “state intelli-
gentsia and diaspora to
reflectontheworrisome
situation of the state”.
West Bengal Chief
Minister Mamata Ba-
nerjee and the state
Governor have been at
loggerheads for a long
time. The Chief Minis-
ter on several occasions
had alleged that the
Governor makes state-
ments out of political
motives and interferes
in the business of the
state government. Gov-
ernor Dhankhar on the
other hand has been ac-
cusing the state govern-
ment of mishandling
the law and order
situation. —ANI
Jagdeep Dhankhar
RTI: Rent of Sonia’s
residence not paid
New Delhi: The rent of
several properties occu-
pied by Congress lead-
ers, including the offi-
cial residence of Con-
gress interim president
Sonia Gandhi, has not
been paid. In reply to an
RTI filed by activist Su-
jit Patel.
The RTI reply by the
Union Ministry of
Housing and Urban De-
velopment states that
there has been pending
rent against Congress
party headquarters on
Akbar Road of
`12,69,902 and the last
time that the rent was
paid was in December
2012. Similarly, for So-
nia Gandhi’s residence
on 10 Janpath Road,
there is a pending rent
of `4,610 and the last
rent received was in
September 2020. —ANI
Sonia Gandhi
Pay `1,788 cr:
Farmers’ group
to PM Modi
New Delhi: The All In-
dia Kisan Sabha, a
farmers’ group, on
Thursday demanded
PM Narendra Modi pro-
vide Rs 1,788 crore,
equal to the penalty
amount imposed by
regulator CCI on tyre
corporates, as grant to
rubber farmers.
The CCI had imposed
a penalty of Rs 622.09
crore on MRF, Rs 425.53
crore on Apollo Tyres,
Rs 252.16 crore on CEAT
Ltd, Rs 309.95 crore on
JK Tyre and Rs 178.33
crore on Birla Tyres.
‘No centralised data on detention centres’
New Delhi: The Minis-
try of Home Affairs in-
formed the Rajya Sabha
thatitdoesnotmaintain
a centralised data on the
total number of deten-
tion centres in the coun-
try
, as powers have been
delegated to the State
governments “to make
necessary arrange-
ments for detention cen-
tres/camps as per their
requirement.”
The MHA has dele-
gated the power to the
state governments to
make the required ar-
rangements to run for
these centres or camps.
Replying to a ques-
tion in the Upper House
on Wednesday
, the MHA
said 100 Foreigners Tri-
bunals are currently
operating in Assam, the
MoS for Home Affairs
Nityanand Rai said.
The Minister added
that the total number of
cases pending in these
FTs as on December 31,
2021, is 1,23,829 while
the total number of peo-
ple declared as foreign-
ers is 1,43,466. The total
number of people de-
clared as Indians is
1,21,598 whereas 329 per-
sons have been deported
to their countries of ori-
gin so far, he said.
The MHA informed
that the FTs are quasi-
judicial bodies in Assam
and according to the
state’s Home Depart-
ment, initially 11 Illegal
Migrant Determination
Tribunals were set up
which were later con-
verted to tribunals after
the SC scrapped the Ille-
gal Migrants (Determi-
nationbyTribunals)Act,
1983, in 2005. —Agencies
TRS MPs WALK OUT OF RAJYA SABHA
New Delhi: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MPs on
Thursday walked out from the Rajya Sabha until the Chair-
man accepts the privilege motion against Prime Minister.
Earlier in the day, TRS MPs moved a privilege motion
against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his statement
in the Rajya Sabha on the passing of the Andhra Pradesh
Reorganisation Bill.
RJD MP MANOJ JHA GIVES NOTICE IN RS
New Delhi: RJD MP Manoj Jha gave a Zero
Hour notice in Rajya Sabha to discuss the
issue of reopening of the physical classes in
colleges. According to RJD MP, the suspen-
sion of offline classes due to the pandemic
has led to a regression in learning and poor
learning outcomes among the students.
OVER 56 CRORE
TRANSACTIONS
UNDER ONORC
New Delhi: Since
inception of the One
Nation One Ration
Card (ONORC) plan
in August 2019,
approximately 56
crore portability
transactions have
been recorded in the
country up to January
31, 2022, the Parlia-
ment was informed
on Wednesday.

INDIA
06
WILL DERA POLITICS HELP
BJP IN ITS AGENDA OF HUNG
ASSEMBLY IN PUNJAB?
Sharat K Verma
Punjab: In Punjab, the
is looking for a place to
somehow set its foot. In
the last Lok Sabha elec-
tions, it had got nine per
cent votes, whereas in
the previous assembly
elections, it had got five
and a half per cent
votes. For the first time,
BJP is contesting the
assembly elections by
breaking away from the
Akali Dal and it has to
take its vote share of
nine per cent to at least
15 per cent. The BJP's
second attempt is to
garner enough votes in
Punjab to hang the as-
sembly and play a role
in post-poll politics. The
BJP is not likely to get
more seats as there is a
lot of resentment to-
wards it because of the
farmers' agitation. Re-
alizing this, BJP has
playd the Dera card.
