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DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

MONDAY, MAY 3, 2021, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 12 PAGES `4.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,MAY2

AFTERAspateincasesforweeks,GujaratonSundayreportedade-clineinthenumberoffreshcoro-navirusinfectionsandfatalities.Atotal of 12,978 new caseswererecordedontheday,whichisthelowestsinceApril22,when13,105caseswerereported.Thestatealsoreported153Covid-relateddeathsintheprevious24hours.

Gujarat Congress workingpresident Hardik Patel, mean-while,testedpositivefortheinfec-tion Sunday. Taking to Twitter,Patel announced that he wasunderhomeisolation.Whilethemaximumcaseload

–4,744casesand27deaths,werereportedfromAhmedabad,Suratsawadip inboth thenumbers –1,883casesand13deaths.Mostofthemajordistrictsalsoreportedadeclineinthenewinfectioncasesand deaths. Vadodara reported

735 cases andRajkot 528 cases,whilethedistrictsrecorded19and15deaths, respectively. Dang re-portednonewcaseordeaths.In Rajkot, BJP leader

Nirmalaben Bhuva, the sittingmember of Rajkot district pan-chayat from Sanathali con-stituency,diedwhileundergoingtreatmentofCovid-19andrelatedcomplications in a hospital.“Bhuvawas in his early 50s andhadbeenundergoing treatmentforCovid-19inRajkotbutshesuc-

cumbed today,” MansukhKhachariya, president of RajkotdistrictunitofBJP,said.BhuvahadcontestedhermaidenelectioninFebruary andwon. A fewdaysago, Ranjit Meniya, sittingCongress member fromShivrajpur seat of Rajkot districtpanchayat, had succumbed toCovid. BharatGohel, husbandofSavitabenGohel, a BJPmemberfromBedlaconstituencyofRajkotdistrict panchayat, too, haddiedwhileundergoingtreatment.

AmanholdsadripbagforapatientoutsideAhmedabadcivilhospital.NirmalHarindran

Gujarat records dip in Covid cases; Hardik tests positive

BIGWINFOR INCUMBENTS INBENGAL,ASSAM,KERALA;DMKWINSTAMILNADU

RAVIKBHATTACHARYA&SANTANUCHOWDHURYKOLKATA,MAY2

MAMATA BANERJEEmade his-tory in2011, ending the34-yearrule of the Left Front. A decadelater, she made history again,roaring to a third term in spec-tacular fashion, fighting backanti-incumbency, awaveof de-sertionsfromherparty,andagi-ant BJP electionmachinery ledpersonally by PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi and HomeMinisterAmitShah.

In an ironic twist to theTrinamool Congress’s triumph,however,Banerjeeherself lost—shewas edged out narrowly byherlieutenant-turned-BJPleaderSuvendu Adhikari, whom shehad chosen to confront in hisstrongholdofNandigram.Adhikari defeated Banerjee

by1,956votes,asperdataontheElectionCommissionwebsiteat

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Mamata takesTMC to historicvictory, but losesher own seat

ANANTHAKRISHNANGNEWDELHI,MAY2

THE SUPREME COURT SundaycalledupontheCentre torevisitits vaccine procurement policystating itwould “prima facie re-sultinadetrimenttotherighttopublic health which is an inte-gral element of Article 21of theConstitution”. It also urged theCentre and states “to considerimposingalockdowntocurbthevirus in the secondwave in the

interestof publicwelfare”.On lockdown, the Supreme

Court bench of Justices DYChandrachud, LNageswaraRaoand S Ravindra Bhat said, “Weare cognisant of the socio-eco-nomic impact of a lockdown,specifically,onthemarginalisedcommunities…thus, incasethemeasure of a lockdown is im-posed, arrangements must bemadebeforehandtocatertotheneedsof thesecommunities.”Further, observing that no

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MAY2

THEOXYGEN crisis in Delhi hasopenedupanewfrontbetweenthe Government and theOpposition Congress, this timeinvolving two foreignmissions.Andledtoanunusuallyundiplo-matic message from theGovernment to “all high com-missionsandembassies”:Donot

hoardoxygen.This comes in themiddle of

a global Covid diplomacy pushwith India sendingmore than6.5 cr vaccines to over 80 coun-tries and around 40nations, in-cludingtheUS,sendingaidintheform of oxygen and relatedequipment, like concentratorsandtankers,andkeydrugssuchas remdesivir.Sunday’s spat was sparked

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Foreign missions get helpfrom Youth Cong, Govtsays: ‘Don’t hoard oxygen’

Revisit vaccine policy,consider lockdown tocurb virus: SC to Centre

MamataBanerjeeatapost-victorypressconference inKalighat,Kolkata,onSunday.Withher ishernephewandTrinamoolMPAbhishekBanerjee’sdaughter. ParthoPaul

Bengal decides: Didi, notModi

RAVISHTIWARI&LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI,MAY2

ALTHOUGHFIVE stateswent tothepolls, fortheBJP,WestBengalwas thegrandprize it pulledoutall the stops for: from a super-charged campaign led by PrimeMinisterNarendraModi,withal-

most the entire Cabinet and theBJPtopbrassropedin,toapointedattackthattargetedTMCleader and ChiefMinister MamataBanerjeeandframedthecontestas“ModivsDidi.”Fortheparty,aWest

Bengalwinwouldhavehelped plant its flag in a state ithas long coveted, demoralised a

shrinkingOppositionandhelpedit to argue that it had secured

publicaffirmationwhenit’s seen floundering inthe faceof theunprece-dentedCovidcrisis.But that didn’t hap-

pen.Banerjee, who her-

self lost the election, led herCONTINUEDONPAGE2

Bengal defeat robs BJP of planks,boosts Mamata, federal pushback

SOS is refrainwithin asCongresscontinuesdownwardmarch

MANOJCGNEWDELHI,MAY2

YETANOTHERcountingdayandyetanotherdemoralisingdefeatfor the Congress. Since 2014, ofthe40Assembly electionsheld,the party, on its own, couldwinand form governments in onlyfourstatesandaUnionTerritory.Aftertoday'sdefeatsinKerala,

Assam, Puducherry and thewipeoutinWestBengal,Congressleaders across states are admit-ting,inhushedtones,thatthebig-gerworry is that theparty is los-ing its legitimacy—moral andpolitical—toleadtheOppositionat the national level as it is fastcedingspacetoregionalforcesinthefightagainsttheBJP.Thedefeat,manyparty lead-

ers said, is set todeepen internalturmoilandgiveanotherwindowforthedetractorsofseniorleaderRahulGandhi,whohadvirtuallyledtheparty’scampaigninKerala,fromwhereheisanMP.HissisterPriyankaGandhiVadrahadcam-paignedinKeralaandAssam.

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BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI,MAY2

THE BHARATIYA Janata Party(BJP), together with its allies, isall set to return to power inAssamfor a secondconsecutiveterm.Despiteaspiritedfightbythe

Congress-led grand alliance ormahajot, the counting trendclearly shows the stage set forBJP'svictory.Intherun-uptotheelections, the party used therhetoric of polarisation, over-camepolitical opposition to theimplementation of theCitizenship (Amendment) Act,and trumped anti-incumbencywithsuccessfulimplementationof a seriesofwelfare schemes.“People of Assam have

electedaBJPgovernmentforthesecondtime,”incumbentAssam

CM Sarbananda Sonowal toldthe press in his brief first reac-tiononthepoll results.SonowalwonfromMajuli. Inastatementintheevening,hethankedPrimeMinister NarendraModi for his“dynamicleadershipanduncon-ditional help that he has beenrendering to the state of Assamsince2014”.

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In Assam, BJP returnsto power; mandate bypeople to ‘protectculture’, says Sarma

CMSonowalatpartyofficeinGuwahatiSunday. PTI

As LDF bucks trend, storms backto power, why this is Vijayan’s win

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,

MAY2

THE CPM-led Left DemocraticFront (LDF)camebacktopowerinKeralaonSundaywithadeci-sive win, breaking the state'slong traditionof the incumbentgovernment being unseated

every fiveyears.That the LDFwon 99 out of

140 Assembly seats, eight seats

more thanwhat itwon in 2016,makes this a victory of PinarayiVijayan, considering the LDFcampaign revolved almost en-tirelyaroundtheChiefMinister.Addressing the press in

Dharmadam, his home con-stituency, after the LDF win,Vijayan said, "This is a historicvictory... Inthelastfiveyears,the

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI,MAY2

STAVINGOFFastrongchallengefrom incumbent AIADMK, thealliance led by the DravidaMunnetraKazhagam(DMK)onSundaywonor has leads in 157seatsoutof 234,pavingthewayfortheDMK’sreturntopoweraf-teragapof 10years.

At the timeof going topress,the DMKhadwon orwas lead-ing in 133 seats (up from the89seats it won in 2016); theCongress in 16 of the 25 seats itcontested; Dalit Party VCK infour seats; and theCPMandtheCPI in twoseatseach.UndertheleadershipofDMK

chief M K Stalin, who is set totake charge as Chief Minister,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

VijayanfirstCMinfourdecadestoretainpower

DMKworkerscelebrate inChennaionSunday.PTI

In Tamil Nadu, DMK staves off ADMKchallenge, comes to power after a decade

NANDIGRAMONCOUNTINGDAYPAGE5

DECISION2021

WAYANAD TOCOASTAL AREA,CONGRESSCAN’TSTOPPINARAYIVIJAYANWAVEPAGE 8

RESULTSOFBYPOLLS TO4 LOKSABHA,12 ASSEMBLYSEATSPAGE4

DECISION2021

TMC

214 (211)BJP

76 (3)

Results and leadsup tomidnight onSunday. Electionswereheld in292outof 294 seats inWestBengal. Figures inparentheses are for 2016. Forboth2021and2016, only seatswonbymajorparties havebeen listed. InAssam,AIUDFandCong, andBJPandAGP, fought inalliance; in2016,AIUDFand

Cong fought separately.Growth rateofCovid-19cases: 7-daycompoundeddailygrowth rate (CDGR).Daily case countdata fromMay1. SourceofCovid-19data:Central, stategovernments.

WESTBENGAL 292 seats*

March31 0.12 982

May1 2.17 17,512

COVIDWATCH

BJP+

74 (60)Cong+

51 (26)

ASSAM126 seats

March31 0.02 49

May1 1.22 3,453

COVIDWATCH

AIADMK+

76 (136)DMK+

158 (89)

TAMILNADU234 seats

March31 0.25 2,579

May1 1.54 19,588

COVIDWATCH

LDF

99 (91)UDF

41 (47)

KERALA 140 seats

COVIDWATCH

NRC+

16 (8)Cong+

8 (15)

PUDUCHERRY 30 seats

March31 0.29 127

May1 1.99 1,379

COVIDWATCH

March31 0.19 2,653

May1 2.23 35,636

■GrowthRate(7-dayCDGR) ■DailyCaseCount

Ahmedabad

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,MAY3,2021

CLARIFICATIONS

& CORRECTIONS

30.04.21,PAGE1

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TAMIL NADU: NILGIRISWITNESSINGRISE IN CASESOFCHILDMARRIAGESAccordingtothedatafromthedistrictadministration,thenumberofcasesunderTheProtectionofChildren

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Didi, not Modimidnight.At press time, the Trinamool

Congresshadeitherwonorwasleadingin214ofthe292seatsthatwenttopollsinWestBengal’sex-traordinaryeight-phaseelection.TheBJPhadwonorwaslead-

ingin76.For the first time in Bengal’s

history,theLeftandCongresswillhave no representation in theAssembly. Both parties, whichfought the election in alliance,drewblanks.Thethirdpartnerintheir alliance, the ISF, hasman-agedtowinaseat.TheTMChas got 48per cent

ofthevote,animprovementoverits performance in the2019 LokSabha election. The BJP has got38.1 per cent, according toElectionCommissiondata.“Banglar joy. Bangla-i pare

(ThisisthevictoryofBengal.OnlyBengal could have done this),”BanerjeedeclaredassheemergedfromherhomeinKalighatat5.10pm.Shegreeteda crowdof party

workers and supporters, butasked them to return to theirhomes since theCovid-19 situa-tionwasgrave,andtherewerere-strictionsonbigcelebrations.“Go home. Take a bath in

warmwater.Wearmasksandusesanitisers.Pleasedonotgoforvic-tory rallies.Wewill announcedates (for celebrations) afterCovid-19 is controlled.ManyareinfectedwithCovid19,”Banerjeesaid.She addressed themedia af-

ter 6 pmand congratulated thepeople “for this landslidevictorydespiteallodds”.PrimeMinisterModicongrat-

ulated Banerjee on the victory.“CongratulationstoMamataDidifor@AITCofficial's win inWestBengal. TheCentrewill continueto extendall possible support totheWestBengalGovernment tofulfilpeople’saspirationsandalsotoovercome theCOVID-19pan-demic,”hepostedonTwitter.Through the day, therewas

drama as the contest inNandigram,themosthigh-profileoftheelection,appearedtoswing

backandforthbetweenBanerjeeandAdhikari.Itwas initially reported that

Banerjeehadwonbyamarginof1,200votes,butthereturningof-ficer subsequently announcedAdhikari'svictoryby1,956votes.The TMCwrote to theWest

BengalChiefElectoralOfficer,ask-ing fora recount. TheEChadnotresponded until late night onSunday.“Bengal has saved the coun-

try.Bengalhas saveddemocracyandhumanity.Our ‘KhelaHobe’(GameOn!)and ‘JoyBangla’ slo-ganshaveborne fruit.Dueto theCovid situation, therewill benobig oath-taking ceremony.Wewill hold a small ceremony andthedatewillbeannouncedlater.Rightnowmypriority is Covid. Iwill startworking immediatelyandwewillalsotideoverthiscri-sis,”Banerjeesaid.“Wewillprovidefreevaccines

to thepeople of Bengal.Wewillappeal to the Centre to providefreevaccinestoall140crorepeo-ple(of thecountry). Iwill sitonasatyagrahaifthisisnotdone,”shesaid.The Chief Minister said she

had fought against “moneypower,muscle power, and thepartisan attitude of the ElectionCommission.”“Ourtargetwas221seats.We

will get there, as electionswerenotheldattwoseats.Wewillalsofile cases against the ElectionCommissionfortheirpartisanat-titude. Iwillmove the SupremeCourt. Wewill go jointly withother political parties. ThereshouldbealakshmanrekhafortheEC,”Banerjeesaid.TheTMChaswonnotonly in

its strongholds, but also in areaswheretheBJPdidwellin2019,in-cludingtheformerMaoistbeltofJangalmahal,andNorthBengal.IthasalsodonewellatseatswheredeserterswhojoinedtheBJPcon-tested.Apart from Mukul Roy,

Suvendu Adhikari, and actor-turned-BJPleaderHiranChatter-jee,allBJPheavyweights, includ-ingUnionMinisterBabulSupriyo,MP Locket Chatterjee, formerRajya Sabha MP Swapan

Dasgupta,andseniorparty lead-ers Rahul Sinha and SamikBhattacharya,havelost.The TMChaswonanumber

of seats inMaldaandMurshida-bad, considered to be Congressbastions. The election results inthisbeltsignalaconsolidationofMuslim votes in favour of theTMC,which have traditionallygonetotheCongress.TheTMCalsoappearstohave

got a large chunk of women’svotes,thankstoitsslogan ‘BanglaNijer Meyekei Chaaye’ (Bengalwantsitsowndaughter).

