FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 16 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW | SILIGURI ‘Spend 6 per cent on education’ WORLD Netanyahu calls accusations of genocide in Gaza ‘biggest lie’ Trust test Page 8 Page 9 Page 12 CEC row spills onto the streets as Oppn presses for Kumar’s removal STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE CJP sets 2 October for nationwide protest, asks Oppn parties to stop contesting rigged elections: New Delhi, 25 September T he Congress-led INDIA bloc and other Opposition parties mounted nationwide protests on Friday demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, turning the growing controversy over reported dissent within the poll panel into a full-fledged political and institutional confrontation. From Chandigarh and Patna to Guwahati, Lucknow, Dehradun and Jammu and Kashmir, Opposition workers took to the streets, with police using water cannons in some places and detaining senior leaders and protesters in others. The mobilisation came a day after Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi demanded Mr Kumar immediate resignation, and Opposition parties moved towards filing a fresh removal notice in Parliament. In Guwahati, Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi and several party workers were detained during a protest demanding action against the CEC. In Chandigarh, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring led protesters demanding Kumar's removal and action over the SIR, prompting police to use water cannons as demonstrators attempted to move towards the poll authorities. Similar demonstrations were reported elsewhere, including Lucknow, Dehradun, Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur. The street campaign is being accompanied by an increasingly aggressive parliamentary New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has announced that it will launch a nationwide protest from Mumbai on 2 October if Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar does not resign over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. CJP National Convenor Abhijeet Dipke, in a post on X on Friday, said the organisation would begin its agitation on Gandhi Jayanti and subsequently take it to cities across the country. Mr Dipke also urged Opposition parties to stop contesting elections if they believe the electoral process is being rigged, arguing that their participation lends legitimacy to what he alleged is a flawed system. offensive. Opposition parties are preparing a fresh removal notice against Mr Kumar in both Houses of Parliament. If moved, it would mark the third such attempt by opposition parties to initiate proceedings for the CEC’s removal. Separately, a PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking action against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and other senior Election State govt will rework anti-goonda bill, says Bengal CM after bill returned for review STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Burdwan, 25 September West Bengal Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Friday that the state government will rework the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, or ‘anti-goonda’ bill, after Rashtrapati Bhavan returned the legislation to the state for reconsideration. President Droupadi Murmu has returned the anti-goonda bill without assent, citing conflict with central laws. Speaking on the sidelines of his administrative meeting here on Friday, Mr Adhikari said: “The state will move forward after examining the legal provisions.” “Anti-goonda law exists in four other states. We will work through legal avenues. There will be no difficulty,” he said. The return of the bill drew a sharp attack from Trinamul Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee. In a post on X, he stated: “Double engine on poster, reverse gear in work! Homework returned, correction ordered.” Responding to the criticism, the Chief Minister said: “Let whoever says what they want to say. Goons are now scared, that is why they are saying such things. We will handle the rest. The state government will ensure that goons remain in fear and go to jail. Whatever I have said so far has happened, and will happen.” Mr Adhikari had a packed day in Burdwan on Friday, moving from one end of the town to the other for official and party programmes. He began with darshan and puja at Sarbamangala Temple and then reached the government programme at Police Line ground here, where he inaugurated the power subsidy scheme for farmers. From there, he went to the BJP district office at Rasbehari Basu Bhavan. After garlanding the bust of Deendayal Upadhyaya, Mr Adhikari promised to improve health services and crack down on fake doctors: “It will take time to clean 15 years of dirt and garbage. No guilty will be spared, I promise.” Saturday, 26 September 2026 SPORTS SATURDAY INTERVIEW EDITORIAL | Commission officials over allegations that decisions relating to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were taken despite objections from two Election Commissioners. The petition has also sought a judicial inquiry commission or a Special Investigation Team probe into the alleged deletion of 13 crore voters during the SIR exercise. ECI postpones Gyanesh Kumar’s events in UP: New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has postponed two youth outreach programmes in Uttar Pradesh that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was scheduled to address, but said