BJP's Haryana gov-
ernment has released
Dera Sacha Sauda chief
Gurmeet Ram Rahim
on parole from jail. In
the last six months, the
Haryana government
released Ram Rahim
on parole several times
on the pretext of treat-
ment. In this way the
party is creating har-
mony among its devo-
tees. The Dera chief
will stay in the ashram
of Gurugram for the
next 21 days, from
where he can give a
'fatwa' to his devotees
to vote in favor of BJP.
The BJP has an old
goodwill with Ram Ra-
him, convicted of rape
and murder. After win-
ning the assembly elec-
tions for the first time
in Haryana in 2014, the
BJP in-charge had gone
to Ram Rahim's ash-
ram with more than 20
party MLAs to seek
blessings. In Punjab,
the number of seats un-
der the influence of dif-
ferent Deras is close to
70, out of which the
maximum number of
27 seats is under the in-
fluence of Dera Sacha
Sauda. Dera politics
can get BJP votes in
those seats. With the
BJP cutting votes, the
equation of the three -
Congress, AAP and
Akali Dal - will deterio-
rate and the possibility
of a hung assembly will
increase.
Ram Rahim
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: Replying to
the discussion on the
President’s address,
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Monday
slammed the Congress
in the Lok Sabha. He
said many things criti-
cizing the Congress,
one of which was inter-
esting. He told about the
states where Congress
has not won for the last
30-40 years and listed
the states one after oth-
er with the figures. It is
true that in many states
the Congress has been
losing for three-four
decades, but there are
many states in the coun-
try where, since inde-
pendence, the citizens
there have not chosen
either the Bharatiya
Jana Sangh or the
.
If the people in many
states have not been
electingtheCongressfor
alongtimebecauseof its
poor policies, then for
whatreasontheBJPwas
never chosen by many
states? Can the policies
of the BJP be criticized
onthegroundthatmany
states have never elected
it? The Prime Minister
said that 24 years ago in
Nagaland, people had
voted for the Congress
and the party has not
been elected in West
Bengal after 1972. The
Congress last won in
Bihar-Uttar Pradesh in
1985. Similar figures
were given by the Prime
Minister for Tripura
andOdisha.Regard-
ingGoa,hesaidthat
28 years ago Con-
gresswontherewith
an absolute majority
.
Although the
Congress was
the largest
party in Goa in the last
elections too, the BJP
did not allow its govern-
ment to be formed.
However, now look at
the record of BJP
. Tamil
Nadu, Kerala, Andhra
Pradesh and Puducher-
ry never chose Jana
Sangh or BJP in
thelast75years
after inde-
p e n d e n c e .
BJP came to
power in
Karnataka for the first
time after 61 years of in-
dependence but that too
not with an absolute ma-
jority
. The newly formed
state of Telangana has
notyetchosentheBJP
.In
75 years after independ-
ence, West Bengal has
not chosen Jana Sangh
or BJP and in Bihar also
thepeopletherehavenot
chosenBJPevenonce.In
the last nearly three dec-
ades, the BJP has fought
alone in Bihar only once
and lost badly
.
In the national capi-
tal Delhi, BJP won for
the first and last time in
1993 and after that in the
last 29 years, the people
of Delhi did not choose
BJP again. Of the eight
northeastern states, As-
sam and Tripura are the
only two states where
the BJP won, and that
too after six decades of
independence. In
Arunachal Pradesh and
Manipur also BJP man-
aged to form the govern-
ment but it is a govern-
ment formed with the
help of turncoat old
Congress leaders.
So BJP and Congress
virtually stand on the
same pitch of never
winning any elections
in few states.
New Delhi: Yogi Adity-
anath's comment warn-
ing voters on Uttar
Pradesh turning into
Kerala or Bengal did
not go unchallenged as
Kerala Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan threw
shade at his Uttar
Pradesh counterpart in
a tweet.
If UP turns into Ker-
ala as Yogi Adityanath
fears, it will enjoy the
best education, health
services, social welfare,
living standards and
have a harmonious so-
ciety in which people
won't be murdered in
the name of religion
and caste. That's what
the people of UP would
want, Pinarayi Vijay-
an tweeted. He made
the same points in a
Hindi tweet posted
from his handle.
If UP turns into Ker-
ala as @myogiadity-
anath fears, it will en-
joy the best education,
health services, social
welfare, living stand-
ards and have a harmo-
nious society in which
people won't be mur-
dered in the name of
religion and caste.
That's what the people
of UP would want.
Congress leader
Shashi Tharoor also re-
sponded to Adityanath's
comments in a tweet.
UP will turn into
Kashmir, Bengal or Ker-
ala if BJP doesn't come
to power, Yogi Adity-
anath tells voters. UP
should be so lucky!!
Kashmir's beauty, Ben-
gal's culture and Kera-
la's education would do
wonders for the place.
UP's won- derful: pity
about its government,
Tharoor posted.
In a video message
last evening, hours be-
fore the start of the first
phase of voting in Uttar
Pradesh, Yogi Adity-
anath had urged voters
to choose BJP while re-
ferring to Left-ruled
Kerala and Bengal,
where the Trinamool
Congress won a third
term last year, defeating
the BJP
.
