SATURDAY 18 APRIL, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard S A U D I - PA K SAUDI RETAINS $3B IN PAK BANK Saudi Arabia has reached an agreement with the State Bank of Pakistan which allows for an extension in the maturity of a USD 3 bn deposit with the latter PAGE 9 A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  PAGES 12 BILLS FAIL LS TEST QUOTE HANGER ‘WRATH OF WOMEN’ LOOMS AS LOSS BY 298:230 DRAWS BATTLE LINES J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi Shah directly named the Congress, DMK, TMC, and other Opposition parTHE battle over the women’s reserva- ties, linking their resistance to the uption Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday coming electoral battles. The subtext: went far beyond the arithmetic of 298 resistance would be framed as opposivotes in favour and 230 against. It un- tion to women’s empowerment, with folded as a tightly calibrated political the BJP seeking to consolidate women contest over narrative, constituency- as a cross-cutting constituency cutting building, and the future architecture across caste and region. of representation, with the The government’s argument gover nment invoking the rested on two assertions — “wrath of women” in the 2029 that women’s quota is insepaLok Sabha elections and berable from delimitation for its yond, and the Opposition early rollout, and that conwarning that the measure cerns about regional imbalmasked a larger attempt to reance, particularly fears of the draw India’s electoral map. South losing representation, For the BJP-led government, Conscience are misplaced. Shah sought to vote call the Constitution (131st Amendneutralise that anxiety insist, ment) Bill, 2026 was not mere- “Please reflect ing that representation would ly a legislative proposal but an upon your not decline and that “no state electoral statement. Hours beconscience, will face a loss of seats,” posifore the vote, Prime Minister remembering tioning delimitation as a much Narendra Modi appealed di- the women in needed structural correction. rectly to MPs, urging them to your own The Opposition, however, rise above partisan divides. families... Let us rejected the premise entirely . Home minister Amit Shah ensure that the Leader of Opposition Rahul amplified the political framwomen, who Gandhi described the bill as a ing, explicitly positioning are half of the structural redesign masked as women as a decisive electoral nation’s reform. The Opposition posiconstituency that could shape population, tioned itself not against womoutcomes across multiple elecreceive their en’s reservation, but against tion cycles. Warning of susrightful due,” what it described as its “setained political consequences, Modi appealed. quencing design”. By the time he said Opposition parties the bill failed to secure a twowould face the “wrath of women” not thirds majority, it had already taken only in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, on a dual life. For the government, it but “at every level, in every election, was a forward-looking attempt to build and at every place,” signalling an at- a long-term narrative centred on womtempt to convert women’s reservation en. For the Opposition, it became a into a durable political theme an- rare point of convergence, an issue chored in the BJP’s governance narra- framed not as rejection of women’s tive and Modi’s personal popularity reservation, but as resistance to the among women voters. design of delimitation itself. Hectic parleys and discreet messages R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi HECTIC parleys and discreet back channel negotiations preceded the crucial vote. With the odds stacked against it, the NDA tasked BJP leaders who enjoy personal rapport with Opposition leaders with mustering support for the bill. As for the Opposition, senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi worked the phones to ensure Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress aligns with the Opposition’s stand on the bill. Sources said Rahul spoke to TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee, while Kharge called up Mamata. According to BJP sources, senior leaders were roped in to beat the numbers game in the Lok Sabha. Ministers and senior BJP leaders, along with leaders of other NDA allies, were in touch with Opposition parties, albeit in a discreet manner. Within NDA, several rounds of strategic meetings were held to see if the voting could yield the desired results. Sources said senior leaders J P Nadda and Rajnath Singh were also involved in talks with Opposition parties. Hours before the voting on Friday, it became evident that the NDA’s collective efforts to overcome the Opposition’s numerical strength would not succeed. However, NDA continued to work behind the scenes to win support through other means, including cross-voting. Soon after the voting, NDA leaders met to deliberate on the post-vote strategy The meeting, . also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to target the Opposition parties for their “anti-women” stance, sources said. Another NDA meeting is scheduled on Saturday followed by a , Cabinet meeting at 11.30 am, sources said. Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP This historic moment was an opportunity which you (Opposition) have lost. