NEW DELHI 11 OCTOBER 2026 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES Come October CHILD’S PLAY MAGAZINE The Silent Storytellers Dr Vikram Sampath Ravi Shankar Prabhu Chawla Utkarsh Amitabh Santwana Bhattacharya Dr Alka Pande Shankkar Aiyar The Things We Preserve EXCLUSIVE VOICES Her Body Language Some Like It Fricy AMMA SPEAKS ‘I Am Not a Sadist’ God is to Be Experienced, Not Explained Who is 35-year-old Ajinkya Shinde A native of Latur district in Maharashtra, Shinde will lead the next phase of CJP’s agitation, declared Abhijit Dipke after his detention. Shinde, 35, is a computer engineer. He is also learnt to have played a key role in planning the CJP’s five-week-long protest in July. P3 What next as CJP calls Jantar Mantar protest today The Delhi Police is likely to continue with its deployment on Sunday as well, with Ajinkya Shinde calling for the next leg of protest at Jantar Mantar at 10 am on Sunday. The Supreme Court will hold a special Sunday hearing on a petition by senior advocate and TMC MP Maneka Guruswamy against the detentions during the CJP protest. On Monday, the INDIA bloc has planned to submit a memorandum to the Chief Justice of India seeking his intervention in the CEC stir. Police detain activists during a protest organised by CJP demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday in Delhi | PARVEEN NEGI U D AYA N K I S H O R E A N D A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi Govt fears that if we unite again, their throne will be at stake. We will stay at Jantar Mantar until all our demands are met Ajinkya Shinde, CJP This is a Super Emergency... We were kidnapped in a prison van and driven for 2 hours. I will join INDIA march on Monday Mamata Banerjee, TMC Long live the revolution. The police have released us. The fight will continue. Gyanesh Kumar will have to resign. The vote theft must stop Arvind Kejriwal, AAP Barricades may block streets, but can’t halt march of democracy. No force can silence people determined to defend their rights Pinarayi Vijayan, CPM THE national capital was placed under siege on Saturday as police launched a sweeping crackdown on protesters attempting to march to Jantar Mantar to demand the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Police detained Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, and four former chief ministers: Pinarayi Vijayan, Mamata Banerjee, Manik Sarkar and Arvind Kejriwal. In all, about 7,000 protesters were taken into custody . W h i l e t h e g ove r n m e n t managed to thwart mass mobilisation at Jantar Mantar by putting up barricades at every 50 metres, the Opposition denounced the situation as “worse than the Emergency”. Throughout the day, loudspeakers blared warnings to protesters against assembling amid the deployment of more than 30,000 security personnel and waves of barricades in Lutyens’ Delhi, giving it a fortress-like look. CPM general secretary M A Baby, veteran leader Brinda Karat, CPI(M-L) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, activist Yogendra Yadav, lawyer Prashant Bhushan and All India Students’ Association (AISA) president Neha Bora were also detained from different places during the day . Dipke, Das and Ranka were DELHI INTERRUPTED Massive crackdown during CJP-led agitation, its top brass picked up from plane; 7,000 protesters and 4 former CMs detained, special hearing of SC today on detentions detained from inside the air- Flyover and Kerala House. The craft as soon as their flight police detained a few others landed at the IGI Airport from who managed to reach the Mumbai. “We are here to be ar- Jantar Mantar site. rested, come and arrest us,” Around 1 pm, some protestDipke could be heard telling po- ers hurled stones at security lice officers who entered the personnel near Akashvani Bhaaircraft. Rathee, who lives van after jumping barricades, abroad and had come to India injuring two police personnel. to join the CJP protest, was de- The protesters were quickly detained from Gurugram. tained by security personnel. The Congress was conspicuA large number of police perous by its absence from the sonnel detained groups of protest. However, Rahul protesters from several Gandhi, who was in places, including HaChennai for the numan Temple, Chhatron Ki Goonj Akashwani Bhawan, DELHI eve n t , u r g e d t h e Safdarjung Flyover youth to “keep proand Kerala House. Potesting” and asserting lice had arranged over that “we are going to ensure 200 buses, being used to that this regime and the people detain and transfer protesters. who have attacked the ConstiIn an unprecedented move, tution are defeated.” police entered Gurdwara BangThe detentions did not deter la Sahib, and detained several the protesters from trying to protesters who had taken refreach the venue. Left student uge there. All mosques and unions managed to reach the temples in the vicinity of BJP headquarters. However, Jantar Mantar were shut. they were detained as soon as Several journalists claimed they started protesting. that they were detained. ReA large number of