I have to tell you
something from my
heart. A lot of wonder-
ful things have hap-
pened in these five
years. Beware! If you
miss,thelabourof these
five years will be
spoiled. It would not
take much time for UP
to become Kashmir,
Kerala and Bengal,
Yogi Adityanath said
in the video.
VIJAYAN SNEERS AT YOGI
FOR KERALA COMMENT
Yogi urged voters to choose BJP while referring to Left-ruled states
WHAT YOGI SAID
AHEAD OF UP
POLLS?
In a video message,
hours before the start of
the first phase of voting
in UP, Yogi had urged
voters to choose BJP
while referring to Left-
ruled Kerala and Bengal,
where the Trinamool
Congress won
a third
term last
year,
defeat-
ing the
BJP.
‘DON’T INSULT
SPIRIT OF INDIA’
India is beautiful
in all its colours,
don't insult the
spirit of the coun-
try, Rahul Gandhi
said, apparently re-
sponding to Yogi’s
remark that the
state will turn into
a Kashmir, Kerala
or Bengal if the
BJP was not voted
back to power.
SC DIRECTS REINSTATEMENT OF JUDGE
WHO RAISED HARASSMENT COMPLAINT
SHEENA BORA MURDER CASE: INDRANI
MUKERJEA FILES BAIL PLEA IN SC
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday
directed reinstatement of the woman judge who
raised a sexual harassment complaint against a then
sitting judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
Then former judicial officer resigned in July 2014
and thereafter she had moved apex Court seeking
reinstatement on the ground that she was forced to
resign. A Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and
BR Gavai noted that the resignation tendered by the
woman judge was not voluntary.
New Delhi: Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in
the Sheena Bora murder case, on Thursday filed a bail
plea in the SC. A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara
Rao posted the matter for hearing to February 14 as
the apex court did not receive the order copy. Sen-
ior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Mukerjea.
Mukerjea is in judicial custody of Special CBI court in
connection with Sheena Bora murder case. A special
court accepted the application of Mukerjea stating that
one Asha Korke had met Bora in Kashmir.
HC NOTICE ON PLEA
BY MED STUDENTS
ENROLLED IN CHINA
NO RELIGIOUS
SYMBOLS ALLOWED,
SAYS K'TAKA HC
New Delhi: The Delhi
HC on ThursdCay issued
notice to the Centre and
NMC on a plea moved by
students seeking directions
to NMC to allow physical
training in India of Indian
students studying medicine
in China, who are stuck in
their home country India,
due to COVID-19 pan-
demic. The Petitioners, 147
students of medicine in the
Ningbo University (China)
states that they returned to
India in early 2020 (Jan to
March) and thereafter, have
been stuck in their home
country India, ever since
due to the non-availability
of visas from the Chinese
authorities.
Bengaluru: The Kar-
nataka HC, hearing the
hijab row, on Thursday
ordered that no religious
symbols are allowed for
the students until its
final order, thus ruling
out use of both hijab and
saffron shawls in school
and college premises.
The interim order was
given by a three-judge
bench of Chief Justice
Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice
Krishna S. Dixit, and
Justice Khaji Jaibunnesa
Mohiyuddin. “We want
to make an interim order
on the matter of hijab
row. We will hear the
matter every day,” the
Chief Justice stated.
IN THE COURTYARD
WEST BENGAL: HC DIRECTS STATE ELECTION COMMISSION TO
HOLD MEETING OVER DEPLOYMENT OF CAPF DURING CIVIC POLLS
Kolkata: The Calcutta HC directed
State Election Commission to
hold a meeting with state of-
ficials, including Chief Secretary
and DGP, to assess the ground
situation and decide whether the
deployment of CAPF is required
during the municipal elections in
the state. The decision must be
made within the next 12 hours,
the court said. The Calcutta High
Court bench of Chief Justice
Prakash Shrivastava and Justice
Rajarshi Bharadwaj has reserved
its order in a plea seeking de-
ployment of central paramilitary
forces in the upcoming munici-
pal elections.
New Delhi: The Minis-
try of Health on Thurs-
day said that four In-
dian states have report-
ed over 50,000 active
Covid-19 cases while as
many as 11 states have
active cases between
10,000 and 50,000.
Four states, Kerala,
Maharashtra, Tamil
Nadu and Karnataka
have more than 50,000
active cases. Around
141 districts have Cov-
id-19 positivity rate of
over 10 per cent and 160
districts have positivi-
ty rates between 5-10
per cent, the Health
Ministry said in a press
conference.
On Jan 24, the daily
positivity rate was re-
corded at 20.75%,
which has now de-
creased to 4.44%. It in-
dicates that now the
rate of infection spread
has come down signifi-
cantly, said Luv Ag-
garwal, Joint Secre-
tary, health ministry
.
The ministry also
said that that there has
been an overall decline
in coronavirus infec-
tions and positivity
across all states.