Bengal defeatparty to a landmark 200-plustally. The BJP surged from justthreetoover80seatsandretainedAssam. But theWest Bengal de-feat saw theBJP performworsethanitdidbarelytwoyearsagointheLokSabhaelectionswhereits18MPstranslatedtojustover120seats.Indeed, since its historicwin

in Tripura in early 2018, the BJPhas been under-performing inAssemblyelections.Theunder-parperformances

in Jharkhand, Haryana,Maha-rashtra,Delhiaftertheparty’sstel-lar performance in the2019 LokSabhaelectionshaveraisedques-tionsover the erosionof the for-midable political capital mo-bilisedbyModiforhisparty.Withthedefeat inBengal, thoseques-tionsgetsharperfocus.TheOppositionCongresscon-

tinues its downward spiral— itcouldnotwrestKeralawhichhasbeenreturningtheOppositiontopower every time for over fivedecades. Instead, it cleared theway for the victory of regionalforces:TMC(Bengal);DMK(TamilNadu);andLeft-front(Kerala),allstaunchlyopposedtoBJP.This has revivedhope in the

Opposition ranks againstwhattheyseeas theBJP’s “onenation,onepolicy”politics.Moreso,sincethis comes after theRJD scare inBihar lastNovemberwhere therulingNDAscrapedthroughwithawafer-thinmajority.Not just forModi, theWest

Bengal outcome is also amajorsetback forHomeMinisterAmit

Shahwhomonitoredall aspectsofthecampaign.Inhispublicad-dresses, Shah’s refrainwas thatthe state needed a BJP govern-ment so that it (read Hindus)coulddoSaraswatiPujaandcarryout their Durga idol immersionwithoutanyhindrance.Despite the call takenby the

partythatitshouldnotannounceaspecific target,Shah,mid-cam-paign,repeatedlyclaimedtheBJPwouldcross200seats.“Vipaksh ke swar ab uthenge.

Paristhitiyanbhiabhinakaratmakbanihain,”saidaseniorBJPleaderwhen asked about the nationalimpactoftheWestBengalresults.TheTMCandDMKcombinedto-getheraccountfor46MPsinLokSabha, slightly behind the 51membersofCongress.Banerjee,PinarayiVijayanand

Stalin are strong votaries of fed-eral politics and are expected tostandup towhat they see as theBJP’smy-way-or-the-highwayapproachinParliament.“This gives us hope in Uttar

Pradesh, a BJP win in Bengalwouldhavehadaseveredemor-alisingimpactontheOppositionnot only in UP but nationally.Mamatahasgivenhopetotheen-tire Opposition,” said a seniorSamajwadiPartyleader.HeaddedthatthiswillrechargetheircadresinUP.Theragingpandemicaddsan-

other dimension. That the per-formance of BJP-ruled states inpandemicmanagement hasn’texactlybeenexemplaryhas alsoundermined theparty’s rhetoric—whichitusedinBengal—fora“double engine” government toensurevikas.Internally, theWest Bengal

verdicthashighlightedtheriskofcentralised decision-makingwhere the BJP echo-chamber,amplifiedbywhatTMCcampaignstrategist PrashantKishor calleda“supportivemedia”,misreadthewind.

Congress SOSWhilemany leaders, includ-

ing the 23who hadwritten toSoniaGandhi last yeardemand-ing sweeping changes in theparty,aresilentasofnow,sourcessaidangerissimmering.“Itisper-hapsnot the right timebecausepeopleare fighting for their livesduring the pandemic...but onething I can tell you is that the

Congresscannotreviveunderthepresent set-up,” said a seniorleader.“Thiselectionhasshownthat

theBJPortheNDAisnot invinci-ble. They can be defeated. TheCongresshastogearitselfforthattask,notinthepresentshapebutin a totally different shape,” saidformer Union Minister MVeerappaMoily.Interestingly, even leaders

outsidetheG-23areincreasinglydismayed.FormerUnionMinisterAshwani Kumar’smadehis an-guishclearSunday.“Thechasten-ingelectionresultsareanSOSforthe Congress aheadof the 2024LokSabhaelections,”hesaid.“Theneed fordemonstrable andpur-posive action to address the or-ganisationalandcommunicationgapswasnevermoreevident.ForCongress to retain its resilienceandrelevanceinnationalpoliticsitmustsecure internalcohesive-ness andestablish anemotionalconnectwiththepeople.”Analysing the results, one

leader said: “In Bengal,wehavenot reached double digits…inKerala, there is infighting.Wedon’thaveapresident,wehaveapresidentwho is apresidentbutnotapresident;inTamilNadu,wemanagedtowinsomeseatscour-tesyDMK.”“In theheartland,wearenot

abletochallengetheBJP. Inotherstates,peoplearetrustingregionalparties to fight thebattle againsttheBJP. That leavesuswith littlespace,”anotherseniorleadersaid.

BJP wins AssamAt 11pmon Sunday, the ECI

website said theBJPhadwon41seatsandwasleadingin18,whileits allies theAGPwoneight andwasleadinginone,andtheUPPLwonsix.TheCongresswon18andwas leading in11,while its alliestheAIUDFwas leading in sevenandwonnine, and theBPFwonthreeandwasleadinginoneseat.In 2016, the BJP hadwon60

seats,theAGP14andtheBPF12.“Wewant to assure thepeo-

pleofAssamthatallthepromiseswe hadmade during electionswillbefulfilledinletterandspirit,”influential Assam MinisterHimanta Biswa Sarma told thepressoutsidehisofficialresidenceinGuwahati. He thankedPrimeMinisterNarendraModi, HomeMinisterAmitShahandBJPpres-

identJPNadda.“Today’sverdictisaclearman-

date given by (the) people ofAssamtoprotect our civilisationandculture.Alongwith that thismandateispeople’sblessingsandsupportforthemahayogyaofde-velopmentthatisongoingunderPM Modi’s leadership,” saidSarma.When asked by journalists

abouttheprospectsofSarmabe-comingtheCM,herepliedhedidnotwant to comment on that.“Theparliamentaryboardof ourpartywilldecideonthis.Thenwewill followthat,”Sarmasaid.The three-phaseelectionhas

beenessentiallyatriangularcon-test between theNDA—theBJP,the AsomGana Parishad (AGP)and the United People’s PartyLiberal(UPPL)—ontheoneside;the‘mahajot’—Congress,AllIndiaUnitedDemocraticFront(AIUDF),Bodoland People’s Front (BPF),three Left parties and a regionalparty,theAnchalikGanaMorcha(AGM)—ontheother;andanal-liance of twonewly formed re-gional parties — Assam JatiyaParishad (AJP) and theRaijorDal(RD)—onthethird.

LDF bucks trendstate facedseveral crises,but theLDF stoodwith thepeopleonallsuch occasions. This victoryshowsthatpeoplehaveacceptedtheperformance of the govern-ment."Onbuckinganti-incumbency,

Vijayansaid,“Thestatehadatra-ditionofexperimentingwithgov-ernments every alternate elec-tion. This election has changedthat,whichiswhythisishistoric.''Referring to thedefeat of the

BJP in Nemom, the only seat itwonin2016,Vijayansaid,“Keralais not a land for communalism.There is no space here for com-munalpolitics.”Vijayanalsolashedoutatsec-

tions of the media, saying,“Certain right-wingmedia triedto defame the government andfabricatedstoriesagainstus.Theythinktheycanmanipulatethepo-litical agenda of the state usingtheirclout.Theyshouldself-intro-spect.”TheLeftallianceswept12out

of14districts,unseatingtheUDFinmanyof its traditional strong-holds. In the Central Kerala dis-tricts of Kottayam, Idukki andPathanamthitta, the LDF im-proved its tally, apparentlywiththe support of its new ally, theKeralaCongress (M),whichwonfiveseats.However,itsleaderJoseKManilosttheelectionfromPala.TheCPM,whichwon67ofthe

87seatsitcontested(including11party-backedIndependents),hasemergedasthebiggestwinnerofthis election. Ally CPI, whichfoughtfrom24seats,won17.The Congress,which fought

on 93 seats, couldwin only 22,while ally IUMLbagged14 seatsoutof the24itcontested.There-sults are ahugedisappointmentfor theCongress-ledUDF,whichhadwon19of20seatsinthe2019

parliamentarypolls.TheBJP,whichcontestedfrom

113seatsincludingitssittingseatof Nemom, drew a blank. Theparty's chief ministerial candi-date,Metroman E Sreedharan,lostfromPalakkad.

DMK wins in TNthe party had earlierwon38 ofthe 39 seats in the 2019 parlia-mentarypolls.TheAIADMK-ledalliancehas

85 seats, with 76 seats forAIADMK (down from 136 in2016),5forPMK,and4forBJP.While theDMKvictorywas

largelyonexpectedlines,therul-ingAIADMKalsoputupastrongfight, with Chief MinisterEdappadi K Palaniswami singlehandedly leading the poll cam-paign, riding onhis clean imageandhishandlingofthepandemiclast year. But therewere severalfactors stacked against theAIADMK—theburdenof theal-liancewiththeBJPandtherebel-lionoftheSasikalafaction,amongothers.The traditional patternof ur-

ban and semi-urban regionsfavouring the DMKwas in evi-denceinalmostalltheurbancon-stituencies, including ChennaiandTrichy.AllAssembly seats inThiruvallur district, north ofChennai, voted for theDMK.TheDMK also won in the Cauverydelta districts aswell as centralandsouthernTamilNadu.TheAIADMK,however,made

significantgainsinpartsofnorth-ern Tamil Nadu and the Kongubelt in the west, wherePalaniswami hails from.WhatseeminglyhelpedtheAIADMKinnorthern Tamil Nadu was the10.5% reservation that thepartyannouncedfortheOBC-Vanniyarcommunity and in the west,Palaniswami’smassiveinfrastruc-turepush in the formof flyoversandbridges.Among the big winners is

Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi, whorecorded probably one of thebiggest victorymargins in thestate—over 60,000 votes fromChepauk-Thiruvallikeni.

SC on vaccinesone shall be deniedhospitalisa-tionoressential drugs for lackoflocalresidentialproofor identityproof,thebenchaskedtheCentreto formulateanationalpolicyonadmissions to hospitalswithintwoweeks,whichshouldbe fol-lowedbyallstates.The Centre had, onApril 20,

reviseditsvaccinepolicyandsaidit would purchase only 50 percentoftheoutput,andallowvac-cinemanufacturerstosellthebal-ance50percentdirectlytostatesand private entities at higherprices. The bench of the threeJustices suggested that the pro-curement of vaccines be cen-tralised, anddistributionwithinstatesandUnionTerritoriesbede-centralised. “Prima facie, the ra-tionalmethodofproceedinginamannerconsistentwiththeright

tolife(whichincludestherighttohealth)underArticle21wouldbefor the Central Government toprocureallvaccinesandtonego-tiatethepricewithvaccineman-ufacturers.Oncequantitiesareal-located by it to each StateGovernment,thelatterwouldlifttheallocatedquantitiesandcarryout the distribution,” the benchsaid.Referring to the revised vac-

cine policy, it said, compellingstatestonegotiatewithmanufac-turers on thegroundof promot-ingcompetitionandmakingitat-tractive for new vaccinemanufactureswilllikelybedetri-mental to those in the18-44agegroup.Thisgroup, it said,also in-cluded ‘Bahujans’ or those be-longingtootherunderprivilegedandmarginalised groupswhomaynothavetheabilitytopay.Providingtheseessentialvac-

cinestothesegroups,anditspric-ing— should it be free or sub-sidised—would dependon thestates, and based on their fi-nances.“Thiswillcreatedisparityacross the nation. The vaccina-tions beingprovided to citizensconstituteavaluablepublicgood.Discrimination cannot bemadebetweendifferent classes of citi-zens…,”thebenchsaid.

Foreign missionsbypostsonsocialmediabyYouthCongress that its volunteers hadsuppliedoxygencylinders to theNew Zealand and Philippinesmissions following specific re-quests.ExternalAffairsMinisterSJaishankardescribedthisas“un-solicited supply”while theMEAspokespersonsaidthat“giventhepandemicsituation,allareurgednottohoardessentialsupplies,in-cludingoxygen”.Jaishankar's remarkswere in

response to a tweet byCongressleaderJairamRameshafterYouthCongresschiefBVSrinivaspostedvisuals of the volunteers at thePhilippinesEmbassywithoxygencylindersonSaturdaynight.“While I thank @IYC for its

stellarefforts,asanIndiancitizenI’mstunnedthat theyouthwingoftheoppositionpartyisattend-ingtoSOScalls fromforeignem-bassies. Is the MEA sleeping@DrSJaishankar?”Jairamposted.Jaishankar’s response was

terse. “MEA checked with thePhilippinesEmbassy.ThiswasanunsolicitedsupplyastheyhadnoCovid cases. Clearly for cheappublicity by you know who.Giving away cylinders like thiswhentherearepeopleindesper-ateneedof oxygen is simply ap-palling,”heposted.“Jairamji,MEAnever sleeps;

our people know across theworld.MEAalsonever fakes;weknowwhodoes,”hewrote.Adding to the political spat

was a tweet on Sunday by theNewZealandHighCommissionrequestinghelpfromSrinivasandtheYouthCongressforanoxygencylinder.“Rightaway.PleasesharefurtherdetailsinDM,”Srinivasre-sponded. TheHighCommissionhad, meanwhile, deleted thetweet andposted another: “Weare trying all sources to arrangeforoxygencylindersurgentlyandour appeal has unfortunatelybeenmisinterpreted, forwhichwearesorry.”

FULLREPORTSON

www.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

23 ASSAM RIFLES, 03RD MAY 2021

The Tagra Teyees family proudly remembers above Martyrswho in the true traditions of the Assam Rifles made supremesacrifice while bravely combating terrorists in Changsha, MonDistrict (Nagaland) on 03 May 2015. May the Almighty granteternal peace to their soul. Their gallant action will continueto inspire us all.

DEEPLY REMEMBERED BY

COMMANDANT & ALL RANKS

23 ASSAM RIFLES ‘TAGRA TEYEES’

SALUTE THE SOLDIER

Warrant Officer

Kamjang Kuki

RiflemanJames Deb Barma

RiflemanJerusalem Thara

RiflemanTanik Lal Patel

RiflemanLunminlal Haokip

RiflemanBiswa Sonowal

RiflemanManjeet Singh

RiflemanSaneeevan S

Ahmedabad

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,MAY3,2021

GUJARAT


Cremated AT Rajkot Village

MINISTERBAVALIYA’SMOTHERDIES

Water Supply Minister Kunvarji Bavaliya’s mother Maniben Bavaliya died on

Sunday. She was 105. The minister’s staff said Maniben died a natural death. She was

cremated at Bavaliya’s native village of Janada in Vinchhiya taluka of Rajkot.

JMC Projects (India) Limited(A Kalpataru Group Enterprise)CIN: L45200GJ1986PLC008717

Regd. Office: A-104, Shapath 4, Opp. Karnavati Club, S. G. Road,Ahmedabad - 380015, Tel: 079 68161500, Fax: 079 68161560,E-mail: [email protected], Website: www.jmcprojects.com

Notice is hereby given that pursuant to Regulation 29 read with

Regulation 47 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure

Requirements) Regulations, 2015, the meeting of the Board of Directors

of the Company is scheduled to be held on Monday, May 10, 2021,

inter-alia, to consider and approve the Audited Financial Results

(standalone and consolidated) of the Company for the quarter and

financial year ended March 31, 2021 and to recommend dividend, if

any, on equity shares of the Company.