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, we will continue our campaign to give women their rights Kiren Rijiju, Parliamentary Affairs Minister What happened in Parliament today is a betrayal, plain and simple. When the moment came to stand for India’s women, some chose disruption over duty, politics over principle, and power over progress. S Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister I am surprised people here, who are there to protect Hindutva, were reminded of Kali, the goddess, the dark goddess who wears black. The feminine power. The woman who drives away ego, arrogance, ignorance Kanimozhi, DMK MP The Congress, which has lost the capacity to think independently, lost its ability to develop its own arguments is now being led by the DMK’s narrative. Rahul is still looking for some love from M K Stalin H D Kumaraswamy, Union minister An attempt to change electoral map: Rahul P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi AS Constitution amendment bill has nothing to do with women’s reservation but is an attempt to change India’s electoral map, so that the BJP can retain power forever, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said on Friday . Participating in the debate in the Lok Sabha, he said the proposal does not address women’s empowerment and called it a “shameful act”. He said the opposition supports women’s reservation, but not in the manner in which the government was rushing it. “We will help pass it for implementation from this very moment. What is being presented now as the women’s bill is something else, and the truth about it needs to be told.” He also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi us- ing an anecdote about a magic show he watched as a child, drawing strong protests from BJP MPs. Defence minister Rajnath Singh said Rahul must apologise. The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha accused the government of “trying to rejig the Indian political map”, adding that the gover nment feared that it was fast losing support among the people of India and thus was devising ways to make up for it. Other Congress leaders also criticised the government. Party MP from Wayanad in Kerala Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that her party’s stand on the issue and the fate of the bill was about saving democracy. “We can never agree to linking delimitation with women’s reservation... This is a big win for democracy in our country she said. P7 ,” Hormuz fully open, demining begins Received no complaints of harassment at Nashik: TCS A G E N C I E S @ Washington/Tehran PA D M I N I D H R U V A R A J @ Bengaluru TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) on Friday said that it received no complaints related to allegations of sexual harassment or religious conversion at its Nashik unit. “While detailed reviews are still underway, a preliminary review of the systems and records pertaining to the Nashik unit indicates that we have not received any complaints of the nature that are being alleged on either our ethics or POSH channels,” said K Krithivasan, chief executive officer and managing director. The company has engaged external experts from Deloitte and law firm Trilegal to act as independent counsel to its internal probe led by Aarthi Subramanian, president and chief operating officer of TCS. Alongside this, TCS has formed an oversight committee. The company said the findings of the investigation will be presented to this committee for review and implementation of any recommendations. Providing further clarification on the matter, Krithivasan addressed media reports regarding a female employee named in connection with the case. “She was employed as a process associate without any leadership responsibilities,” he said, adding that she was neither an HR manager nor involved in recruitment. The company also denied claims that its Nashik unit had been shut down, stating that operations are continuing as usual and that client services remain unaffected. PIC: PTI You have proposed delimitation with such haste that you showed on demonetisation. Unfortunately, we all know what damage that did to the country. Delimitation will turn out to be political demonetisation MOB FURY IN ASSAM A vehicle set ablaze by a mob amid protests against detention of a few locals over alleged encroachment of reserved forest in Assam’s Chirang district on Friday | PTI IN a major relief for the global energy markets, Iran on Friday declared that the Strait of Hormuz, closed since the start of the current conflict in West Asia, is “completely open” for all commercial vessels for the remainder of its ceasefire with the US. It comes a day after Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire deal. “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of the ceasefire,” Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X. Minutes later, US President Donald Trump shared Iran’s Indian national arrested in Perth over in-flight assault of woman H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh A 52-year-old Indian man was arrested upon landing in Perth, Australia, after being accused of sexually assaulting a fellow passenger on a flight from Singapore. The incident reportedly occurred earlier this week on a Scoot Airlines flight. The accused, identified in court documents as Sudhir Kumar Chauhan, allegedly carried out non-consensual acts during the journey. The woman alerted cabin crew immediately and was moved