Earlier, the health
ministry had issued a
revised Covid-19 guide-
line for international
arrivals, which will
come into force from
February 14. The trav-
ellers will no longer
have to quarantine at
home for a week, but
need to self-monitor for
14 days.
Also, the demarca-
tion of countries as ‘at
risk’ and other classifi-
cations has been re-
moved. —PTI
Over 50,000 active Covid cases in four states: Centre
POSITIVITY RATE
Kirit Somaiya
urges MHA to
review his security
Mumbai: Former
Lok Sabha MP and
BJP leader Kirit So-
maiya on Thursday
urged the MHA to re-
view his security ar-
rangements on the
grounds that he was
allegedly being at-
tacked by Shiv Sena
workers despite be-
ing under “Z plus”
security of the CISF.
In a letter to the
MHA, Somaiya said
that there should be a
review of the securi-
ty system so that the
Pune type incident,
which allegedly took
place on February 5,
could be avoided in
future. “Shiv Sena ac-
tivists attacked me at
Pune Municipal Cor-
porationonFebruary
5, 2022. They attacked
me at Washim on Au-
gust 20, 2021, also.
They tried to gherao
me at Pimpri-Chinch-
wad on November 21,
2021. The Shiv Sena
activistshadattacked
me during a black
flag demonstration at
Thane and Mumbai,
while also attacking
me at Mulund in
2016,” he said.
He charged that he
has become a target
for the Shiv Sena
activists after he
sought to expose
the Uddhav Thack-
eray government in
the state and its
various scams.
Kirit Somaiya
“A question is
being asked/
discussed in spite
of Z Category
security, in spite
of the presence of
half a dozen CISF
personnel, if such
thing happened
to Kirit Somaiya,
then what would
be the status of
common man,”
he said.
Why just Congress, many states have never
Why just Congress, many states have never
chosen BJP also: An interesting comparison
chosen BJP also: An interesting comparison
DOUBTING Z
SECURITY!

NEWS
07
PRATIMA PAL
REACHES OUT
TO PEOPLE,
URGES TO VOTE
FOR CONGRESS
The Sirsaganj assembly
constituency candidate
Pratima Pal, along with her
senior Congress leaders,
current office bearers, visited
the villages of Kanthari, Nagla
Keval, Nasipur Sajeti, etc., and
interacted with people of the
area. Pal was welcomed with a
garland of flowers, after which
she told the local residents
about the pledge of the
Congress Party. After that, they
visited the villages Nagla Inchi,
Gyamai, Fazal Nagar, Pithanpur,
etc., and asked people to vote
for Congress Party to which the
people assured that they will
support Congress party. Pal told
that women would get 3
cylinders free in a year, bus
travel will be free for women in
UP, farmers’ loans would be
waived off, electricity bill would
be reduced to half, dues of
Corona period will be cleared,
government treatment up to Rs
10 lakh will be free, 20 lakh
youth would get employment,
Inter pass girls will be given
smartphones, graduate pass
girls will be given electronic
scooty, 75 skill schools would
be opened, widow and
handicapped pension will be Rs
1000, Asha daughters-in-law
and Anganwadis will be given an
honorarium of Rs 10000.
—Devashish Sharma
15% LESS
VOTING IN AGRA
THAN IN 2017
Voting was held in 9 assembly
seats of Agra, Etmadpur, Agra
Cantonment, Agra South, Agra
North, Agra Rural, Fatehpur Sikri,
Kheragarh, Fatehabad, and Bah
Vidhan Sabha on Thursday. In
these 9 seats, 107 candidates
were in the fray. Although in 2017,
BJP had won all 9 of the assembly
seats in Agra, this time the
electoral situation is somewhat
different. If sources are to be
believed, except the Agra North
seat, BJP faces tough competition
in 8 seats. While the popular trend
is towards Congress candidate
Ramnath Sikarwar in the
Kheragarh seat, Rupali Dixit’s
name is leading in the Fatehabad
seat. Polling in Agra started late
due to the cold. A total of 60% of
votes were cast in Agra, out of
which a maximum of 61% of
votes were cast in the Fatehpur
Sikri assembly seat and the lowest
53% in the Agra North seat. In
2017, 75 percent voting was
recorded in Agra, which was
about 15 percent more than in the
last election. The police and
administration had made
preparations several days in
advance to conduct peaceful
elections. Despite this, complaints
of casting fake votes were
received from many places. Apart
from this, BJP and SP supporters
clashed at many booths. ADM City
Anjani Kumar Singh said that all
such cases in which the code of
conduct is violated or the rules of
the Election Commission are
being broken, the culprits will be
identified and legal action will be
taken. —Preeti Nagia
BAIL TO MINISTER’S SON: RLD,
BKU QUESTION JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Noida: Rashtriya Lok
Dal (RLD) chief Jayant
Chaudhary on Thurs-
day hit out at the “sys-
tem” that granted bail
to Union minister Ajay
Mishra’s son Ashish
Mishra, an accused in
the Lakhimpur Kheri
violence that claimed
eight lives including
that of four farmers,
within four months of
the incident.