The said notice is also available on the website of the Company at

www.jmcprojects.com and on the website of Stock Exchanges at

www.bseindia.com and www.nseindia.com

For JMC Projects (India) LimitedSamir Raval

Company Secretary

NOTICE

Place: Mumbai

Date : May 02, 2021

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES

CENTRES AUTHORITY2nd & 3rd Floor, PRAGYA Tower, Block 15, Zone 1, Road IC, GIFT SEZ,

GIFT City, Gandhinagar Gujarat-382355

File No.275/IFSCA/SC(Fintech)/2020-21 April 9, 2021

Engagement of Senior Consultant (FinTech) in the International Financial

Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) on contract basis

International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) is a unified regulatory

body under the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of

India established by an Act of Parliament to develop and regulate the financial

services market in the International Financial Services Centres in India. The

Authority invites application for the position of Senior Consultant (FinTech) on

contract basis for a period of 3 years extendable upto 5 years.

The candidates willing to apply for the position are requested to refer

www.ifsca.gov.in for detailed vacancy notification. The applications may please be

submitted to the designated officer latest by 15.05.2021.

DGM(Admin.)

For and on behalf of Chairperson

davp 15228/11/0001/2122

Agroup of autorickshaw drivers, aided byNGOPanah Foundation, are providing ambulance-like services inAhmedabad by pitching in

to help transport Covid-19 patients to hospitals and other facilities. The free-of-cost service runs through an online network of three-wheeler

drivers who take calls based on their location. Currently, 14 drivers are actively providing the service. Efforts are on to access oxygen

and emergencymedicines to extend better services to passengers en route to hospitals. TheNGO is also planning to open a temporary

Covid care facility to avoid queue and formalities faced at the hospital entries. Text and photos byNirmalHarindran

DeepakKumarAhir(left)helpscoordinatethecallscomingintheonlinenetworkfromCovidpatients;AshwinsinhZala (centre), adriver fromRanip,dropsoffanelderlyCovid-19patientandhersonatahospital inPaldi;Adriver (right)walksbackhomeafteradaylongservice.

Allvehiclesaresanitisedafter ferryingapatient

Extending a helping hand


ADAYafter anorderwas issuedbytheGujaratAdministrationDe-partment(GAD)toreappointstaffandofficialsunderthehealthde-partment, the state governmentinafreshresolution(GR)saidth-ree-month“extension”willbegi-ventoallemployeesretiringbet-ween April 30 and June 30 thisyear.CancellingtheGAD’sorderof

“contract-based reappoint-ment”, the state health depart-ment’sMay1GRstatedservicesofallthoseofficialsandemploy-eesfromclass I toIV,retiringbe-tweenApril 30 and June 30 thisyear, including medical, para-

medicalandadministrativestaff,have been extended till July 31,2021.Thedecision, takenconsider-

ing the shortage ofmedical andpara-medical staff, pertain to allemployeesundermedicaleduca-tion, medical services, publichealth,familywelfare,undervar-iousHoDs of health and familywelfare department, GujaratMedical andEducationResearchSociety (GMERS), IKDRC andgranted institutes, like GujaratCancer and Research Institute(GCRI)andUNMehtaInstituteofCardiology andResearchCentre,alongwithalldepartmentsunderHealth and Family WelfareDepartmentofalldistricts,talukapanchayatandurbanhealthcen-tres underUrbanDevelopment

Department.“WiththisGR,theGAD’sorder

issued onApril 30, 2021, standsnull and void. The contractualreappointmenthasbeenreplacedwithanextensionat theexistingsalary of the employees,” V GVanzara, theadditional secretaryof statehealthdepartment,whohasissuedtheGR,said.TheGAD’sApril30orderpro-

vided for an extension of threemonths--fromMay1toJuly31-- to those retiring on April 30,whileanextensionoftwomonths--till July31--tothoseretiringonMay31.Underthenewterms,theemployeeswillbeeligibleforthesalary at the timeof their retire-menttillJuly31.However,thisex-tensionperiodwillnotbecountedintheirpensionservice.


ADAYafter18people, including16 Covid-19 patients, died in afire incident at Patel WelfareCovidHospital inBharuch,StateHome Minister PradipsinhJadeja visited the hospital onSunday.Jadejawasaccompaniedby Minister ofState(MoS)Cooperation,Youth,Sports and Cultural ActivitiesIshwarsinhPatel.Sixteen Covid-19 patients

and twonurseswere killed as amajorfirebrokeoutintheICUofthe hospital in Bharuch districtin theearlyhoursof Saturday.Sources said there were 24

patients in the ICUwardwhenthe fire broke out at the Covidwing of theWelfare Hospital inBharuch.As per a statement released

bytheinformationdepartment,JadejaandPatel visited thehos-pital on Sunday and took stockof thecurrent situation.“After visiting the Patel

Welfare Hospital, the two alsovisited the Civil Hospital andGovernment EngineeringCollege Girl’s Hostel Covid Carecentre to takestockof the facili-ties being provided over there,”said a statement from info de-partmentonSunday.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICERAJKOT,MAY2

ANOXYGENrefillingplant,setupby the Morbi CeramicsAssociation(MCA),becameoper-ationalSunday,providingamuch-neededboosttothesupplyofthelife-saving gas inMorbi, amongtheworst Covid-19 affecteddis-trictsinSaurashtra.Theplant,whichhasbeenset

up by repurposing a cryogenictankmeant for storing liquefiednatural gas (LNG), has comeupwithinaweek.Ithasacapacitytohandle30metric tonnes (MT)ofoxygeneverydayandmeetneedof theentireMorbidistrict.“SituationisbadinMorbiand

Covid-19 patients need oxygen.Thereisnotasingleoxygengener-ation plant in the district and,therefore, patients andhospitalsherehadtogoasfarasKutchandBhavnagartogetmedicaloxygen.Toovercome this situation,MCAproposedtosetupthisplantbyre-purposing an LNG tank installedatAcerGranito,aceramicfactoryinLakhdhirpurvillagenearMorbitown. Rajkot MP Mohan

Kundariyaassuredtogetgovern-ment approvals for this plant atthe earliest. Therefore, we in-stalled additionalmachinery atthecostofaroundRs50lakhandpurchased 1,000 jumbooxygencylindersatRs1.5crore.TheplantbecameoperationalafterReliancegave us liquid oxygen,” NileshJetpariya,presidentofwalltilesdi-vision of MCA, told The IndianExpress.AcerGranitoisownedbyKundariya.As part of the project, the

DharmeshJobanputra,partnerofTrinity Engtech, a Rajkot-basedprivate engineering firm, repur-posedtheLNGstoragetankintoaliquidoxygen storage tank. Theythen installed a cryogenic pumpandhigh-pressure vapouriser toconvertliquidoxygenintovapourandinstalledcylinderrefillingsys-tem. The plant can refill up to1,000cylindersof57cubicmetrescapacityeach,Jetpariyasaid.So far,Morbidistricthadonly

one oxygen refilling plant atRajparvillage,andgoingtoplaceslikeKutchandBhavnagarmeantneed formoreoxygen cylinders.“But thesecylindersare inshort-

supply.Now, that this newplanthasbecomeoperational,theneedof cylinderswouldbereducedtohalf as cylinders can be trans-ported to this plant in smallerbatches and can be refilled inmuch shorter time,” Kundariyasaid. The MP adding UnionRailwaysMinister PiyushGoyalhelped get necessary clearancesPetroleumandExplosives SafetyOrganisation(PESO)andtheFoodand Drug Control Authority ofGujarat.“Reliancewillsupply4MTliq-

uid oxygen to his plant everyday.Thatwouldbearoundone-fourthof18MTofliquidoxygenwearegettingdailyagainst therequirement of around20MT.Thisplantwillcatertodedicatedcovidhealcentres(DCHCs)andCovidcarecentres(CCCs)whichhavebeds andprovide oxygensupport,” Ketan Joshi, residentadditional collector of Morbi,said. Joshi saidMorbi districtshas 1,034 oxygen beds and 45ICUbeds. Of the oxygen beds,only 42 beds were availablewhiletherestwereoccupiedasofSundaynoon.

Morbi gets oxygen refillingplant with 30 MT capacity

GovtannulsGADorderof contract-basedreappointment

3-month extension tostaff retiring betweenApril 30 and June30

MEDICAL, PARA-MEDICALEMPLOYEES

Theministerat theWelfareHospital inBharuch. Express

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHEMEDABAD,MAY2

ASMANY as 471 persons havebeen arrested over the last onemonth across Gujarat for viola-tions of Covid-19 protocol – nomask, social distancing andbreaching 50-guest cap atwed-dings,GujaratPolicesaidSunday.A statement released by theGujaratDirectorGeneralofPolice(DGP)AshishBhatia’sofficesaid:“OnMay1, a total of 1,416wed-dingceremoniesweremonitoredandcheckedbyGujarat Police inwhich 96 caseswere lodged for

mask violation and26 cases forguidelinesviolationwere lodgedandtotal22personswereheld.Inthepastonemonth,471personshavebeenarrested forviolationsduringweddingceremoniesand341caseshavebeenlodgedacrossthestate.”OnSaturday,policehaveheld

2,500personsacrossthestateforguidelines violations in 2,421cases,while10,961personshavebeenfinedformaskviolationand1,438 vehicles seized for curfewviolation.Twenty-fourcaseshavebeen lodged for blackmarketingof Remdesivir injections and63personshavebeenheld,sofar.

471 people held for violating Covidprotocol at weddings, says DGP

Rajkot: The Special OperationsGroup(SOG)ofMorbionSundaydetained four moremen, whowere allegedly a part of theracketsellingfakeremdesivirin-jections. Police have nabbed 11persons in this case, so far.“Today, we detained four

more persons from Surat andbroughtthemtoMorbiandhavequarantinedthem.Withthis,thenumber of persons detained inconnection with the case hasgoneupto11.However,driverofthecarwhichwasusedtotrans-port a consignment of fakeremdesivirinjectionsfromSurattoAhmedabadisstillontherun,”Janak Aal, police inspector ofSpecialOperationsGroup(SOG)ofMorbi saidonSunday.On Saturday, police had de-

tained sevenpersons, includingtwo each from Morbi andAhmedabadforallegedlysellingcompound of glucose powderandtable salt as remdesivir.“We have given samples of

the injections we have seizedfromtheaccusedtodruginspec-torforlaboratorytests,”Aalsaid.

ENS

‘Fake’ Remdesivirinjection case:Police detain 4more from Surat

Jadeja visitsBharuch hospital


THENUMBER of people vacci-natedSunday, theseconddayofthethirdphase,droppedbymorethanahalf to just25,712peoplein the 10 districts of the statewhere the drive for vaccinatingthe 18-44 age group has beenrolled out, from 55,235 inocu-latedadayago.In the above 45 years cate-

gory, 32,333 people receivedtheir first doseas against57,495whowereadministeredfortheirsecond dose, as per the statehealth department’s Covid bul-letin.In Ahmedabad city, 7,074

people in the 18-44 age groupwere vaccinated, a dip from13,289reportedSaturdayacross80 vaccination centres. OnSunday, too, residents com-plainedof glitches in the sched-ule given to thempost registra-

tion. Reduction in vaccinationstockonlyaddedtothewoes.AtMaharajaAgrasenSchoolunderThaltej ward, the centre wasclosedafterthevaccinestockwasexhausted.“Therewereminortechnical

glitchesatafewcentres.Aspeo-plegenerallyrushtovaccinationcentresinthemorning,thestockgot over by afternoon,” AMCmedical officer (Health) DrBhavinSolankisaidwhiledeclin-inganyshortageofvaccines.

Newcases:

12,978

Cumulativedeaths:

7,494

Totalcases:

5,93,856

Cumulativedischarge:

4,40,276

Ahmedabad

Amreli

Anand

Aravalli

Banaskantha

Bharuch

Bhavnagar

Botad

ChhotaUdepur

Dahod

Dang

DevbhoomiDwarka

Gandhinagar

GirSomnath

Jamnagar

Junagadh

Kheda

Kutch

Mahisagar

Mehsana

Morbi

Narmada

Navsari

Panchmahal

Patan

Porbandar

Rajkot

Sabarkantha

Surat

Surendranagar

Tapi

Vadodara

Valsad

Otherstates

1,66,792 2,967 4,744

6,799 56 119

5,241 26 161

2,916 49 80

9,483 101 226

7,811 68 44

14,553 169 658

1,779 32 27

2,114 20 97

6,738 26 67

632 14

11,035 39 30

15,561 161 315

4,440 32 104

25,819 247 707

10,382 106 293

6,613 25 174

8,417 86 169

4,992 45 169

16,961 91 565

5,366 80 90

4,181 5 121

4,351 12 97

7,168 42 109

8,895 84 173

1,848 7 53

45,366 502 528

5,776 100 142

1,19,156 1,637 1,883

6,468 105 92

3,332 10 89

52,377 532 735

3,608 31 117

148 3

Places Confirmed Deaths Newcases

Firstdosetakerstilldate

98,73,963

CASE TRACKER

Firstdosetakersbelow45yearstoday

25,712

Fullyvaccinatedtilldate

25,57,405

Fewer people in 18-plus age group get jab on Day 2

Ahmedabad

EXPRESSNETWORK4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM


PM reviews use of PSAplants, gaseous oxygen


PRIMEMINISTERNarendraModiSunday chaired ameeting to re-viewtheusageofgaseousoxygenformedicaluse.The Centre had said earlier

that itwas identifying industrialunitswhichproducegaseousoxy-genof the requisite purity and isshortlistingthoseclosertocentresofdemandtoestablishtemporaryCovidcarecentresnearthem. OnSunday,thePrimeMinisterOfficein a statement said that a pilotstudyforfivesuchfacilitieshadal-readybeeninitiated.

"This is being accomplishedthroughPSUsorprivateindustriesoperating theplant&co-ordina-tion of Centre & state govern-ments. It isexpectedthataround10,000 oxygenated beds can bemadeavailable in a short periodoftimebymakingtemporaryhos-pitalsnearsuchplants.Stategov-ernments are being encouragedtosetupmoresuchfacilitieswithoxygenatedbedstodealwiththepandemic," the PMO said in astatement.OnSunday,theprocessofconvertingtheexistingPressureSwingAbsorption(PSA)nitrogenplants for theproductionof oxy-genwasalsodiscussedduringthereviewmeeting.


HOURSAFTERtheAssemblyelec-tionresults, leadersof13opposi-tion parties – including theCongress,LeftandtheTrinamoolCongresswhohadfoughtbitterlyinWestBengal – today came to-getherandaskedtheCentralgov-ernment to launch a freemassvaccinationdriveacrossthecoun-try inviewof theunprecedentedsurgeinCovid-19cases.In a joint statement, senior

leaders like Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, TrinamoolCongresschiefMamataBanerjeeand CPM general secretarySitaramYechuryaskedthecentralgovernment to pay attention to

ensuring uninterrupted flowofoxygen supplies to all hospitalsand health centres across thecountry. “Thebudgetary alloca-tionofRs35,000croreforthevac-cination programme must beutilised for this,” the leaders saidinajointstatement.The other signatories to the

statement were former PrimeMinister and JD(S) leader HDDeve Gowda, NCP chief SharadPawar,MaharashtraCMandShivSena chief Uddhav Thackeay,Jharkhand CMHemant Soren,DMK supremoMK Stalin, BSPchief Mayawati, SP leaderAkhilesh Yadav, RJD’s TejashwiYadav,LeftleadersYechuryandDRajaandFarooqAbdullahonbe-half of the Jammu KashmirPeoples’Alliance.

422DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

TRACKING THE SECOND SURGE

NEWCASES: 3,49,929ACTIVE CASES:29,70,545TOTAL VACCINATION: 14,52,71,186

DAILY DEATHS

3,446TOTALDEATHS

2,01,340WEEKLY CFR

1.75%OVERALL CFR

1.45%

TESTS TODAY: 20,11,506 | TOTAL TESTS: 28,29,91,383

WEEKLY POSITIVITY: 19.85% | OVERALL POSITIVITY: 6.36%

STATESREPORTINGMOSTCASES

STATE NEW ACTIVE WEEKLY TOTAL

CASES CASES POSITIVITY VACCINATION

■Maharashtra 66,358 6,72,434 23.51% 1,49,06,543

■UttarPradesh 32,921 3,06,458 16.53% 1,19,47,728

■Kerala 32,819 2,47,467 21.26% 69,91,400

■Karnataka 31,830 3,01,918 16.91% 88,92,708

■Delhi 24,149 98,264 32.77% 30,61,554

STATESREPORTINGMOSTDEATHS

STATE TODAY’S TOTAL WEEKLY OVERALL

DEATHS DEATHS CFR CFR

■Maharashtra 942 68,103 1.25% 1.94%

■Delhi 381 15,009 3.64% 2.00%

■UttarPradesh 264 11,678 1.82% 1.61%

■ Jharkhand 255 2,246 4.96% 1.55%

■Chhattisgarh 246 7,782 1.76% 1.65%

Note:DataasonApr27;vaccinationnumbersasofApr26.Deathsincludethosecausedbycomorbidities.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHANDIGARH,MAY2

TWO DAYS after Punjab CMAmarinderSinghruledoutalock-down,PunjabonSundayimposedstricter Covid curbs by shuttingdownall the shops, except thosesellingessentialitems,tillMay15.The shops selling essential

items, including chemists, thosesellingmilk, bread, vegetables,dairy,poultry,andmobilerepairsshopswill be allowed to remainopen. There are no curbs on thenursinghomes and laboratories,latestguidelines issuedbyHomeSecretaryAnuragAggarwalsaid.Thegovernmenthasappealed

to farmersprotestingagainst theCentre’sfarmlawsnottoorganiseprotestmarchesandrestrictpres-ence to token numbers at tollplazas,petrolpumpsandmalls.All government offices and

bankswill work at 50 per centstrength. Nobodywillbeallowedtoenterthestatebyair,railorroadwithoutaCovid-negative report,notmorethan72hoursold.

Lockdown inHaryanaTheHaryanagovernmentSundaydecided to impose aweek-longlockdownacrossthestatebegin-ningMonday. Thestatereported

itshighestsingle-daydeaths–145–onSunday.Thedecisionwasan-nounced by state’s HealthMinister Anil Vij on his Twitterhandle.Authoritieswereyettore-lease detailed guidelines of ex-emptedcategoriesbylateSundayevening.

Goaextends curbsPanaji: TheGoa government onSunday announced that restric-tionsimposedinthestatetocon-tainthespreadofCovid-19willbeinforcetillMay10.The government’s four-day

lockdownwas in force until themorningofMay3.

Bhubaneswar:Thestategov-ernment on Sunday an-nounceda14-daylockdown,startingMay 5. During thelockdown, slated togoon tillMay 14, residentswill be al-lowed to step out to shopswithin 500metres of theirhomes tobuyvegetablesbe-tween 6 am and 12 noon.Healthcare serviceswill re-mainopenandthoseeligiblefor Covid-19 vaccination canvisit inoculationsites. ENS

14-DAY LOCKDOWNINODISHA

To fight virus, Punjab,other states takelockdown, curbs route

13 Oppn leaders call forfree mass vaccination


SQUEEZEDOUTby the two rivalalliances led by DMK andAIADMK, it appeared to be theend of the Amma MakkalMunnetra Kazhagam (AMMK),whichfailedtobagasingleseatinthe Tamil Nadu assembly elec-tions,withevenpartyfounderTTV Dhinakaran losing fromKovilpatticonstituency.The results announced on

Sunday cameas amajor setbackto the political ambitions ofDhinakaran,whofloatedthepartyin2018toproveapointshortlyaf-terhisandhisauntVKSasikala'sexpulsionfromtheAIADMK.TheAMMK'swipe-out is an

outcome of a series of chaoticevents– largely attributed to theBJP–thatunfoldedinTamilNaduafter the death of the then chiefminister J Jayalalithaa in 2016,whichnotonlybrokethespiritofthe AIADMKbut also led it to aforcedalliancewith thenationalparty.AseriesofI-TandCBIsearches

targeting mining baron SekarReddyinDecember2016,arevoltby then chief minister OPanneerselvamagainsttheparty’sinterimgeneralsecretarySasikalasoon after the raids and yet an-otherseriesof raidstargetingtopAIADMKministerswere amongthemajorevents that theBJPhasbeenaccusedofscriptingtomakeinroadsinTamilNadupoliticsaf-ter Jayalalithaa’s death. This tur-bulencewas followedbymore:merger of the two rivalAIADMKfactions and finally theouster ofSasikala from the party, which

was again attributed to theBJP'sgameplan.Incidentally, while

Dhinakaran’spartywaswipedoffonSunday,theBJP,whichdidnothaveasingleseat in thepreviousassembly,wonfourseats,match-ing its best-ever performanceof2001. Vanathi Srinivasan inCoimbatore South, NainarNagendran in Tirunelveli wereamongthewinners.On the other hand, some

AIADMKministers,who closelyworkedwith the BJP in the pastfouryears,alsolosttheelections.DJayakumar, theonlyministerde-putedtoissuestatementsagainstSasikalaafterherousterandMafoiPandiarajan, a close aide ofPanneerselvamwhowasintouchwith theRSScamponhisbehalf,wereamongthosewholost.EvenwhenSasikalawas sent

to prison on corruption chargesandwas ousted from the partylater, there was a section ofAIADMKleaderswhostronglybe-lieved that only her leadershipcould save the party from theclutchesoftheBJP,irrespectiveofpollvictories.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU,MAY2

THEBJPnarrowlymaintaineditsholdovertheBelagaviLokSabhaseat inKarnatakawithMangalaAngadi, the widow of formerUnionMinister Suresh Angadi,defeating Congress's SatishJarkiholi by just1,781votes.TheBelagaviby-pollwasne-

cessitatedbythedeathofSureshAngadi in September 2020 fol-lowingaCovid-19 infection.TheBJPattemptedtocapital-

izeonthesympathywaveforthefour-termMPwhowastippedtobe a candidate to replace ChiefMinisterBSYediyurappa.The1,781-votemargin is the

narrowest victory for the BJP in

the constituency in the last fiveelectionsfortheseat. Inthe2019LokSabhapolls,thesaffronpartywonbyover three lakhvotesonthe back of a hugewave of sup-portforPrimeMinisterNarendraModi.Congress candidate Satish

Jarkiholi,whohasa strongbasein the region on account of theJarkiholi family dominance inseveral assemblysegments, got43,5087 votes compared to the43,6868 votes polled byMangala Angadi in a see-sawcounting drama that unfoldedSunday.The Belagavi by-poll was

held shortly after RameshJarkiholi, a BJP minister, and abrother of the Congress candi-date Satish Jarkiholiwas forced

to resign from the Yediyurappacabinet onMarch 3 after beingembroiled in a sex video scan-dalallegedlyperpetratedbypo-litical rivals.Thescandalwasexpectedto

prove costly for the BJP on ac-count of the clout of theJarkiholis intheregionbutthreeJarkiholibrothers-Balachandraand Ramesh from the BJP andLakhan from Congress assuredtheBJPof theirsupport inthefi-nal days of campaigning. ChiefministerYediyurappaalsocam-paigned intensively at the endof the campaigningphase.TheBJP,however,hadmixed

luck in two assembly by-pollheld on April 17—wresting oneseat fromtheCongress and fail-ing todoso inanother.

4 LS seats, 7 assembly constituencies: Spoils shared

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBHOPAL,MAY 2

THECONGRESS earned a land-slide victory in MadhyaPradesh’s Damoh by-pollswhere the party’s candidateAjay Tandon won by a marginof 17,089 votes, nearly leadingin all of the 26 rounds. A high-pitchedelectioncampaignheldby the ruling BJP, whichbrought Chief Minister ShivrajSinghChouhantocampaignforturncoat Rahul Singh Lodhi,seems to have worked againstthe party.Lodhihaddefected toBJP in

October necessitating the by-polls. He had defeated formerfinanceministerandBJP leaderJayantMalaiya,whowas facinganti-incumbency in2018,witha narrowmargin of 800 votes.Speaking to reporters, Lodhi,

who fought fromMalaiya’s seat,accused himof being responsi-ble for the defeat. “I have lost inthosewardswhichwas directlyunderJayantMalaiya'swatch.Hewas given the responsibility oftheurbanareas,whichwelosttoCongress.IconfidentlysaythatitwasMalaiya family's plan thatworkedandBJPlosttheby-polls.Congress did not haveworkersworkingonground,”hesaid.

Hyderabad: The YSR CongressPartySundayretainedtheTirupatiParliamentaryConstituencywithits candidateMGurumoorthywinningbyahugemargin.The by-poll, held onApril 17,

wasnecessitatedby thedeathofYSRCPMPBDurgaPrasadduetoCovid-19lastSeptember.TheTeluguDesamParty'scan-

didatewas formerMPPanabakaLakshmiwhiletheBJPfieldedfor-merIASofficerKRatnaPrabha.

Gurumoorthypolled6,24,748votes, the TDP candidate got3,53,642 votes, and the BJP re-ceived56,992votes.InTelangana,the ruling Telangana RashtraSamithi (TRS) retained theNagarjuna SagarAssembly seat.The TRS candidate, NomulaBhagat, was the son of NomulaNarasimhaiah,theTRSMLAwhodied lastDecember. BhagatwonagainstCongressrivalandveteranleaderKJanaReddy.ENS

Cong landslidein MP’s Damoh

BYPOLLS IN7STATES

Karnataka: BJP narrowly wins Belagavi LS seat,splits two House constituencies with Cong

Andhra: YSRCP keeps Tirupati LS seat

After 4 yrs of turbulence,Dhinakaran fails to bagsingle seat, BJPwins4 EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE

NEWDELHI,MAY2

WEST BENGAL Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee’s poll strate-gist Prashant Kishor on Sundayannounced that he was “quit-ting”hisworkasapolitical con-sultant in thewake of themas-sivevictoryoftheTMCinBengal.In December, in the face of

several TMC leaders being in-ducted into theBJP,Kishor iron-icallyhadtweetedthathewouldquit thepolitical space if theBJPweretocrossahundredseats inBengal, and that he was confi-dentthattheywouldbereducedtoa figureunder that.Evenashiswordsturnedout

to be prophetic, Kishor onSundayannouncedontelevisionchannelsthathedidnotwantto“continuewhathewasdoing.”SpeakingtoNDTV,hesaid, “I

havedone enough. It is time formetotakeabreakanddosome-thing else in life. I want to quitthis space.”ToIndiaToday,Kishorsaidhe

was thinking about quitting fora while, and Bengal has givenhim that chance. Pressed onwhetherhewouldjoinelectoralpolitics, he remained non com-mittal.

Want to quitthis work,says Kishor

ELSEWHERE

TRSwinsNagarjunaSagar

Nagaland:Nocontest

JMMwinsMadhupur

BJPretainsSaltassemblyseat inUttarakhand

Jaipur:TheCongressandBJPman-agedtoretaintheAssemblycon-stituenciesinthebypollstothreeseats, the results forwhichweredeclaredSunday.TheresultswerealongexpectedlinesforCongressas it retained Sahara andSujangarh while BJP retainedRajsamand, with the winningcandidatesgettingthesympathyvotefromtheconstituents.ENS

MIZORAMAizawl: The ruling MizoNational Front (MNF) onSunday suffered a humiliat-ingdefeat in thebypoll to theSerchhip assembly seat asarch-rival ZPM's nomineeLalduhoma, whosedisqualification necessitatedthe by- election, retainedthe seat by a landslidemargin.PTI

RAJASTHAN

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,MAY 2

BJP CANDIDATE NimishabenSuthar won the by-election totheMorvaHadaf seatby45,649votes against her nearest rivalfromCongressSureshKatara inthe results that were declaredSunday.The by-electionwas neces-

sitated due to the disqualifica-tion of legislatorBhupendrasinhKhant.In the 2017 Assembly polls,

Khant, an independent candi-date, had won the reservedMorva Hadaf seat (ST) with amargin of 4,366 votes againsthis nearest BJP rival DindorVikramsinhRamsinh.Morva Hadaf has close to

two lakh voters. In May 2019,the Gujarat Assembly Speakerhad disqualified Khant sayinghiscastecertificatewas invalid.In January, Khantpassedaway.As counting concluded,

Congress’s Katara could pollonly 21,808 votes againstSuthar's 67,457 votes which isnearly 72.4 per cent of thevotes. BJP state chief CR Paatilcongratulated Suthar and saidthe decisions related to Covid-19 taken by the stae govern-ment and the various publicworks by the Narendra Modigovernment were responsiblefor the victory of the party.

GUJARATBYPOLL

BJP winsMorva Hadaf

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) hasbooked the assistant commis-sionerofGoodsandServicesTax(GST) department posted inNadiadofKhedaforallegedlyde-manding three flatsanda luxuryvehicle as bribe from a buildergroup.According to ACB officials,

Gopal Singh Meena, assistantcommissioner (Grade 1), GSTRange2,Division12 inNadiadofKheda,was bookedonMay1 at

SuratCityACBpolicestation."A complainant had ap-

proachedusstatingthattheintherecent past, the accused officialMeena'steamhadraidedtheproj-ect site 'VimalHexagon' residen-tialcomplexinAdajanofSuratre-lated to service tax violation.Meena's teamhad seizeddocu-mentsofthreeofficesofthecom-plainant at the project site andMeena had made certain de-mandsinexchangeofnotsealingthe three offices of the com-

plainantandtakinganyotherac-tion,"saidanACBofficer.According to theACB, an in-

vestigationwaslaunchedafterthecomplaintwassubmittedagainstMeena. "It was found out thatMeenahadnamedaflatinAdajanand two flats inVishalnagar un-der the name of his relatives. Itwasalsofoundoutthatheandhisfamily members were using aFortunercaracquiredthroughun-knownsources,"saidtheofficer.

ENS

Ahmedabad: A 39-YEAR-OLDRanipresidenthasbeenarrestedfor an alleged acid attack on hisformer wife in Ahmedabad’sOgnaj area, police said Sunday.Thewoman, who suffered burninjuriesonherhand,wasrescuedby a police patrol teamwhich rushed her to the CivilHospital inSola.Hitesh Solanki (39) was ar-

restedbySolapoliceonSaturday,a day after he allegedly threw abottle of acid on his 33-year-oldex-wife, officials said.In her complaint to the po-

lice, the woman stated, “OnFriday afternoon, he (Solanki)called on my phone number

and… (said) he wanted to talk.He tookme a to a temple site inOgnaj on his motorcycle. Therehe asked me to marry himagain. When I refused, he tookoutaglasscolddrinkbottle con-taining a liquid and tried tothrow it on my face. (As) Iduckedand the liquid fell onmyhands. I managed to reach theSardar Patel highway where aPCR van rescued me and tookme to a hospital.”“Police booked the accused

underIPCsection326Bforthrow-ing acid. The accused was ar-rested from his residenceSaturday,”anofficeratSolapolicestationsaid. ENS

Man held for acid attack on ex-wife

GST dept official held in corruption case

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICERAJKOT,MAY2

THE STATE government onSundayextendedthedeadlineforrepayment of short-term croploanstoJune30inviewoftheon-going secondwave of Covid-19pandemic in the state. The stategovernment also announced topaytheCentralgovernment’s in-terest component on behalf offarmers for the delayed repay-ment.An official release from the

government stated that ChiefMinisterVijayRupani,fortheben-efitof farmers,hasdecidedtoex-tendthedeadlineofcroploanre-payment to June 30. “Gujarat

governmentwill (also)pay threeper interest subvention an-nouncedby the Central govern-ment and four per cent interestsubvention announced by thestategovernmenttofarmerscov-eredunderthecooperativelend-ingsystem.Thus,theGujaratgov-ernmentwillgivepaytotalsevenpercentinterestsubvention,”thereleasefurthersaid.“Byvirtueofthisdecision,the

stategovernmentwouldshoulderadditional burden of Rs 16.30croreotherwisepayablebyfarm-

ers,” it stated. CooperativebanksinGujaratcharge7percentinter-estoncroploanstheyadvancetofarmers fromApril to July eachyear.TheCentralandstategovern-mentsgivethreepercentandfourper cent interest subvention re-spectivelytosuchfarmerswhore-paytheircroploansontimeorbe-fore the loanperiod of one year.The state government’s decisionmeans that those farmerswhomiss their loan repayment dateandtherebybecomeineligibletogetthebenefitofthreepercentin-terest subvention given by theCentral governmentwould alsonot have to pay any interest ontheir crop loans as the state gov-ernmentwouldchip inwiththatcomponent.