to another seat, while staff monitored the man for the rest of the flight. When the plane arrived, officers from the Australian Federal Police boarded the aircraft and took him into custody The . Many indecency counts Australian authorities allege the incident took place on April 13. The man has been charged with sexual intercourse without consent and multiple counts of indecency under aviation-related provisions of Australian law. AFP stated that the man, seated next to a woman passenger, “committed non-consensual sexual acts on the passenger” during the flight. Authorities allege the incident took place on April 13. The man has been charged with sexual intercourse without consent and multiple counts of indecency under aviation-related provisions of Australian law. These charges carry maximum penalties of up to 12 years and seven years in prison. The AFP along with the West, ern Australia Police Sex Assault Squad, is investigating the case. The accused remains in custody after being denied bail earlier and is set to appear in court for a bail hearing on Friday. Scoot Airlines has not issued a detailed statement. AFP Acting Superintendent Peter Brindal said the AFP had a zero tolerance for criminal behaviour on aircraft or within Australian airports. “Every passenger has the right to feel safe when travelling, especially when confined in an aircraft close to other passengers….No act of indecency on an aircraft or at an airport is appropriate and any travelers who break the law will be dealt with swiftly .’’ announcement in a post on Truth Social.“Iran has just announced that the Strait of Iran is fully open and ready for full passage. Thank you!” Trump said, referring to the Strait of Hor- DAY muz. Trump said Iran, with help from the US, is working to remove all sea mines from the strait. The US naval blockade against Iran, however, will remain in “full force” until Tehran reaches an agreement 49 with the US to end the war, Trump said. It comes a day after Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces Asim Munir held talks with the Iranian leadership in Tehran. Araghchi’s declaration bolstered hopes for further peace talks and a renewal of the current ceasefire set to expire next week. In response to the announcement, oil prices fell by more than 10%. Both the benchmark US weighs $20 billion cash-for-uranium deal: Report As per two US officials quoted by Axios, Washington is considering release of $20 billion in frozen Iranian funds in return for Tehran giving up its 2,000 kg of enriched uranium buried in its underground nuclear facilities, in particular the 450 kg enriched to 60% purity EXPRESS READ FIR against Rahul in dual citizenship case The Allahabad High Court on Friday ordered the registration of an FIR against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a case related to alleged dual citizenship. The court also said the Uttar Pradesh government may recommend a probe by a Central agency. | P8 SC questions limits of religious freedom The Supreme Court heard the Sabarimala review pleas case for the fifth day on Friday. The bench observed that religion and freedom of conscience could not be confined to the same scope. It is examining the essential religious practices doctrine and scope of judicial review in it. | P7 ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS WELFARE AND IDENTITY IN N BENGAL I P8 international contract Brent and its US equivalent WTI fell below $90 per barrel. However, many shipping companies are preferring to wait and watch. “We don’t feel like we need to be taking unnecessary risks, and our company approach is that we won’t be the first to go through the strait,” a major tanker operator told the BBC. The 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon came into effect on Friday UN peacekeep. ers said airstrikes have halted, and displaced families began moving back to southern Lebanon and Beirut. Trump said he has “prohibited” Israel from further strikes on Lebanon, saying “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war. P9 EWS, other quota groups not on equal footing: HC U D AYA N K I S H O R E @ New Delhi THE Delhi High Court has said that the economically weaker section (EWS) category candidates cannot claim automatic parity with those belonging to SC, ST, and OBC groups, since a person born into a disadvantaged group continues to face its consequences throughout life, unlike those caused by economic disadvantages, which is fluid. A bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Amit Mahajan made the observation while junking a petition by some EWS category candidates seeking the relaxation in upper age limit and number of attempts as available to candidates belonging to the SC, ST, and OBC categories in direct Central recruitments and employment. The bench said that the EWS category, introduced only in 2019, stands on a fundamentally different footing from the other categories. The distinction between EWS and the SC, ST, and OBC categories is highlighted by the very nature of the disadvantage they seek to address, it added. “EWS is concerned only with economic deprivation. The hardship faced by individuals in this category arises from lack of financial resources. It does not stem from social stigma or historical exclusion. While junking the plea, the bench said, “Caste, unlike economic status, is not a variable; it is fixed by birth.”