The Bharatiya Ki-
san Union (BKU) also
questioned the coun-
try’s judicial system
over bail given to Ash-
ish Mishra. BKU
spokesperson Rakesh
Tikait is believed to
have brokered a truce
between the local vil-
lagers and government
authorities in the af-
termath of the Lakh-
impur Kheri incident.
“Kya vyavastha hai!!
Char kisano ko raun-
da, char mahine mein
zamanat... (What a sys-
tem! Mowed down four
farmers, got bail in
four months),” Chaud-
hary said in a tweet in
Hindi. The RLD presi-
dent had met the fami-
lies of the four farmers
who were killed on Oc-
tober 3, 2021 in the Ti-
kunia area of Lakhim-
pur Kheri district in
Uttar Pradesh after
they were knocked
down by a jeep.
Ashish Mishra, an
accused in the case,
was granted bail by the
Allahabad High Court
on Thursday. BKU
spokesperson Saurabh
Upadhyay described
the court order grant-
ing bail to the minis-
ter’s son as an “undem-
ocratic attack” on the
“democracy” in the
country
. “Is it that easy
for people charged
with murder to get
bail?” he asked and hit
out at the Centre for
not asking the minis-
ter to step down from
his post. “When will
the farmers of the
country get justice?”
Upadhyay asked while
noting that the govern-
ment is yet to deliver
on the promises it had
made to farmers, who
ended their year-long
anti-farm laws protest
in December 2021.
Opposition parties
and farmers’ groups
have been demanding
the resignation of
Ajay Mishra as the
Union minister of
state for home affairs
in the wake of the
Lakhimpur Kheri in-
cident. They have also
voiced their apprehen-
sion that being a
Union minister, Mish-
ra could influence the
investigation in the
case, in which eight
people -- four farmers,
two BJP workers, a
driver and a journalist
-- were killed. —PTI
The RLD president had met the families of the
four farmers who were killed on October 3, 2021
BKU spokesperson described the bail as an
‘undemocratic attack on democracy’
1 2
—REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
RLD CHIEF HITS OUT AT THE ‘SYSTEM’ Poll results will be different
this time, says Rakesh Tikait
N o i d a / M u z a f f a r-
nagar: As the first
phase of Uttar Pradesh
assembly elections got
underway, farmer lead-
er Rakesh Tikait on
Thursday said “peace
has replaced the 2013
situation” in Muzaffar-
nagar and the poll re-
sult will be different
this time. Referring to
the communal riots that
broke out in Muzaffar-
nagar district in 2013,
the national spokesper-
son of the Bharatiya
Kisan Union (BKU)
said, “the result of 2013
was a trial, the stadi-
ums of that trial have
been demolished here.
The stadiums where
these matches were
played remain demol-
ished now. “Peace has
replaced the previous
situation and the re-
sults will also not be the
same this time, he told
reporters after casting
his vote in the district.
Asked what was the
new match being
played, Tikait said, The
new match has already
been played and its re-
sult will be known soon.
The BJP had swept to
power at the Centre in
2014 and in UP after the
2017 assembly elections
amid an apparent fall
out between the Jat and
Muslim communities
in the aftermath of the
violence in western
part of the state.
Tikait, who had earli-
er cautioned people
against communal poll-
ing, said election was
being completed in a
peaceful manner and
that in itself is a big ac-
complishment and the
result will be there for
everyone to see. On
what he thought would
be the result of the
polls, he said that could
be known only on
March 10. People are
voting according to
their own system the
issues to be considered
should be welfare of
farmers and villages, he
added. —PTI
Rakesh Tikait after casting
his vote in Muzaffarnagar on
Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
AMID HEAVY SECURITY
RAVIDAS JAYANTI
Devotees prepare rotis at Guru Ravidas Janmasthan Mandir ahead of Ravidas Jayanti in
Varanasi on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Oppn sharply reacts to bail
to MoS Mishra’s son Ashish
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The Opposi-
tion parties today
sharply reacted to the
bail granted to Ashish
Mishra son of Union
Minister of State for
Home Ajay Mishra
alias Teni. Ashish
Mishra was in Lakhim-
pur Khiri jail for the
last four months in con-
nection with killings of
four farmers and a
jounalists in village
Tikonia on October 3,
2021. Earlier the lower
court in the district had
refused grant him bail.
The case in HC was
pending for the last one
month. While the Sam-
ajwadi Party president
Akhilesh Yadav took to
Twitter to make a sar-
castic comment as he
said: beware of politics
of brutal government
as those nurtured by it
are coming out of jail”.
Yadav’s ally Rashtriya
Lok Dal president
Jayant Chaudhury
tweeted: What is the
system. Four farmers
were mowed down and
bail in four months.
There is a feeling in po-
litical circle the Khiri
issue will once again
snowball into political
controversy. The AICC
general secretary Pri-
yanka Gandhi, while
campaigning in Ram-
pur and Moradabad,
said Ashish Mishra had
been given bail and he
will now freely move
around. Targeting
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi for not sack-
ing MoS Ajay Mishra,
Priyanka Gandhi said
four farmers were
mowed down in Khiri
by the minister’s car
but Ajay Mishra contin-
ued to be in his posi-
tion. She said resent-
ment was brewing
among the farmers
over the issue.