Vadodara:TheLocalCrimeBranch(LCB)of theVadodaradistrictpo-licehasnabbedBhaveshPatel, aformer councillor of PadraMunicipalityandformerdirectorof APMC, in connectionwith thealleged rape of a 25-year-oldwomannearSokhdavillage.Patel,whowason the runaf-

terbeingallegedfortherape,wasnabbed late Sunday from Jaipur,wherehehadbeenhiding sinceApril27.TheVadodaraLCBhasbe-gun theprocess tobringPatel toVadodara,where hewill be ar-restedofficially.AreleasefromtheLCBofVadodaradistrictpolicesaidPatel, 42, is a “bootlegger”.According to theFIR, thewoman

wasattendingafarmhousepartyat Sokhdavillage,whenapoliceteam had reached at the spot.Fearingacrackdown,thewomanranforcoverintoafieldandcalledup her friend from hermobilephonetocomeandfetchher.Pastmidnight,theaccused,anacquain-tance of the woman’s friend,reachedthespottopickherup.Onthewaytodropthewoman

to Padra, the accused allegedlystoppedthecaratadesertedspotand raped thewoman. “The ac-cusedlaterdrovethewomanbackto Padra and escaped,” PoliceInspector,LCB,DivansinhValasaid.Patel hasbeenbookedunder forrapecharges. ENS

Padra ex-councillor nabbedfrom Jaipur in ‘rape’ case

‘WILLPAYCENTRE’S INTERESTSUBVENTION’

Govt extends deadline to repayshort-term crop loans to June 30

Gujaratgovt topaythe

Centralgovernment’s

interestcomponenttoo

GUJARAT

CelebrationsoutsidetheDMKoffice inChennaionSunday.PTI


THE NR Congress-BJP alliancesecured the majority inPuducherry,winning16seats inthe 30-member assembly.Countinginfourseatswasstill inprogress at the time of going topress.The Indian National

Congress, which was rulingPuducherryuntilitsgovernmentwas toppled in February, wontwoseats. Its allyDMKwon fiveseats and was leading in onemoreseat.According to the Election

Commissionwebsite,whichan-nouncedtheresultsfor26seats,the NR Congress won 10 seatsandtheBJP five.Evenasthealliancelookedto

formthegovernment,therewasspeculation in the political cir-clesthattheBJPmaybetryingtocomeoutof thealliance to forma government on its ownwiththe help of six IndependentMLAs.NR Congress leader and the

chief of thewinning alliance, NRangasamy, said he will bemeeting his partyMLAs aswell

as BJP leaders onMonday. “Theswearing-in ceremonywill beheld in two or three days,” hetold The Indian Express.Whenaskedabout theBJP’searlierde-mand for the CM post,Rangasamy said: “That cannothappen.We are all in the samealliance, Iwill be theCM.”But a top source in the

Puducherry government saidtheBJPmaybetryingtoseekthehelpofsixIndependentMLAstoform the government ifRangasamy, a former CM, re-fuses toagree to itsdemand.BJP chief in Puducherry V

Saminathan was not availablefor comment.The BJPwas accused of top-

plingthepreviousCongressgov-ernment twomonths agowithsenior Congress ministers andMLAs resigning from theirMLApostsand later joining it.

In Maharashtra, NCPloses Pandharpur to BJPMumbai: In a setback to theMaharashtra Vikas Aghadi gov-ernment, BJP’s SamadhanAutadedefeatedNCP'sBhagirathBhalke in the bypoll toPandharpur Assembly con-stituency in Solapur district.Autade won the seat by a thinmarginof3,733votesonSunday.As per the official figures,

Autade secured 109450 voteswhile Bhalke got 105717 votes.Over 66 per cent turnout wasrecorded during polling in theconstituencyonApril17,accord-ing to theElectionCommission.The bypoll was being pro-

jectedbythecontestantsasatestof theMVAgovernment’spopu-larity.TheBJPandNCPwereinadi-

rect fight in the bypoll, whichwasnecessitatedbythedeathofNCPlegislatorBharatBhalkedueto Covid-19 in November lastyear.WhileNCPfieldedBhalke’sson Bhagirath, the BJP fieldedAutade,whocontestedthe2019Assembly poll as an independ-entcandidateandthe2014pollsasaShivSenacandidate.“ThevictoryofBJPcandidate

Autade inPandharpur is a com-ment on the corrupt and non-competentMVAgovernment inMaharashtra,”Oppositionleaderin Assembly Devendra Fadavissaid.“ThepublicmandatefortheBJP candidate is for develop-ment. The people defeated theNCPandconveyedastrongmes-sageaboutMVA’smisrule.”

TheIndianNational

Congress,whichwas

rulingPuducherry

until itsgovtwas

toppledinFebruary,

wontwoseats

NR Congress-BJPalliance victoriousin Puducherry

Ahmedabad



5 DECISION 2021W E S T B E N G A L ● K E R A L A ● T A M I L N A D U ● A S S A M ● P U D U C H E R R Y

MinisterofPanchayats&RuraldevelopmentSubrata

Mukherjee (Ballygunge),TMC;76.66%votes

MinisterofUrbanDevelopmentandMunicipalAffairsFirhad

Hakim (KolkataPort),TMC;69.23%votes

Minister forNorthBengalDevelopmentAroopBiswas (Tollyganj),TMC;51.4%votes

Minister forEducationParthaChatterjee (BehalaPaschim),TMC;48.84%votes

MukulRoy (KrishnanagarUttar),BJP;54.19%votes

BIGWINNERS

BabulSupriyo(Tollyganj),BJP;by50,080votes

SwapanDasgupta(Tarakeshwar),BJP;by7,484votes

LocketChatterjee(Chunchura),BJP;by18,417votes

MdSalim (Chanditala),CPM;by65,957votes

RajibBanerjee (Domjur),BJP, by42,620votes

RabindranathGhosh(Natabari), TMC;by23,440votes

BIGLOSERS

HARIKISHANSHARMA&RITIKACHOPRANEWDELHI,MAY2

WHILEBOTHtheTrinamoolandBJP focused their election cam-paign in West Bengal aroundyouth, and jobs, an interestingpoll factoid could have deter-mined how that went downwith the electorate. ElectionCommissiondata shows that inbothabsolutenumbersandvoteshare,youngvoters,particularlyfirst-timers,declinedinthestatecompared to the last Assembly

elections. At the same time, thestatesawthehighestriseamongvoters80yearsandolder.Sowhile Bengal's total voter

numbers went up by 11.37%,from 6.58 crore in 2016 to 7.33crore now, those under the age

30 declined by 1.21%, from 1.92crore in 2016 to 1.90 crore in2021.Intermsofvoteshare,theirfallwas3%—from29%to26%.Of thischunk,thenumberof

first-time voters — 18-19-year-olds – declined 0.76%, to 20.32lakh in 2021 from20.48 lakh in2016. Their share in the totalelectoratedeclinedfrom3.11%to2.77%.Therateofdeclinewasmore

in the 20-29 years age bracket,whichsawvoternumbersdipby1.39%, from1.72crore in the lastAssembly polls to 1.70 crore. Interms of proportion, this age

group that formed the biggestchunkin2016—26.19%—isnowat23.19%and is second largest.However, the sharpest de-

clinewas in the40-49yearsagebracket. Voters in this categorydecreasedby8.48%,to1.29crorefrom1.41 crore five years ago—their proportion came downfrom21.52%to17.69%duringthisperiod.The number of voters in the

80+agegroup increasedby37%— 8 lakh to 11 lakh — over thepast five years, the highestamong all age-groups. The pro-portionof thisgrouptothetotal

electoratewentupfrom1.25%to1.54%.Otherolderagebracketsalso

sawanincrease--70-79yearsby33.23%; 60-69 years by 33.13%;50-59 years by 22%; and 30-39years 27.78%. The proportion ofeachof thesegroups to the totalelectoratealsowentup.In fact, voters in the 30-39

age group now account for thehighest -- 23.82% -- share in thestate'selectorate.At20.76%,thisgrouphadbeenthethirdlargestchunkin2016,after20-29yearsold(26.19%)and40-49yearsold(21.52%).

Between the lines: young voters declined, elderly rose

ATRIMITRAKOLKATA,MAY2

FOR THE first time sinceIndependence, theWestBengalAssemblywillhavenorepresen-tative of the Left. The SanjuktaMorcha,comprisingtheLeftpar-ties, Congress and the newlyfloatedIndianSecularFront(ISF),wontwoseatsinaHouseof294.The twoMorcha candidates towinwere the Congress's NepalChandraMahato, who scrapedthrough in Baghmundi, Puruliadistrict, and the ISF's NawshadSiddique fromBhangar.With the shrinking of the

partyinthestateitonceruledformore than 30 years now com-plete,theCPMPolitburoblamed"polarisationofvotes"foritsde-feat. “The BJP suffered a severesetbackdespiteitsmoneypowerand manipulations in WestBengal. The people of Bengalhave very clearly rejected theideologyofcommunalpolarisa-tion... Theurge todefeat theBJPled to a sharp polarisation,squeezing out the SanjuktaMorcha."A senior CPM leader added,

“Even our supporters thoughtthattoresisttheBJP,theyshouldvote for the TMC. Thus we losteven our winning seats to the

TMC. However, we areworkingfor the people. Our volunteersare providing aid to Covid-af-fected people. Our movementfor employment of youth willcontinue.”West Bengal Congress chief

Adhir Chowdhury also blamedpolarisation."MamataBanerjeesuccessfully instilled fear psy-chosis among Muslims. WefailedtoconvincepeoplethattheCongressistheonlyforceconsis-tently fighting against the BJPanditscommunal ideology.TheSitalkuchi incident helpedMamata polarise voters too,"Chowdhurysaid,adding,"If thisdivisive politics prevails, it willbe tough forus."In Delhi, Congress

spokesperson RandeepSurjewalasaidthatwhilethere-sultswereamatterof "concern,

discussionanddeliberation",thepartywelcomedthefactthatthepeopleofWestBengalhad"dec-imated the vicious divisiveagenda as also themoney andmusclepowerof theBJP". "Theyhavechosenpeaceoverdivisionandhatred,"Surjewalasaid,con-gratulatingMamataBanerjeeontheTMC'sphenomenalwin.In the hope of wooing lost

ground, the Left had imple-mented several changes in itscampaign, including fieldingyouth and student leaders ascandidates, but nonemade animpact. The most keenlywatchedofthesenominees,JNUstudents'unionpresidentAisheGhosh,finishedthirdinJamuria,getting14.82%votes.Other young leaders such as

Dipsita Dhar (Bally), MinakshiMukherjee (Nandigram) andSrijanBhattacharya (Singur) alsolost, as did CPMveterans SujanChakraborty,AshokBhattacharya,Sushanta Ghosh and KantiGanguly.TheTMCretainedSingur.TheCongresslostallthecon-

stituencies in its strongholdssuchaslatestalwartGhaniKhanChowdhury’sMalda and AdhirChowdhury’s Murshidabad --constituencies that it had heldthrough the Left dominance inWestBengalandlaterMamata'srise.

CONG1, ISF 1MAKEUPSANJUKTAMORCHA

In a first, no LeftMLA in BengalChanges incampaign,butLeft fails tomake impact;CPMPolitburoblames ‘polarisationof votes’

BENGALNUMBERS

TOTALVOTERS

■2016■2021

UNDER-30VOTERS

80-PLUSVOTERS

6.58cr

7.33cr

1.92cr

1.90cr

8 lakh

11lakh

RAVIKBHATTACHARYA&SANTANUCHOWDHURYKOLKATA,MAY2

DESPITE THEBJP pulling out allthebiggunsandresourcestocon-test theAssembly polls inWestBengal, with Prime MinisterNarendraModiandUnionHomeMinister Amit Shah extensivelycampaigning,thepartystruggledtocrossdoubledigits.In fact, as per election results

and leads till 6pm, theBJP's votesharestoodat37.70%,adeclineofnearly3%fromits40.30%votesin2019.Ontheotherhand,theTMChad increased its vote share to48.20% from43.30% in 2019. Inotherwords,a10%votegapstoodbetweenthetwoparties.In fact, as per the 2019 Lok

Sabha polls, the BJP led in 121Assembly seats in the state, a farcryfromits76till lastcount.Observers and BJP insiders

blameda rangeof factors for theparty's disappointing show: the

lackof organisation at theboothlevel,wrong selection of candi-dates, bringing in of TMC turn-coats,nothavingaCMcandidateto takeonMamataBanerjee, toomuch dependence on centralleaders, consolidationofMuslimvotes towards theTMC, and lackofproperfeedback.“Maybepeopledidnotaccept

candidateswhocamefromotherparties...Wewill analysewhatwentwrong.Wetriedourbesttoreachouttothepeople,”BJPstatechiefDilipGhoshsaid.A senior BJP leader said, “We

didwina lot of seats as a sectionof thepeople believed inus.Wehaveestablished that it is theBJPvs theTMC inBengal. But some-how Khela Hobe and Bengal’sdaughter campaigns of the TMCweremore acceptable than ourSonarBanglaapproachanddevel-opmentpromises."AmajorityoftheBJP's46can-

didateswhojoinedfromdifferentparties, including 36 from theTrinamool, lost. After announce-

mentofthecandidatelists,theBJPhadseenprotestsacrossthestate,whichwere a sign of things tocomethatthepartydismissed.PartyleaderssaidtheBJPalso

failedtorealisethattheTrinamoolhad gained someof the groundlostbyitbycrackingdownoncor-rupt partyworkers in areas likeJangalmahal andNorth Bengal.The frontal attacks onMamataBanerjeemayhavealsobackfired.True toher firebrand image,

MamataledtheTMCfromthefront,addressingovera100rallies,mostofthemwithheroneleginacast.Thelackof local facesincom-

parison, leaving the entire cam-paigntoPrimeMinisterNarendraModi, Amit Shah and J PNadda,also appears to have been act ofhubris. In districts likeHowrahand PurbaMedinipur, the BJP’sentiregameplanrestedonTMC'sdeserterstalwarts.Butthesefailedtodeliver,withtheTMCwinningall16seatsinHowrah.