that the decision was unrelated to reported differences within the poll panel. The two Electoral Literacy Club (ELC) programmes, scheduled in Meerut on Friday, 25 September, and Varanasi on 26 September, were part of the Commission’s voter awareness initiatives ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The Commission has stated that the decision to defer the programmes was finalised on 21 September. Asian Games: India bag six medals on Day 6, tally rises to 23 Page 16 Delhi HC directs Meta to remove deepfake image of woman with PM, issues notice to CJP activists STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 25 September The Delhi High Court has ordered Meta platforms to remove, within 24 hours, “objectionable content” concerning a woman claiming that an AI-generated and morphed image of her alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi was circulated online after being displayed during a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar. Also, the single-judge Bench of Justice Girish Kathpalia asked Delhi Police to provide complete protection to the petitioner and issued notice to CJP activists Saurav Das, Abhijit Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka, and Ratna Singh on her plea seeking urgent removal of the allegedly objectionable content. Delhi Police have been directed to file a status report detailing the action taken in the matter. The case was posted for further hearing on 14 October. “In order to ensure that she is provided complete police protection, it is directed that today she will disclose her exact residential address to the IO present in Court. And IO shall forthwith transmit the address to SHO of the area in which petitioner resides. IO shall also transmit a copy of this order to the said SHO, who is directed to ensure complete police protection to the petitioner in all possible and practical manner,” Justice Kathpalia said. Earlier, police informed the court that an FIR had already been registered in connection Jaishankar flags India’s concerns over attacks on seafarers STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE MR JAISHANKAR SAID THAT, TWO DAYS AGO, AN ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA-FLAGGED BULK CARRIER, MV CAPE DOVE, WAS ATTACKED IN THE GULF OF OMAN, KILLING AN INDIAN SAILOR. TEN DAYS BEFORE THAT, A PANAMA-FLAGGED OIL TANKER, EL GAYA, WAS STRUCK IN THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ. AN INDIAN CREW MEMBER WENT MISSING. New Delhi, 25 September India and Liberia have brought together a group of countries to address attacks on commercial ships and protect their crews, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday. Mr Jaishankar said that, two days ago, an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier, MV Cape Dove, was attacked in the Gulf of Oman, killing an Indian sailor. Ten days before that, a Panama-flagged oil tanker, El Gaya, was struck in the Strait of Hormuz. An Indian crew member went missing. “These, regrettably, are no longer exceptional occurrences,” he said while addressing the gathering. at the inaugural meeting of ‘Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers’. He also cited two attacks in the Black Sea. The chief officer of the MV Omorfi, an Indian national, was killed when the vessel was hit in Russian territorial waters on 18 July, he said. The next day, four Indian seafarers died after the MV Golden Leo was struck following its departure from Odessa. “From the Black Sea to the Red Sea to the Gulf, attacks on civilian shipping have become a growing cause of concern,” he said. “These actions that disrupt maritime commerce and cost innocent lives are simply indefensible.” He urged countries to work together to deter attacks. Commercial shipping and mariners had faced repeated attacks in the Gulf, the Red Sea and nearby waters in recent months, he said. India and Liberia, which has the world’s largest shipping registry, proposed the Group of Friends on Safety and Security of Shipping and Seafarers as a forum for countries involved in shipping, registration and crewing. Mr Jaishankar said its members included major ship-owning nations, countries with large ship registries and those supplying many of the world’s seafarers. He asked members to help shape the group’s work and said its procedures and terms of reference could be settled through their discussions. He thanked the countries that had joined and said he wanted to hear their views. The proposal follows a concern India raised at the BRICS summit it hosted two weeks earlier. EAM Jaishankar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed a seafarers’ emergency support network linking maritime authorities and embassies. with the alleged circulation of the content and submitted that action would be taken expeditiously. “Delhi Police accepts notice and submits that since FIR was registered yesterday itself, the action shall be taken as expeditiously as possible,” the order recorded. Also, the Delhi High Court has directed the registry to redact all the impugned web links from the petition and its annexures. It also told the petitioner to hand over the pictures and videos concerned, along with the web links, to the investigating agency in electronic form. Moreover, the High Court orally observed that the petitioner would have the right to claim compensation from the organisers of the demonstration and made it clear that filing of the petition would not preclude her from claiming any other relief available to her in law, according