‘BEWARE OF POLITICS OF BRUTAL GOVT’
Cong’s Karishma Thakur
promises women’s safety
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Karishma
Thakur, the Congress
candidate from the
Govind Nagar assem-
bly seat has been
gathering good sup-
port from the public
through public meet-
ings. Karishma, who
is the daughter of
former Home Minis-
ter Sushil Kumar
Shinde and Parineeti
Shinde Congress par-
ty’s star campaigner
MLA from Maha-
rashtra went from
door to door to take
Priyanka Gandhi’s
pledge to the people’s
heart and mind. The
duo was accompa-
nied by senior people,
youth, and women
workers in large
numbers during
their public rela-
tion-building activi-
ties. Karishma Thak-
ur, who spoke to me-
dia personnel during
the interaction said
that even with the
Modi government
the Yogi government,
women are not safe in
the state and infla-
tion has not come
down. She added that
BJP which has been
winning in the Gov-
ind Nagar assembly
seat has not done any
work in the state and
now the public is
ready to voice their
opinion against it.
She further added
that the health sys-
tem is bad, the roads
are not right, and
that the MLA has
done nothing but
duped the public.
Karishma Thakur with huge supporters.
CII, IIA, UIDAI ORGANISE AADHAAR
CAMP AT KANPUR INDUSTRIAL AREA
First India Bureau
Kanpur: CII along
with IIA is jointly orga-
nizing a four-day Aad-
haar camp in associa-
tion with UIDAI at Kan-
pur Industrial Area.
The camp, which start-
ed on 8th February and
will continue till Fri-
day, 11th February is
being organised to fa-
cilitate any updation,
correction as well as
new registrations of
the document for the
industrial workers.
Mr Akash Goenka,
Chairman, CII Kanpur
Zone mentioned that
Adhar, which is a docu-
ment of national impor-
tance is crucial in view
of EPFO processing of
the employees. Through
this camp, the aim is to
rectify such discrepan-
cies conveniently for
the industrial workers.
Mr Sunil Vaish, Past
President, IIA said that
Kanpur is a prominent
industrial belt in the
state and this camp
would largely benefit
the workers in the city.
The camp is open for
industrial employees as
well as their family
members.

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
5,798,683
TOTAL DEATHS
324,448,317
TOTAL RECOVERED
74,279,766
ACTIVE CASES
404,526,766
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
506,549
TOTAL DEATHS
41,180,751
TOTAL RECOVERED
790,760
ACTIVE CASES
42,478,060
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
One of the biggest lessons in your
story of success will be what did you
learn from failure.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Ahtesham Siddiqui
Lucknow: Dr. Brahma
Deo Ram Tiwari, a 2006
batch IAS officer will be
returning to his native
cadre of Assam-Megha-
laya once the assembly
elections in the state are
over. Dr. Bahamdev Ram
Tiwari, is currently Spe-
cial Secretary Election
Commission and ACEO
in UP and was recently
promoted to the rank of
Secretary/Commission-
er after DPC in As-
sam-Meghalaya cadre.
He and his wife IAS Poo-
ja Pandey
, a 2008-batch
officerbothof whomare
from the Assam-Megha-
laya cadre had come to
UP on Inter Cadre Depu-
tation.PoojaPandeyhad
come to Uttar Pradesh
on June 8, 2017, for 3
years after getting per-
mission from DOPT
which was extended to 1
more year until July 4
2021. She currently is
posted as Special Secre-
tary Medical Health and
Handicraft in UP but
since DOPT did not ex-
tend her ICD, she will
also be returning to her
native cadre.
IAS Brahma Deo Ram
Tiwari, who had come to
UPinApril2018wasfirst
posted as AMD UPSRTC
before being named as
the Special Secretary
and ACEO in the Elec-
tion Commission ahead
of the Lok Sabha elec-
tions in February 2019.
Once the elections were
over, he was made the
Director Panchayati Raj
andtheninJanuary2020
was made the DM of
Kanpur for 8 months.
The state government
then gave him a new as-
signment as Special Sec-
retaryEnvironmentand
Forestandinviewof the
upcomingassemblyelec-
tions in the state, he was
made the Special Secre-
tary and ACEO in the
EC. IAS Tiwari had orig-
inally come to Uttar
Pradesh on a 3-year ICD
which was extended by
the DOPT for 1 more
year on 30 March 2021.
OncetheextendedICDis
over, he will join his wife
inreturningtohisnative
cadre but not before the
elections in the state are
over.
IAS couple to return home cadre Assam-Meghalya soon
BACK TO HOME

Special secy EC
Brahma Deo
wife Pooja
Pandey, who
had come to UP
on Inter-Cadre
Deputation, are
set to return
Assam-
Meghalya cadre
after UP polls
Brahma Deo Ram Tiwari and wife Pooja Pandey
Bijnor: Hitting out at
the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) leadership
over the remarks on dy-
nastic politics, SP chief
Akhilesh Yadav on
Thursdaysaidthosewho
do not have families can-
not understand the ago-
ny the migrant labour-
ers went through during
the Covid-19 lockdown.