FULLREPORTON


Themoodat theBJP’soffice inKolkataaround11amasthetrendshintedatasurge inTMCnumbers.ParthaPaul

ATRIMITRANANDIGRAM,MAY2

INTHEbattlegroundconstituencyofNandigram,scenesatapujare-flectedthenail-bitingcontestthatTMCchiefMamataBanerjeewasinagainstformeraide-turned-ri-valSuvenduAdhikarioftheBJP,inthelatter’sfamilybastion.OnSundaymorning,prepara-

tionswerecompletefora“yaggo”(puja) for Adhikari at theChandimata temple inParulbariarea,butasthetrendsbeganhint-ing at a victory for the TMC, thenumbersdwindleddue to reluc-tant participants. However, asAdhikariinchedcloserinthecon-test,priestAshimChakrabortydughisheels in. “Weshould start thepujabecausethere isastipulatedtimetoholdtheyaggo.”Thelocalsinfrontofthetempleagreed.In the first four rounds of

countinginthemorning,Adhikaritook a leadof nearly 8,000votesafterBanerjeegraduallynarrowedthemargin.Intheafternoon,after16 rounds, Adhikariwas leadingbyonlysixvotes.KrishnakantaKarak(39),ares-

ident ofMaheshpurwho stoodbehindthetemple,said,“Weweresure about SuvenduAdhikari’s

victory. Butwe never expectedsuchresults.”Whileroadsseemeddeserted

in BJP-dominated areas in theconstituency, themoodwasdif-ferent in TMC-dominatedSonachura, Daudpur, SamsabadandNandigrambus stand,withhundreds of Mamata Banerjeesupporters playingwith green“abir”(colours).The tables seemed turned in

favour of the TMC, and newsagencyANItweetedthatBanerjeehadwon.But justafter the tweet,the Election Commission an-

nouncedthatthecountingwasnotfinal, laterdeclaringthatBanerjeehadlosttoAdhikariwithamarginof 1,736votes. TheTMCthenap-proachedtheECfora recount, al-legingEVMtamperingandfraud,anditwasonlyinthenightthattheECofficialsconfirmedthatAdhikarihadwonby1,956votes.DEOSmitaPandeyconfirmed

thesametoTheIndianExpress.However, TMC leadersmain-

taineditwastheirchief’sdecisiontocontestthepollagainstAdhikarifromNandigramwhichenabledthepartytofightback.

More than 40 TMC leadershadjoinedAdhikariashedefectedto the BJP in a mega rally inDecemberlastyear.Anditwashisclout in Nandigramwhich hadearliermadetheTMCalmostun-beatableinruralBengal.Insuchasituation,Banerjee's

decisiontofightfromNandigramnotonlyboostedthemoraleofherparty’sgrassrootworkersbutalsoposedabigchallengetotheBJP.As counting of votes pro-

gressed,itbecameclearthatwithBanerjee’sdecision,theTMCwasable towin over almost all the

seats in the Adhikari family’sstronghold in East and WestMidnaporeandJhargram.But Adhikari won from his

hometurf. “MysincerethankstothegreatPeopleofNandigramfortheir love, trust, blessings, andsupport,andforchoosingme...Itismynever-endingcommitmenttobeofservicetothemandworkingfortheirwelfare...”hetweeted.Banerjee, who led the TMC

campaigninawheelchair follow-inganinjury,maynowcontestaby-poll inKhardahawhereTMCcan-didateKajalSinhadiedduetoCovid.

In Nandigram, a puja begins after a wait

Mamata notthe first CMto lose, has towin bypollin 6 months

MANOJCGNEWDELHI,MAY2

IN WHAT will be seen as thebiggestanti-climaxinthisroundof Assembly polls,West BengalChiefMinisterMamataBanerjeelost inNandigramtoher formerprotégé-turned-BJP leaderSuvendu Adhikari while herpartywona landslide victory inthestate.Banerjeecanstilltakeoveras

chiefministerbutwillhavetogetelectedinthenextsixmonthstocontinue in thepost.Article 164(4) of the

Constitution states: “AMinisterwhoforanyperiodofsixconsec-utivemonthsisnotamemberoftheLegislatureof theState shallat the expiration of that periodcease tobeaMinister.”Constitutional expert

SubhashKashyapsaid,“Thechiefminister is also aminister. TheConstitution says he or she canbecome a minister for sixmonths...anon-membercanbe-come aminister, but he or shehastobeelectedwithinthosesixmonths tocontinue.”YogiAdityanath, for instance,

was not anMLAwhen he tookover asUPCMin2017—hewaselectedanMLCwithinsixmonths.In 2017, Goa CM Laxmikant

Parsekar lost but BJPwent on toform the government. In 2014,the BJP won in Jharkhand butArjunMunda,whowasthefront-runner for thepostofCM, lost.

WESTBENGAL

7,34,07,832TotalVoters

6,01,94,422Turnout

(approxnumber)

82%Turnout(approx%)

Therateofdeclinewas

more inthe20-29years

agebracket,whichsaw

voternumbersdip

by1.39%

ApujaforSuvenduAdhikari inNandigram;Banerjee(right)atKalighattempleinKolkata,aftertrendshintedataTMCvictory.

BJPCLAIMSATTACKS

THEBJPallegedthat itsworkersandleaderswereattackedbyTMCleadersacrossBengalsoonaftertheresults,withKailashVijayvargiyaappealingtotheTMCtorestrainthem.TheBJPallegedthatthehouseof itsBeleghatacandidate,KashinathBiswas,wassetonfirethoughtimelyactionensuredtherewasnotmuchdamage. ItalsoclaimedthatthepartyofficewasransackedatArambaghandanotherputonfireatKasba. InNandigram,someBJPworkers’houseswereallegedlyransacked.FinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharamantweeted,“Hopetheadministrationensureseveryone’ssafety...”

NepalChandraMahato(Cong)andNawshadSiddique(ISF)weretheonlytwoMorchacandidatestohavewon

2 yrs, and a 10% vote gap: how BJPdidn’t see winds of change since ’19

ShashiGhosh PTI

Chowringhee: TMC

TMC'sNaynaBandopadhyay (70,101votes) defeatedBJP'sDevduttaMaji (24,757).

What PMsaid at rally inChowringhee's BrigadeParadeGround: “Asholporiborton (genuinechange) is Bengal BJP'smantra.”

Jaynagar: TMC

TMC's BiswanathDas(1,04,952) beat BJP'sRabin Sardar (66,269).

What PMsaid: “I canwitness thewave of'ashol poriborton' in thisregion.”

Uluberia Purba: TMC

TMC's BideshRanjanBose (86,526) defeatedBJP's PratyushMandal(69,400).

What PMsaid: "People ofBengal have decided:Didimust go.”

Haripal: TMC

TMC'sDrKarabiManna(1,10,215) defeatedBJP'sSamiranMitra (87,143).

What PMsaid:Heassuredpeople that hewillmakeBengal"tolamukt" (free ofextortion).

SonarpurDakshin:TMC

TMC's LovelyMitra(96,822) defeatedAnjanaBasu (76,432).

What PMsaid: “NoIndian is an 'outsider' inBengal.WhenBJP formsthe government afterMay2, a sonof the soilwill becomeCM.”

HowrahCentral: TMC

TMC's ArupRoy (96,465)defeatedBJP's SanjaySingh (55,340).

What PMsaid: “Didi’scorrupt government hasushered in ‘ease of crime’and ‘ease of loot'. A BJPgovernmentwill bring‘ease of doing business’and ‘ease of living'.”

KrishnanagarDakshin:TMC

TMC'sUjjawal Biswas(91,738) defeatedBJP's

Mahadev Sarkar(82,433).

What PMsaid: “Didi andher party are crossing alllines. Her people areabusing the SCs, STs,OBCs.... Didi hasstrategised to stop themfromvoting and facilitateher goons to rig votes."

BardhamanUttar: TMC

TMC'sNishithKumarMalik (1,11,211) defeatedBJP's Radhankanta Roy(93,943).

What PMsaid:"Tormenting 'Ma',looting 'Mati' andbloodshedof 'Manush' isthe reality of Didi'sslogan.”

Barasat: TMC

TMC's ChiranjeetChakraborty (1,04,431)defeated SankarChatterjee (80,648).

What PMsaid : “Didi'sfrustration is increasingas the day of result iscoming closer. Shenowgets angry evenwhen Isay 'Didi ODidi' in rallies.Every child in Bengal hasstarted saying 'Didi ODidi'.”

Jamuria: TMC

TMC's BardhamanHareram (71,002)defeatedBJP's Tapas Roy(62,951).

What PMsaid: "Peopleused to comehere foremployment but todaypeople fromhere aremigrating. Didi,whospeaks ofMa-Mati-Manush, has spreadmafia raj here.”

SWEETYKUMARI

Didi wins khela 10-8PMModi addressed 18 publicmeetings in Bengal,

in asmany constituencies. TMCwon 10 of those

on Sunday. A look at how the drama unfolded in

these 10 seats

PMModiatacampaignrally

Ahmedabad

6WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

CONGRATS ALL, NOWPLEASE GET TO WORKWestBengalhas resoundingly rejectedpolarisingalternativeofferedbyBJP; strongregional leaderswill shapepushbackto

Centre.But fornow, task is to fightvirus, save lives

FORPRIMEMINISTERNarendraModi, theBJP’s failuretowin inWestBengaldeepens an already soberingmoment. As the government he leads at theCentre struggles tomeet the challenge of an unprecedented public healthemergency, its fumbles and abdications, and the dreadful toll they are tak-ing,arerenderedalltoovisible.Whatwasalsoconspicuouswasthatevenas

the secondCovidwave rose and rose, the PrimeMinister personally took ownership ofthe BJP’s Bengal poll charge— a campaign bolstered by the immense resources at thecommandof theCentre’srulingparty,asupportingcastof seniorpartyleadersandmin-isters,andapollmonitorwhichseemedtobetakingcuesnot fromthespecialchallengeof conductingan importantelectionamidapandemic,but fromthepowers-that-be.It has been evident for some time now that the BJP underperforms in the states in

comparison to its firmholdon theCentre. Thishasbeendrivenhome, startingwith theelection the BJP strikingly lost to the JD(U)-RJDMahagathbandhan in Bihar 2015. It hasbeen argued that PMModi ismorepopular thanhis party and that theBJP’s lesser per-formanceinthestatespointstotheweaknessof itsstate leadership,or tothearithmeticriggedupbyitspoliticalopponents.Thereistruthinthatanalysis.YettheWestBengalver-dict cannot be entirely explained by an argument that insulates the PM’s considerablepopularityandappeal fromtheBJP’s assembly failuresand incapacities.Because inBengal,muchmore than inotherBJP campaigns in states, themightof the

PM’s impressivepolitical capitalwasbrought intoplay. InBengal, thePMtaunted theCMdirectly: “DidioDidi”.Sure,giventhat ithadstartedwithapaltrythreeseats intheoutgo-ingassembly,theBJPhasstillcoveredalongdistance.IthasshiftedthecentreofBengal’spol-iticstotheright,madethecontestbipolar.Havingsaidthat,however,itsspectacularfailuretomatchuptoitsspecialhypemakesWestBengal, today, thestatethatwaswooedbythePMandthatsaidno.

MAMATABANERJEE’S LANDSLIDEwin against the tremendous odds stackedagainst her— shehas lost inNandigram, but shewas the face of the TMC inpractically every seat— is a testament to her prowess as a politician, her un-

putdownableresilience.Attheendoftwotermsinpower,shewasfacedwithanti-incum-bency.ReportsfromthegroundcapturedtheaccumulatedresentmentsamongthepeopleoverthecorruptionsandthuggeriesofTMCcadres,manyofwhomhadearliercrossedoverfromtheLeftandtheCongress,andsomeofwhom,onthiselectioneve,migratedtotheBJP.Yet, Banerjee’s emphatic victory shows that, when it came to a choice between a

flawed incumbent and a polarising political alternative, the voters of Bengal chose theformer. Thatporiborton isnot a slogan tobeappropriated, but earned. It alsounderlinesthatanti-incumbencyisnoinfallible lawofpoliticalnature. In fact,PinarayiVijayan’sre-turntopower inastate thathas traditionally seenanalternationunderlines the firmingupof a relatively recentphenomenon,after thecollapseof theCongress systemandtheonsetofmulti-partycompetition:Pro-incumbency.

THATTHETMCwin in Bengalwas helpedby theCongress-Left collapse in the statecouldpointtoarearrangingoftheformatofnational-levelpoliticalcompetition:Ontheother sideof thebattlelines fromtheModi-BJP,will be the regional parties. The

might of the BJP could nowbe takenonby a sumof the states. After all, regional playerssharethevictorypodiumwiththeBJPinthisround—theBJPhaswonAssam,Banerjeehastriumphed inBengal,Vijayanhas ledaLeft that looksmore likeaKeralaparty toasecondsuccessiveterm,andtheStalin-ledDMKhascometopowerinTamilNadu.WhileBanerjee’swin isnotcheddirectlyagainst theBJP, thevictoriesofVijayan, cast

asananti-Modifigure,andevenStalin,arelikelytoshoreuptheclaimsoftheregionalplay-ers tooffer analternative to theModi-BJPnationally—given theCongress’s evidentun-willingnessand inability.Reportsof thedemiseof theCongressnolongerseemexaggerated. Itwasinthereck-

oningagainst theincumbentBJP inAssam,theotherpole inthebipolarcontestwiththeLeft in Kerala, and it had a government in Puducherry. It has lost all three, and in addi-tion, been decimated in Bengal, where its alliancewith the Left and the newly formedIndianSecularFrontwasoverlookedbythevoters comprehensively.But if the Congress is the older player,wilfully paralysed by its own infirmities, the

AIADMK’screditableshowinginTamilNaduhasannouncedatransitiontothenewand,ho-pefully,ademocraticdeepening.TheAIADMK’screditableshowingundertheleadershipofEdappadiKPalaniswamipointstothepassingofthebatonnotjustintheAIADMKafteritlostitssupremoJayalalithaa,butalsotoapoliticslessbeholdentothecharismaticpersonality.

IN2015,AFTERthefamousMahagathbandhanvictoryagainsttheBJPinBiharseemedto arrest the BJP’s juggernaut, the Opposition lost little time in frittering away thepolitical possibilities it had opened up. The victories of regional players nowmay

nothaveanenduringeffecteither.Whethertheydoornot,however, isaquestionforthefuture. Fornow, thosewhohavewonhavenotimetowasteeven for savouringvictory.ForthenewgovernmentsinAssam,WestBengal,TamilNadu,KeralaandPuducherry,

theimmediatechallengeistofightCovid.Theymustusealltheirpoliticalcapital,rallyalltheir resources towin.Thebattlehasbeenwon,a largerand longerbattle liesahead.