police per- porters alleged that they were sonnel detained groups of pro- detained despite displaying testers from several places, in- their press identity cards, and cluding Hanuman Temple, that their phones were seized. Akashvani Bhavan, Safdarjung FULL COVERAGE P3 & P7 FORT @ New Delhi THE National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case and launched an investigation into the September 30 hijacking attempt of a Flydubai flight bound for Tel Aviv, in which Indian Captain Smit Machchhar was injured. The probe is to “unearth the larger conspiracy”, officials said. The NIA is empowered to investigate terror cases abroad that involve Indian citizens. The FIR, registered on October 9, invokes Section 3 of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016, and Section 16 read with Section 15(1)(a) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. It said the information “discloses the commission of offences against an Indian national, Captain Smit Machchhar.” The case was registered on the direction of the Union home ministry . “Having regard to the gravity of the offence, its grave national and international ramifications, and the need to unearth the larger conspiracy the mat, ter requires thorough investigation by the National Investigation Agency it said. ,” A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi THE Delhi Police came in the line of duty of the media on Saturday as thousands of protesters tried to get past the heavy security , arrangements. The police targeted the media persons, putting the message and messenger on equal footing. One of them even issued crude threats to a journalist. As journalists risked injury in order to report the happening on a volatile day the police saw them as nuisance at par with youth , agitators. The police took exception to the fact that scores of them—junior and senior, from mainstream and alternative media—were present whenever small groups of protesters gave the security labyrinth a miss and sneaked through the multi-layers of policing. Many police personnel, across their designations, showed a dismissive attitude towards media persons as if the police handling of protesters should not be subjected to media scrutiny Many media persons were told to “obey the directions” and . “not argue” with officials. Police personnel were seen misbehaving with young and veteran journalists near Palika Kendra at Connaught Place. While a police constable was seen pushing journalists, heckling and talking roughly another one pushed the print journalist, asking him , to go to another side “designated for journalists”. When the journalist asked the policeman not to push him, he said, “Tu kisi bhi media se hai, farak nahi padta. Yaha se chup-chap chala ja, warna samjha dunga tere ko (I don’t care which media organisation you belong to. Get lost from here, or I will teach you a lesson).” Near the Kerala House, journalists were forced to stay behind a rope on a pavement. They were not allowed to sit even at roundabouts or move freely on roads which were almost vacant. DAWN TO DUSK 6 am: Stringent traffic restrictions imposed in New Delhi district, especially on roads leading to Jantar Mantar 6.50 am: CJP founder Abhijit Dipke leaves Mumbai hotel for Delhi, boards flight with Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka 10 am: YouTuber Dhruv Rathee detained from Gurugram house 10.50 am: Dipke, Das and Ranka detained from the aircraft as their flight from Mumbai lands at IGI Airport in Delhi 11.30 am: Police chase away CJP protesters trying to reach Jantar Mantar. Protesters kept regrouping for the next few hours 12 NOON Several Left members, lawyers march from SC towards Jantar Mantar, detained Police step up security at Dipke’s home in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar People heading to Jantar Mantar detained, taken to Chhatrasal Stadium Dipke, Das and Ranka sent to three different locations 12:30 pm Contempt plea filed in SC for violation of its direction to ensure no inconvenience to common people during protest CPM MP John Brittas and former Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, on their way to Jantar Mantar, detained 1.15 pm: Dipke releases a video that he recorded in the flight, hands over the protest’s command to Ajinkya Shinde 2 pm: AISA national president Neha Bora detained in south Delhi 2:30 pm: Former West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and other Trinamool leaders detained after dharna in South Avenue 3 pm: Former Delhi CM and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal detained; released later 8:15 pm: SC agrees to hear on Sunday plea against detention of lawyers Slew of RBI steps to rescue the rupee NIA probes mid-air attack on Captain Machchhar EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MESSAGE, MESSENGER ON EQUAL FOOTING CJP’s Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das before their detention in the city on Saturday | PTI B E N N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with TN Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay | EXPRESS Rahul meets Vijay day ahead of Modi’s TN visit E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai TAMIL Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay hosted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at his residence in Neelankarai on Saturday . This was their first meeting since the TVK-led Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance was formed in the state. Rahul, who arrived at Chennai airport from Delhi in the afternoon, went to Vijay’s residence, where the Tea talk at chief minister greeted him with an emDhoni’s cafe brace and hosted a lunch for him. AICC genLoP in the Lok Sabha eral secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Ghulam Ahmad Mir, and Tamil , Rahul Gandhi and Nadu Congress Committee president ManTamil Nadu CM ickam Tagore accompanied Rahul during C Joseph Vijay left his meeting with Vijay . went in the same Sources said the two leaders discussed car and stopped at the alliance’s future plans for an hour. After 7Padel Cafe, owned the meeting, Vijay and Rahul left in the by ace cricketer same car and stopped at 7Padel Cafe, owned Mahendra Singh by cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in PaDhoni, for tea. lavakkam, for tea. Rahul then headed to Island Grounds for the ‘Voice of Students’ student interaction programme. The Rahul-Vijay meeting, coming ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Chennai on Sunday, gained significance as TVK MLAs and state Congress leaders had been engaging in a battle of words over the prime ministerial candidate for the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. WITH the rupee sniffing at 97 a dollar, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Saturday announced as slew of measures in a desperate bid to stem the freefall of the national currency . It drastically slashed the forex derivative positions a bank can hold in the net open position to just $5 million from the already curbed $100 million, to curb speculation. The central bank also barred authorised dealers from rebook- ing cancelled rupee-linked derivative contracts and introduced a 20% cash reserve requirement for large transactions to strengthen market discipline. That apart, it also opened a special dollar window for oil importers. On Friday, it had raised the minimum daily maintenance requirement for the cash reserve ratio (CRR) from 90% to 99% of the prescribed requirement, effective October 16. This was the first time since July 2013 that the RBI had increased the daily CRR require- OMCs get spl window The RBI created a special window for oil marketing companies (OMCs) to take the dollar demand away from the spot market. Three state-run OMCs are one of the biggest consumers for the dollar ment following pressure on the rupee, which has already lost more than 7% this year after the US Fed began tightening. The measures comes amid evolving conditions in the forex market and are aimed at ensuring its orderly functioning, the central bank said. At least 5 shot dead, houses torched in fresh Manipur Kuki-Naga faceoff P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati AT least five persons, including a woman and a member of the Gorkha community, were killed in fresh violence in Manipur since Friday night. The deaths occurred in the Naga-majority districts of Kamjong, which border Manipur, and Ukhrul. The violence began after a Kuki woman, 42, was shot dead in the Kuki-dominated Chas- sad village in Kamjong district on Friday night. Her killing triggered an exchange of fire between Kuki and Naga armed groups, which continued on Saturday morning. A 22-yearold man was killed in the ensuing clashes and about 10 houses were torched. Later in the day, suspected militants shot dead two persons in Ningchou village in Kamjong. In another incident in Ukhrul district, a 40-yearold man identified as Sandeed Rai, a member of the Gorkha community was shot dead near , Chepu Yaolen. Reports of two more deaths could not be officially confirmed. The incidents of violence came on a day Manipur Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Modi assured all possible help to the Manipur government in its efforts to restore peace and normalcy in the state, a statement said. Under the revised norms, authorised dealers will not be permitted to allow users to rebook any foreign exchange derivative contract involving the rupee, whether deliverable or non-deliverable, if it was cancelled with an authorised dealer after issuance of the directions. Rollover of contracts on maturity will continue to be permitted, subject to existing regulatory requirements. The RBI also tightened documentation requirements to prevent the same underlying exposure from being hedged through multiple authorised dealers. RIYADH AIRPORT ATTACKED BY HOUTHIS AGAIN, DOZENS WOUNDED Yemen’s Houthis attacked Riyadh’s international airport with a missile on Saturday, though Saudi authorities didn’t confirm any new attack. A source said five people were in a hospital after being injured at the airport | P9