The SP chief said, “I
want to say that only
those who have families
can understand the pain
of a family
, but not those
whodonothaveafamily
.
BJP should observe two
minutes of silence for
their last manifesto as
they could not fulfil the
promises made five
yearsago.“Weareproud
to have families. A fam-
ily person will not run
away with jhola (bag)
and leave family behind.
During the lockdown, if
the CM had a family, he
would have understood
the pain of labourers
walking miles to reach
their home,” Yadav said.
The SP chief raised
concerns over the re-
ports of EVMs not func-
tioning properly at sev-
eral booths during the
polling.
“There were several
reports that EVM was
notfunctioningproperly
,
voting was stopped for
hours and people had to
wait in order to cast
their votes. The prepara-
tion for a fair election
should have been done
by Election Commission
to ensure smooth vot-
ing,” he said. Asked
about the Allahabad
High Courts granting
bailtotheprimeaccused
inLakhimpurKherivio-
lence Ashish Mishra,
Akhilesh said, “Govern-
ment should have en-
suredstrictpunishment,
but it failed. The world
has witnessed the inci-
dent that took place in
Lakhimpur Kheri. Eve-
ryone is well aware of
the fact that BJP was re-
sponsible for the death
of the farmers.” —PTI
First India Bureau
Noida: Amid reports of
glitchesinEVMsatsome
places where assembly
polls were underway in
UP
, Rashtriya Lok Dal
chief Jayant Chaudhary
on Thursday said it
seemsthattheyouthand
farmers were pressing
the button in full rage .
There are complaints
aboutEVMmalfunction-
ing. It seems the youth
and farmers are press-
ing the button in full
rage! Request you not so
hard, press the button in
favour of the alliance
with love!!, Chaudhary
tweeted in a lighter vein
in Hindi. Chaudhary
,
whose RLD is fighting
the UP polls in tie-up
withtheSP
,earlierinthe
dayappealedtopeopleto
go out and vote in large
numbers.
Participate in the fes-
tival of democracy
, go
out of your houses and
vote to elect a govern-
ment that works for you,
he said in a video mes-
sage. Additional Chief
Election Officer (ACEO)
BD Ram Tiwari in Luc-
knowsaidpollingforthe
first phase on 58 seats of
11 districts was under-
way peacefully
.
“There were reports
of a technical error in
EVMs at some places.
Those EVMs are being
replaced,” he said. On
SP’s allegation that poor
voters were not allowed
to exercise their fran-
chise in Dundukheda
village in the Kairana
constituency
, Tiwari
said DM concerned have
been asked to look into
the matter.
Akhilesh hits back at dynastic
jibe, says proud to have family
Seems youth, farmers in full
rage: Jayant on EVM glitches
Akhilesh-Jayant joint rally in Bijnor on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
HITS OUT AT BJP
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and RLD President Jayant Chaudhary
during the joint election campaign, in Bijnor on Thursday.
Polling for the
first phase on 58
seats of 11 dists
of the state held
peacefully
PIL SEEKS DIRECTION FOR RESTORATION
OF DWADASH MADHAV TEMPLES
Prayagraj: A public interest litigation has been filed in
the Allahabad HC seeking a direction for the restora-
tion of Dwadash Madhav temples located in different
parts of Prayagraj. In
the PIL filed by Swami
Harichaitanya Brahmachari
and senior social worker
Yogendra Kumar Pandey
of Tikarmafi Ashram, a
demand has been made to
renovate Dwadash Madhav
temples located in the four directions of the Sangam,
make parikrama paths and make proper arrange-
ments for traffic. Advocates Vijay Chandra Srivastava
and Sunita Sharma said it is written in religious texts
that Brahma created the universe by performing a
yagya in Prayagraj.
First India Bureau
Prayagraj: While
granting bail to Union
Minister Ajay Mishra
Teni’s son Ashish
Mishra, the high court
questioned the charg-
es against him and re-
jected the police probe.
“Considering the
facts and circumstanc-
es of the case in toto, it
is evident that as per
the FIR, the role of fir-
ing was assigned to the
applicant (Ashish
Mishra) for killing the
protesters, but during
the course of investi-
gation, no such fire-
arm injuries were
found either on the
body of any of the de-
ceased or on the body
of any injured per-
son,” the court said.
“Thereafter, the
prosecution alleged
that the applicant pro-
voked the driver of the
vehicle for crushing
the protesters, howev-
er, the driver along
with two others, who
were in the vehicle,
had been killed by the
protesters.”Ashish
Mishra, the court said,
appeared before the In-
vestigating officer
when he was sum-
moned and a charge
sheet has already been
filed. “In such circum-
stances, this Court is
of the view that the ap-
plicant is entitled to be
released on bail,” said
the HC.