Suhas Palshikar

SELDOMWOULDONEbeanalysing theout-come of a round of electionswhile facingdeathsandsufferingonascale that victoriesand defeatsmake no sense. Of course, thedemocraticpracticeofelectionsneededtogoon, but theElectionCommissionowesus anexplanation for the protracted schedule inWest Bengal (except that it suited the rulingpartyattheCentre).Somedamagecouldhavebeenavoidediftheelectionsconcludedafort-night earlier and restrictionswere imposedonmasscampaigning. So, in thebackdropofwhat is happening in the country andwhatthe irresponsible campaigningmaybring tothese states in the near future, the electionoutcomesneedtobeseenwithabsolutesobri-ety. The outcomes have humbled amightyparty nodoubt, but thehumiliation that thepandemicwillcontinuetocauseissomethingthat thenewgovernmentswilldowell toat-tendsingle-mindedly.Politically, too, only a sober reading can

help us make sense of the outcome.Understandably,therewillbeconsiderableju-bilationintheanti-Modicamp.Giventhein-creasingstrengthoftheBJP,thevalueofTMC’svictory cannot be overstated. Like theMahagathbandhan victory in Bihar in 2015,theTMCwinnowcanbeafocalpointforpol-itics against the BJP. However, this iswherebothsobrietyinreadingtheoutcomeandma-turityinbuildingonitmightbebadlyneeded,but,alas, foundwanting.Itmustberememberedthatwhiletheout-

come(particularly inWestBengal)hasfallenfar short of theBJP’s boast, the party has notdone badly either. It has retainedAssam, al-mostmanagedtobreachthecosybipolarityofKeralabyconsistentlypollingover10percentvote, and, aboveall, inWestBengal, it is nowtheonlyforcetotakeontheTMCinthefuture.Yes, it is important that a state party has

foughtback the fullmight of theBJP and thecentralgovernment.But itwouldbenaïvetoignoretheexpansionoftheBJPinWestBengal.The BJP increased its vote share from10percent in2016 to40per cent in2019and then,retained almost all of that after twomoreyears. Now, the Trinamool Congresswill berulingWestBengalwithanoticeservedto it.Add to this scepticismabout thedemocraticcommitmentoftheTMCandtheoutcomebe-gins to look only like a pyrrhic respite fromcompletetakeoverbytheBJP.Itwillbeanex-

aggerated expectation that the TMCwillchangeitsstyleofinternalfunctioningorgov-ernance. The embers of violence andhatredwilldotthepoliticalskiesofthestate,givinglit-tle opportunity to any civilised competition.WhattheWestBengaloutcomesuggests isapossibleshift,whereonecouldseeanewnon-BJPconfigurationshapingup.Thispossibility isstrengthenedbythein-

abilityof theCongresstobeginitscomeback.There aremany excuses for this, but the un-willingnessof Congress toaddressorganisa-tional issues on an urgent basis is the rootcauseforitsinabilitytobounceback.Withitsdefeat in Kerala and failure to wrest backAssam,theCongresshasyetagainlostanop-portunitytobeanodearoundwhichnon-BJPpoliticscouldtakeshape.Inthissense,wearelikelytowitnessarehashofthe1989momentwhen state parties played a pivotal role(though,backthen,therestillwasalargerbutlooselystructuredpartycalledtheJanataDal).As state parties are rushing to congratulateMamataBanerjeeforherfeat,themootques-tioniswhethershehastheskilltocoordinatethese disparate non-BJP forces or does sheonly symbolically represent the spirit of thefightagainsttheBJP.There are at least twomore points of in-

trospectionfortheopponentsof theBJP.Oneis the BJP’s second consecutive victory inAssamdespitethenegativeatmosphereithadto face on account of the CAA-NRC issue.Overcomingthatnegativitywasnoteasy,butthe BJPmanaged to retain power. Similarly,despite its expected failure tomakemanygains inKerala, theBJP candrawsatisfactionfromthefactthatithascontributedtotherup-tureinthepredictablealternationinthatstatebetweenLDFandUDF.Ofcourse,thishashap-pened also because of the consistently goodrecordoftheLDFgovernmentinhandlingcri-sis after crisis in thepast fiveyears.But letusnot forget the defensive stance both theCongress and LDF had to take on theSabarimala issue and one realises how theBJP’spresence isproducingachurn inpublicdiscourseinthestate.LookingatAssam,WestBengalandKerala,

an interesting pattern about the BJP’s entryandentrenchment innewstatesemerges. In2014, itwasmainlyapartyofwestandnorth(pluscentral) India.Sincethen, ithasentereda number of new states by findingways to

combineregionalidentitywithHindutva.ThishasnotmeantthedilutionofHindutvabutitsdiversificationandhencegreateracceptabil-ity.Second,intermsofcompetitivepolitics,ithas first sought to disrupt the rhythm andframeworkofstate-levelcompetitionbybothbringing in an all-India rhetoric and the im-age of a supreme leader. Once the rhythm isdisrupted,itdiminishesthestate-levelforceseitherbyoppositionorbycoalition.Onlythentheideologicalinterventionbegins.Bysettingaside the Congress inOdisha and the Left inWestBengal,theBJPensuredthatitisnowlo-catedatapositionofadvantageinthesestates.The only statewhere this is yet to happen isTamilNadu. Inallotherstates, theBJPhasal-tered the framework of competition or theframeworkofpolemic,orboth.Apartfromthishomogenisation(notwith-

standingthesuperficial state-specificity thatthismodelallows), thelargerandmorechal-lengingdimensionoftheBJP’spoliticshasal-waysbeenitsmajoritarianism.Apopuliststyleofpoliticsandauthoritarianpracticesareonlythe entrées aboutwhichmuch scholarshipand commentary is being spent. Both thesearenotexclusivecharacteristicsof theBJPei-ther.Whathashistoricallydistinguished theBJP and continues to distinguish it from allotherpartiesistheprojectofmajoritarianism.InAssam, theBJP did not require it this timebuthasalreadymanoeuvreda spaceon thatbasis;itisextendingthatprojectinKeralawithmuch caution due to demographic con-straints, but in West Bengal it explicitlybrought forward this project. That iswhy itslimited success there is a shrillwarning bell,just as its inability towin power produces asighof relief.Unfortunately,themanystateleaderswho

arecurrentlybusycongratulatingDidiarecon-veniently unaware of this lurking danger todemocratic politics. In the absence of clarityonwhytheyopposetheBJP,thenon-BJPpar-tieswillbedoingagreatdisservicetothedem-ocratic character of our politics even if theychoose to come together to formanon-BJPfront.Morethananythingelse,thislimitationofoppositionpoliticsrequiresasoberreadingof theoutcome.

Thewriter,basedinPune, taughtpoliticalscienceandiscurrentlychiefeditorofStudies

inIndianPolitics

With its defeat in Kerala andfailure to wrest back Assam,the Congress has yet againlost an opportunity to be anode around which non-BJPpolitics could take shape. Inthis sense, we are likely towitness a rehash of the 1989moment when state partiesplayed a pivotal role (though,back then, there still was alarger but loosely structuredparty called the Janata Dal).As state parties are rushingto congratulate MamataBanerjee for her feat, themoot question is whethershe has the skill tocoordinate these disparatenon-BJP forces or doesshe only symbolicallyrepresent the spirit of thefight against the BJP.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,MAY3,2021WORDLYWISE

Leadership is notaboutthenext election,it’s aboutthenextgeneration.

— SIMON SINEKTHEEDITORIALPAGE

Freeze Frame E P Unny

Akhil RanjanDutta

HOW BJP RETAINED ASSAMApopulistwelfareagenda, smartalliances, polarisationhelped thepartywin

THEBJPHAShadtheupperhandineveryelec-tion inAssamsince thepartywonbig in thestatein2014LokSabhaelections.Itwonsevenandnine(outof14)LokSabhaseatsinthestatein2014and2019electionsrespectively,whileregistering leads in69assembly segments inboththeelections. Inthe2016assemblyelec-tions,theBJPwon60seats,whilethe“rainbowalliance”itledsucceededin86constituencies.Inthe2019generalelection,theNDAledin82assemblysegments.Theallianceseemssettorepeatthesametallyinthe2021polls.TheBJPhasachievedthisvictorythrough

multiple strategies. Itmanufactured socialperceptions, implementedcompetitivepop-ulist schemes andbrought almost allmain-streamtribalethnicoutfitsintoitsfold.Duringthe first wave of the pandemic, the BJP re-gainedthepoliticallegitimacyithadlostdur-ingtheperiodoftheCAAenactmentthroughinitiatives such as the ArogyaNidhi. By ex-emptingthethreeSixthSchedulecouncilar-eas— theBodoTerritorial Council (BTC), theKarbi Autonomous Council and the DimaHasaofromthepurviewoftheCAA—theBJPgovernmentsucceededin luringawaymanyethnicnationalistorganisationsfromtheanti-CAAmovement.Whilethetwonewregionalpolitical parties— theAsom Jatiya Parishad(AJP)andtheRaijorDal(RD)—centredontheanti-CAAsentiments,theBJPlimitedtheanti-CAA fervour to a section of the Assamese

speaking non-tribal population. The victoryofAkhilGogoi,presidentof theRD, ismoreareflectionofthepeoples’wrathagainsthisex-tendedimprisonment.Meanwhile,thegrandalliance forged by the Congress with theAIUDF, the Left, the BPF and a few othersmaller regionalparties failed tomitigate in-nerand intra fightingamongthepartiesandproduceacommonminimumprogramme.The BJP consolidated its base by fore-

groundingdevelopmentalism,accompaniedby hyper populism. The decades-longworkbytheRSShadturnedtheteatribes,particu-larly in upper Assam, to BJP supporters. Thecommunity received the highest patronagefromthe incumbentgovernment. Thenum-ber of beneficiaries under various schemessuch as the “Orunodai” under theNationalFoodSecurityActalsoincreasedsubstantially.Italsolaunchednewandinnovativeschemesfordifferentsegmentsof society.Notasinglesegment of society remaineduntouched bythe populist beneficiary schemes, includinggirls andwomenbelonging to theminorityMuslimcommunity.TheBJP’sSangkalpaPatra2021 is a case in point. TheBJP also success-fullyengineeredtheperceptionthatNarendraModistandsforall-inclusivedevelopment.TheBJPalsopopularisedthetheoryofcivil-

isational threat emanating from the EastBengal-originMuslims. It targeted the EastBengal-originMuslims,particularlytheAIUDF,

themain political outfit of the community.The BJP’s strategist Himanta Biswa Sarmabroughtinthetheoryof“65percentvs35percent”,thatisthe65percentoftheindigenousAssamesepeoplewereunderthreat from35per centMuslims,mostlymigrant Bengali-speakingMuslims. This narrative surely im-pactedthevoterpsyche inUpperAssam, theepicentre of the anti-CAA resistance,whichaccountsforover45assemblyseats.Thepartybuiltastrategicalliancewithal-

most all themainstreampolitical outfits oftribal ethnic groups and the AGP. TheBodoland People’s Front (BPF)was replacedbytheUnitedPeople’sPartyLiberal(UPPL)asthe keyNDAally in the Bodoland TerritorialAreaDistricts (BTAD). Itsustaineditsalliancewith themainstreamRabha and the Tiwaethno-political outfits and also co-opted themainstream leadership of theMising com-munity.TopacifythediscontentofthesixOBCcommunities over the failure of the UniongovernmenttograntthemSTstatus,thestategovernmentawardedthreeofthosecommu-nities — Motoks, Morans and the KochRajbongshis—non-territorialethniccouncilsthrough legislations inDecember 2020. AllthesecontributedtotheBJP’ssuccess.

Thewriter isprofessorandheadofthedepartmentofpoliticalscience,

GauhatiUniversity

The BJP has achieved thisvictory through multiplestrategies. It manufacturedsocial perceptions,implemented competitivepopulist schemes andbrought almost allmainstream tribal ethnicoutfits into its fold.

BIHARSHARIFTHEBIHARGOVERNMENTtodayinvokeda“special emergency scheme” to deal withthe situation in the troubled areas ofBiharsharif, rockedby group clashes in thelast three days leaving 11 people dead and113 injured. An official spokesperson saidthegovernmentwasmakingarrangementsto prevent further escalation of trouble inthe area. Chief Minister JagannathMishraheld a high-level meeting with seniorofficials and reviewed the situation.Whilethe indefinite curfew continued for thesecond day, the government issued shoot-at-sight orders in case of violence. Tencompanies of the Border Security Force,

Central Reserve Police and Bihar MilitaryPolice were patrolling the town roundthe clock.

RESERVATIONTHEPRIMEMINISTER IndiraGandhi todayexpressedtheviewthat thepolicyof reser-vation could not continue forever, thoughitwouldhavetobefollowedformanymoreyears. She hoped that the progress of theHarijans, the adivasis and the backwardclasseswouldbe so rapid that therewouldbe no need for reservation. She admittedthat therewaspoverty inthecountry.But itwas nouse harping on the point that Indiawas poor. Poverty existed in developed

countries also, she said.

DEMONETISED?WILL RS 100 notes be demonetised?Willthe income tax raids be stepped back andthebondsschemebereopened?Orwill theFinanceMinister come out with a supple-mentary budget? These are the questionsbeing askedanddiscussed in the trade andindustry circles in thewakeof the failureofthebearerbondscheme,which is reportedto have mopped up only Rs 340 crore asagainst the target of Rs 1,000 crore.Businessmen have startedworrying aboutthe likely measures that the governmentmay take to retaliate.

MAY 3, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

Lessons from BengalTrinamoolwincanbeafocalpoint foranti-BJPpolitics,butOppositionneedsclarityabout intent

Ahmedabad

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,MAY3,2021 WHATTHEOTHERSSAY

“The people of this country need to be told why the world’s most notorious

militant was found in a Pakistani town, and how foreign forces managed to carry

out a complex operation, by violating our territorial sovereignty, and escape

without being detected.” —DAWNTHE IDEASPAGE


As late as August 18, 2020,

when the first wave was in

full swing, the Supreme

Court accepted the

statement of the Solicitor

General of India that no

special plan was required. It

is only now that it has asked

the Centre for a national plan

on oxygen and vaccinations

and the states for an affidavit

stating their health

infrastructure. Hopefully,

these will have the required

granularity.

INDIA IS GOING through its biggest crisissincePartition.ThisisacrisisthatIndiaiscol-lectively experiencingwithother countriesandrespondingcollaboratively.Wecande-featthiscrisisonlywhenpeopleofcompet-ingideologiesandbackgroundsstandunited.Unfortunately,theCongressparty’slead-

ershiphas launchedafrontalassaultondo-mesticvaccinemanufacturersandscientists.Their constant attack todiscredit anddele-gitimise thehardworkof Indian talentwillscareotherentitieswhowouldwant tode-velopormanufacturevaccines inthecoun-try.Hence,wemustisolatefactfromfiction,misinformationfrominformation.Within ayear, less than12countries in

theworld have been able to develop theirownvaccine.Indiaisinthateliteclub.NeverbeforeinitshistoryhasIndiahadthecapa-bility andresources todo this. Irrespectiveofpoliticalideology,howcananyobjectiveIndiannotappreciate thisachievement?Istruggledtofindasingledoseofpraise

byRahulGandhiorhispartyforourvaccinemanufacturers and scientists. His primaryattack thesedays is on theprice of thevac-cineandthosewhoareproducingit.Andthisiswherehegetsitcompletelywrong.TheCongresstakesgreatprideinthepu-

lsepoliovaccinationprogramme.Nodoubttheydeservecredit.Buthowlongdidittakethemtoachieve results? Twenty-six years.AndtheexpectationfromtheModigovern-ment is to complete COVID vaccination inless than two years fromwhen the virusbrokeout. It is achallengeneverattemptedbeforeandthereisnodoubtthePM,hisgov-ernmentandourcountrywillrisetoit.ItisnaïvetocompareIndia’svaccination

programmewithanycountry's.IndianeedstoprocureatleasttwicethedosespurchasedbyAmerica, 100 times thepurchasemadebyIsraeltovaccinateitscitizens.What is theessential ingredientneeded

toachieveavaccinationprogrammeof thisscale?Producingalargenumberofvaccinesinashortperiod.Forthis,bothpublicinvestmentandprivateinitiativesareneeded.Oncethereare sufficient vaccines in the market,economiesofscalewouldkickinanddramaticprice reductionwould begin.We saw thesamepatternplayingout lastyearwhenwehadtoconductahugenumberofCOVIDtestsinashortperiod. Inearly2020,myministrywaspurchasingantigentestkitsforRs400,to-daywearebuyingthemforRs80.Similarly,anRTPCRtestwasoverRs4,000initiallyandisnowatRs500inAssam.Despitehighcoststhen, governmentsacross thecountrypro-curedtestsandtestedcroresofpeopleforfree.It isthislogicthatRahulGandhichooses

toignoreandinsteadtargetsvaccineproduc-ers. AnyvaccinemanufacturerwouldneedextensivefundsforR&Dandtrialsandthereisnoguaranteethatthisinvestmentwillpayoff.TheModigovernmenthasdecidedtofin-

anciallysupportBharatBiotechviagrantstoaid this cost and is nowoffering advancedcredit to both the Serum Institute andBharatBiotech.Yetthefundingrequirementsarehuge.Given themagnitudeof this crisis, both

thesecompanieshavedecidedtoofferache-aperpriceforgovernmentcontractscompa-redtoprivatecontracts.Itisthispricevariati-onwhich theCongress is distorting. Thosewhocan’taffordvaccineswillgetfreevacci-neseitherfromtheGoIpoolorstategovern-ments.Thosewhocanaffordtopaywillpur-chase the vaccines from theprivate sector,and funds raisedwill be used by vaccinecompaniesforfurtherR&Dandproduction.Eventually, asmorevaccines areproduced,economiesofscalewillensurethatboththeprice of government andprivate contractswillreduce.WhatismoretroublingistheCongress’s

track recordof encouragingdomestic pro-ductionofvaccines.In2008,theUPAgovern-ment tookanunexplaineddecision to shutthreegovernment-ownedvaccinemanufac-turers—BCGVaccineLaboratory(Chennai),Pasteur Institute of India (Coonoor) andCentralResearchInstitute(Kasauli).It is unclear at whose behest that