to IANS report. All-woman SIT to probe child sexual abuse case against granite baron STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Chennai, 25 September The Tamil Nadu government has constituted an all-woman Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the sensational POCSO case against granite baron R Veeramani (84). An order issued by Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, dated 24 September, stated that the SIT has been formed “in order to investigate effectively the case and related matters” involving the Gem Granites founder. The SIT comprises P C Thenmozhi, Additional Commissioner of Police, CCB Chennai, Disha Mittal, Joint Commissioner of Police, L&O, West,JMutharasi,Superintendent of Police and V V Geethanjali, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime against Women and Children. • Related report: Page 8 Political stability PM’s hallmark; India will be on top in 2047: Shah ‘Govt never agreed to 5-day work week for banks’ DEEPAK RAZDAN New Delhi, 25 September Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made political stability his hallmark, and winning people’s trust three consecutive times as Prime Minister, he amended and made new policies to make India an attractive production hub in the world. The Home Minister was inaugurating the fourth edition of the Uttar Pradesh International Trade Show at Greater Noida. He said 12 years back, India was counted among the economically Fragile Five countries and today it is among the five top economies of the world. This is the result of the Make in India policy of the Prime Minister, Mr Shah said. He said some people have a habit of questioning India’s progress and don’t want to accept India’s GDP figures. Moody’s has raised its estimate of India’s growth rate from six per cent to seven per cent; Japan’s main rating agency JCR has upgraded India’s sovereign rating from BBB+ to A- and in the last quarter, India achieved 7.8 per cent growth rate, the Home Minister said. Mr Shah said take any survey, India comes out as the fastest growing economy among all major countries of the world. Despite instability and unrest in the world, India has not just maintained its growth but increased its rate. “I am confident that the target that Mr Modi has fixed for India in 2047, the country will achieve it and be No 1 in the world in all fields,” Mr Shah said. Among exports, compared with 2015, electronics exports have registered 11 times growth and the Rs 2.11 lakh crore GST collection in July this year has been the largest ever for the month, he said. He said that some people find the Indian economy a “dead economy,” but those whose thinking itself is dead cannot see its vibrancy. India is making achievements and strengthening its growth in new areas. There are 12 semiconductor projects in six States with an investment of more than Rs 1.64 lakh crore, and India’s capital expenditure has broken records and crossed Rs 12.2 lakh crore. The Home Minister said that in 2013, the UP government held a conference to invite investment at New Delhi. When asked about the location of the conference outside the state, it was explained that the law and order situation in the state was such that no investor was willing to come there, he said. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 25 September Ahead of the three-day bank strike announced by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) from 28 to 30 September, the government has clarified that it had never agreed to a 5-day working week for banks, one of the key demands of bank employees. “The five-day week was never agreed at the time of the last wage negotiations. It was never a negotiating tool. They (bank unions) are twisting the facts,” agency reports quoted a finance ministry official as saying. In a letter dated 22 September, the All India Bank Officers’ Confederation said there had been no response to this demand “which was agreed and signed in March, 2024 under the last wage revision settlement”. The letter added that officials from the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) had informed union representatives that the issue of five-days banking is “under consideration by the Government”. Currently, bank branches are open on the first, third, and fifth Saturdays of every month. The 12th Bipartite Settlement, agreed in March 2024, said that “in terms of an understanding” was reached between the IBA and unions to declare all Saturdays as holidays for banks. “…IBA has accordingly recommended to the Government. The due changes in the working hours, will be effective after approval by the Government of India and necessary clearances from Government / Reserve Bank of India,” the Settlement said. However, the finance ministry official asserted the government had not agreed to a five-day work week, although a lot of other concessions were made. With the three-day strike that begins on Monday in mind, the government on Wednesday said public sector banks and regional rural banks will function as normal on 27 September, a Sunday. The decision, the Ministry of Finance said, was being taken to ensure “genuine banking needs” of the public are not hindered for an extended period. With 26 September being a non-working Saturday for banks, the three-day strike would have led to banks being shut for five days in a row. The RBI has given its approval for all bank branches, offices, ATM-linked branches, and currency chests to remain “fully operational” on Sunday, the finance ministry further said on Wednesday.