The HC said it
“could not shut its eyes
to the killing of 3 per-
sons in the Thar SUV
,
including the driver,
who were killed by the
protesters”. Photo-
graphs “clearly re-
vealed the brutality of
the protesters”, the
court said, naming
those killed as Hariom
Mishra, Shubham
Mishra and Shyam
Sunder.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: It’s a mo-
ment of immense pride
for Lucknow Metro as it
touched the cumulative
ridership figure of 4
croreand4Lakhsinjust
4 years and 4 Months
making it a proud mo-
ment for everyone asso-
ciated with Lucknow
Metro. Since its com-
mencement of services
on September 5, 2017 on
the 8.5 km long ‘Priority
Section’from‘Charbagh
to Transport Nagar’,
Metro continues to win
the hearts of Lucknow-
ites becoming an inte-
gral part of their life. In
spite of the third wave
of C-19,itcrossedthefig-
ure of 54 Lakh passen-
gers in just 4 months
since October 2021.
First India Bureau
Noida/Rampur: Con-
gress leader Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra on
Thursday hit out at Yogi
Adityanath and said the
BJP-led UP government
should increase em-
ployment opportunities
instead of the CM talk-
ing about cooling down
others. Addressing an
election campaign in
Rampur, the Congress
general secretary and
party’s UP affairs in-
charge also accused the
BJP-led Centre of de-
stroying trade and
businesses with ill-con-
ceived policies.
Theykeepsaying‘gar-
minikaaldenge’,‘charbi
nikaal denge’. Are these
the issues troubling the
people? I want to ask
them why they are not
putting out vacancies
and employment oppor-
tunities when they have
been in power for five
years, Priyanka said as
she made a veiled attack
on Adityanath.
She called on the vot-
ers to listen to politi-
cians and understand
whether they are talk-
ing about the develop-
ment and welfare of the
people or themselves.
What has the govern-
ment done, it has sold
the PSUs to its friends.
Jobs come from PSUs.
All small and medium-
scale businesses and
manufacturing units
generate jobs but the
government has
made this sector weaker
by demonetisation,
Priyanka said.
Today the PM is say-
ing Congress gave free
tickets to people to trav-
el during the pandemic,
he is accusing us of
spreading Covid-19. You
must understand his
thought process. Lakhs
of people were forced to
travel hundreds of kilo-
meters on foot and the
PM says we did wrong
by helping people, the
Congress leader said.
Kheri violence: Why
HC granted bail to
Ashish Mishra
DANCE OF DEMOCRACY
Samajwadi Party district president kinnar Payal Singh campaigning for SP candidate at
Gautam Palli area in Lucknow on Thursday. —PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
Should have created jobs instead of
talking about ‘cooling down’ others: PGV
4 CR PASSENGERS TRAVELLED IN LUCKNOW METRO
NO JUSTICE
Priyanka Gandhi campaigning in Rampur on Thursday.
—PHOTO BY ANI
—PHOTO BY PTI
Ashish Mishra
—FILE
PHOTO

misha Aashu is
poised to change the
perception of mod-
est fashion into
something truly
unique and sophisti-
cated with her style
statement and her attitude
towards life. “To have that
extra little bit of confidence,
that’s when you look the
most beautiful”, exclaimed
the gorgeous Amisha.
When asked about
what beauty
means in the
current times,
the young
model said,
“It’s really
exciting what’s happening at
the moment. Beauty is in the
eye of the beholder and is
also something that’s so dif-
ferent in different parts of
the world. What we’re seeing
in the industry is more inclu-
sion and diversity of beauty
in all shapes, sizes and col-
ours and I think that is so
important in our world, and
especially in this industry
because the power of
the fashion image
spreads far and wide
and it should be in-
clusive of every-
one.”
Talking about
her journey,
Aashu said,
“I come from
a slightly orthodox family,
where a career in the field of
fashion and modelling is still
not welcomed and so it got
more challenging for me to
pursue my dreams. My fa-
ther is a doctor and my moth-
er is a social worker. I pur-
sued my graduation in Com-
puter Science, from Jaipur.”
She further added, “In
2018, I met Gaurav Gaur,
Elite Miss Rajasthan Direc-
tor and gave the auditions
for the beauty pageant. That
was a huge turning point in
my life. I realized that since
my childhood the world of
glamour wooed me and
when I was selected
among the top 25 par-
ticipants, there was
no looking back.” When
asked, what interests her
besides modelling, the
diva said, dancing and
that she enjoys playing
badminton a lot. It keeps
her sane, healthy and fit.
When asked about her
inspiration, “Amisha
without giving second
thoughts said, “Sushmi-
ta Sen! She is an ideal
figure to me. “I wish to
become independent and
strong and advise all the
girls too, to follow their
hearts and put their
best foot for-
ward in
e v e r y -
thing!
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
A
WALKING
EMBODIMENT
OF GLAMOUR
Supermodel Amisha Aashu,
born and brought up in Bihar
has broken new grounds,
both in the fashion industry
and in wider society.In an
exclusive interview with City
First, Amisha talks about her
lady love, modelling career
and aspirations!
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
LUCKNOW | FRIDAY,
FEBRUARY 11, 2022
—PHOTOS
BY
MUKESH
KIRADOO

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