Congressshutdownthreepremierpublicvaccinationunits.Theemployeesof theseunitshadallegedtheywereshutdownbe-cause of pressure from foreignmanufac-turers. This strange order had a cata-strophicimpactonIndia’svaccinesecurityand the government’s UniversalImmunisation Programme (UIP) becamecompletelydependentonprivateandfor-eign suppliers.Luckily,theSupremeCourttooknoticeof

thisill-intentionedorderandthesethreein-stituteswerere-opened in2012.Thismon-umentalblunderandtheCongressgovern-ment’s attempts topush foreignvaccines–aspointedoutthroughaPILfiledbyaformerhealthsecretary--hadthenforcedtheDelhiHighCourttodirecttheCentrein2010tofor-mulateanationalvaccinepolicy.Despiterapsfrom the courts for not procuring enoughgovernmentmadevaccines,in2014lessthan3per cent of vaccines theCentre hadpur-chasedcamefromPSUs.In2013,BharatBiotechhaddevelopeda

vaccine, Jenevac, for encephalitis. But theCongress government preferred to importChinesevaccines.Similarly,despitedomesti-callyavailablevaccinesforrotavirus,theUPAchoseforeignsuppliers.In2014theModigo-vernmentcametopowerandimmediatelyincludedfourIndian-madevaccinesintotheUIP.Thatgaveahugeimpetustothedomes-ticvaccine industryandhelped indevelop-ingtheCOVIDvaccineinsuchashorttime.Ihavenohesitancyinsayingthat10years

of UPA rulehavehadanadverse impact onourvaccinesecurity.The leastweexpectofour friends inthe

Oppositionistogiveusconcretesuggestions.Letthemdebateoverhowmanycangetvac-cinated in the shortest possible time; letthemofferusideasonhowgovernmentscancatalysethishistoriceffort.Castingneedlessaspersionsonpricingandmotivesdoesnothelpanyone,particularlytheCongress.

ThewriterisaseniorBJPleaderandaministerintheoutgoingAssamgovernment.

TheBJPwonasecondtermonSunday

THE COVID-19 EPIDEMIC has come backwith a vengeance. As per official data, wenow have over three lakh cases and 3,000deathseveryday. Inmost cities across Indiathere is great demand for ICUs and criticalcare beds, a shortage of oxygen and hoard-ing of keymedicines. Other shortagesmayemergeas thedaysgoby.Our top scientists and bureaucrats have

claimed that the secondwavewas indeedexpected and wewere prepared. But theplanningwas confounded by two factors:First,amoreinfectiousmutationofthevirus,andsecond,thepeople, forbeing“arrogant”andnotfollowingCOVIDdiscipline.Ourme-diawantstopintheblameonpoliticians fortheirrallies, theKumbhandfornotworkingtogether. Butwe argue that this is a routinefailure of our centralised scientific and ad-ministrative bureaucracy common to otherareasof development.WeoftencompareourselveswithEurope

ortheUS.AvisittothewebpageoftheCentrefor Disease Control (CDC), US gives us sev-eral important facts, state-wise, about theepidemicthere,diligentlycollectedbymanyuniversityresearchers.Forexample,welearnthat the current hospitalisation demand isabout 15 per 100,000 population and themortalityis6percentanddropping.Theme-dian hospital stay is five days for a non-ICUpatientand14days foran ICU-patient.Noneoftheseclinicalfactsareknownfor

India.Andyet, theyarecrucial formanagingthe epidemic. As an example, let us analysewhat happened inMaharashtra betweenMarch30andApril20,2021,closetothecur-rentpeak.COVID-19 care in Maharashtra is

broadly organised as tier I consisting oflargeprivatehospitals, andwell-equippedpublic hospitals in main cities, tier II ofsmallerprivateandpublichospitalsdottedacross the state, and tier III of communityorhomecare.This roughlymatches thehi-erarchy given by the central ministry.Critical care is provided by tier I hospitals,and to some extent, tier II hospitals.Letusnowrelatemortalitywiththeavail-

abilityofcriticalcarebedsforseverepatients.Inspired by the CDCof theUS, let us use in-dicativevaluesforkeyparametersandcom-pute a Quality-of-CareMultiplier (table 1).This tells us thatwe should expect roughlyonedeathperdayfroma250-bedtier Icrit-ical care hospital, but three deaths from a250-bed tier II hospital. Tier III is essentiallyadenialofserviceforasevereCOVIDpatient.For any hospital, computing the basic

quality-of-caremultiplier, that is, recordingthemortality and duration of care is basicstatistics. In fact, this, alongwith the num-berofbedsineachtier,definestheprepared-ness of the district or the city. For example,Nanded’s official preparedness on April 20was1,939tier Ibedsand1,156tier IIbeds.Toitscredit,Maharashtrahasbeenbothtrans-parent about preparedness and responsiveto risingdemand.Giventhedailydeathrate(DDR),itisnow

easytoestimatehospitalutilisationandclas-

sifythestresslevel inadistrict.Welabelitaswhite(0), ifallpatientsgettierIcare,grey(1)if some have transitioned into tier II with ahighermortality,andfinallyblack(2)if ithasdropped into tier III, effectively a denial ofservice. Table 2 displays these results for afewdistrictsofMaharashtraasonMarch30andonApril20,2021.TheDDRiscomputedasa7-dayaverage.We see that districts degraded from

white (0), togrey (1) and finally toblack (2).Maharashtra did increase tier I capacity by18percentandtier IIby24percent,but theepidemic was faster. Though Pune andMumbai sawmore deaths, theywere alsobetter off. Rural districts of Parbhani andAhmednagar continue to be poorly provi-sioned. Severe patients from heremust ei-thermigrate toneighbouringwhite (0) andgrey (1) districts or retreat into home care.Moreover,astierIcapacityisexhausted,anx-ietyrisesasonlypoorerquality tier IIhospi-talsareavailable.Thesupplychainsof thesehospitals are weak leading to shortages ofoxygen anddrugs. Hoarding of services be-comes endemic andmortality rises. Thischain of events has been reported inmanydistrictsofMaharashtra.Thus,keyparametersandaplanningap-

proach do reveal the geography of the epi-demic and help predict shortages. And yet,ourscientificagencieshavenotcomeupwithany quantitative norm for preparedness orguidelinesforstatestofollow,letalonemoresophisticatedlifesavingservicessuchasbedallocationsorambulancedispatchsoftwares.Let us come to oxygen availability.

Assuming a critical care consumption of 15kgperpatientperday,thecurrentIndia-widedemand of 4,000MT indicates that about2,60,000 patients are under critical care.Assuming tier II care, this gives us about3,000 deaths every day coming just fromthesehospitals.Thisamountstotwodeathspermillionperday,anumberroutinelyseenacross the world and evenmany parts ofIndia in the firstwave. In fact, a peak rate offive deaths permillion per day should have

beenadoptedasaplanningobjective inourNational Disaster Management Plan. Thatwould have quickly revealed that the na-tionalcapacityof7,000MTwasnotadequateandurgentmeasureswere required.But theremaywell be no suchNational

Plan for the epidemic. As late as August 18,2020,when the firstwavewas in full swing,theSupremeCourtacceptedthestatementofthe SolicitorGeneral of India that no specialplanwas required. It is only now that it hasaskedtheCentreforanationalplanonoxygenandvaccinationsandthestatesforanaffidavitstating their health infrastructure.Hopefully,thesewillhavetherequiredgranularity.Thus, whatwe see is the usual problem

ofpoordesignofempiricalandscientificsys-tems, excessive centralisation and a failureof execution. Fixing this is the job of oursarkari scientists andbureaucrats—anelitesalaried classwhich our politicians did nothireandcannot fire.Compounding this is the absence of re-

search.Domicro-containmentzoneswork?Howdoes Keralamanage to keep its deathratesolow?Ismass-testingofnon-sympto-maticpeopleagoodidea?Andbroaderques-tions: Are our railway coaches any safer to-day?Orourclassrooms?Theseshouldhavebeen answered over the last one year.Wehaveover3,000eminentscientistsandpro-fessorsinoureliteinstitutions,withthebeststudents at theirdisposal. But theyhaveyetto step out of their campus to work, suomoto,onliveproblemsandprovideanswers.Unless they do this, theywill serve neithersciencenor society.Thus, it is unfair to blameourpeople for

their anxieties or solely our politicians fortheir folly. The real problem all along hasbeenanoutdatedadministrativesystem,andaknowledgeelitewhohavesoakeduppres-tige,butnotdeliveredthefacts.Theyarethebiggesthurdlebetweenusandamaterialso-cietywithamodernaccountable state.

Sohoni teachesat IITBombayandDeshmukhisa freelance researcher

SCIENTIFIC TEMPER

THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘In thishourofCovidcrisis, letsciencetalk’ (IE,May 2). It invokes the idea of “scien-tific temper”coinedbyNehruin1945,which was endorsed in theConstitution, enjoining that it shouldbethedutyof everycitizentodevelopscientific temper, humanism and thespirit of enquiry. But, unfortunately,we built a culture inwhich the scien-tific method lost its significance. Hadthe efforts to develop scientific tem-per not been undermined, wewouldnot have seen COVID-19 as the“endgame”duringearlyMarchandthedeadly secondwave.

G JavaidRasool, Lucknow

NO DEFENCE

THIS REFERS TO the article ‘No timefor partisanship’ (IE, May 1). It is ap-palling to see the blatant defensive-nessadoptedby theapologistsof thisgovernmentwhen it comes to takingownershipof thepandemiccrisis. Theauthor is quick to imply a politicalmotivebehindall critiquesof thegov-ernment. However, what is com-pletelymissed is that a large propor-tion of those who have expressedresentmentat thegovernment’shan-dling of the COVID crisis are individ-uals with sound academic back-groundandabalanced readingof thesituation or the common man who

hasengulfed in thequagmire. Thecit-ing of the PM’s laurels in the face ofdemocraticquestioning further rein-forces the oligarchical fashion inwhich the Centre functions.

DrKushalBanerjee,NewDelhi

LACK OF AWARENESS

THISREFERSTO theeditorial ‘SOS’ (IE,May1).ThefirstreasonforIndia’smen-talhealthcrisisis lackofawarenessandsensitivity about the issue. People stillconsider it a “taboo”subjectandthereis a serious shortage of mental healthcareworkforce in India.

SayeedurRahman,

Mirzapur village,Darbhanga

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

IN TERMS OF political grammar, the 2021Assemblyelectionwill godownin thehis-tory of Kerala as one which has changedtheverycommonsenseof itselectoralpol-itics. At the core of this common sense laythe reluctance of the people to offer a sec-ondconsecutivetermtoagovernment.Theonly timeKeralabreachedthiswas in1977when a Congress coalition won a secondterm. Now it is the turn of communists tocreate history.The election also proved that the pri-

mary art of politics is power seeking. Thechemistry of election, hence, shifted to-wards the physics of grabbing power, sansideology. All the three fronts, therefore,harpedonfreebiesratherthandebatinganyworldview.Thiswassafety-netpoliticsat itsbest. The nature of alliances and the pre-paredness of parties to accommodate op-portunisticpoliticiansalsostandstestimonyto this. Efforts were also afoot to lure eachother's coalitionpartners. Thusparties andalliancesremainedborderless,encouragingfree traffic of disgruntledelements.The verdict shows that the Kerala

electorate has overwhelmingly voted forthe LDF— itwon99 seats, eightmore thanits previous tally. That it has swept 10 outof14districtsshowsthecomprehensivena-tureof its victory.Among theconstituents,theCPM’sperformance ismost impressive

with68 seats.Thegreatestsetbackinthiselectionisfor

the UDF. For the first time in the history ofKerala it failed todefeatan incumbentgov-ernment. It got just 41 seats, six seats lessthanin2016.Outof this, theCongressshareis 22 and that of IUML 15. The BJP came acropperthistimeasit losteventheloneseatitheld.TheinitialreadingisthattheLDFhascut intothesocialbaseof theCongresssub-stantially, and theBJP toa lesser extent.People always look at politics in a way

thatmakessensetothem.Theymaychoosepolitical facts they can define and under-stand and reach certain conclusions. Thistimewhatweighedwiththepeoplewasnotscams,corruption,Sabarimalaor investiga-tionsby centralagencies. Instead, theysawinPinarayiVijayanacrisismanager,astrongleader who measures up to the event,whether the floodor thepandemic.And the LDF knew toowell the story it

wanted to tell the people andwho shouldbe its master narrator. For the first time inthehistoryofKerala, theCPMprojectedoneleader, PinarayiVijayan, eclipsingall othersincludingitscentral leadership.Likeadem-ocratic supremo,hehandled the campaignsingle-handedly. Itwasnot fornothingthatDeshabhimani, the CPMmouthpiece, de-scribedhimasCaptain. Itwasapersonalitycultat itsbest.Whether itwouldaugurwell

for thepartyordemocracy is tooobvioustobe left to anybody’s guess.Welfare measures and development

works undertaken by the government toohelped to enhance its image.Not only that,but italsoconvincedthepeopleaboutwhatit did through advertisements, slogans,songs,andtheeffectiveuseof socialmedia.Further, the realignment of political

forces also worked to the Left’s advantage.With the induction of KCMand LJD into itsfold, itbecamearainbowcoalitionof11par-ties as against the eight-party coalition ledbytheCongress,mostofwhomaresplinterparties/groups.Thecompetitionwasnotbe-tweenequals.Besides, the Congress seemed not to

know the story it wanted to tell. Neithercould it agree upon themaster narrator. Itwas a cacophony of sounds with little or-ganisational prowess and monetary re-sources.While it concentratedonexposingthe lapsesof thegovernment, it failedtoef-fectively counter the Left move to play ontheinsecurityof theminoritiesbyascertain-ingthatthereal fightthistimeinKeralawasbetween the LDF and the NDA. This ulti-matelyresultedinasizeablenumberofmi-norityvotesswingingtowardstheLDFeveninUDFstrongholds.The results clearly show that in the

brave newworld of Kerala politics, power

is the new religion. The fact that the UDFhas lost this race will be disastrous for itsvery survival as amajor actor in statepoli-tics. The results will definitely fuel inter-party and intra-party feuds in the UDF,leading toaclearancesaleof political turn-coats. The frontwill also suffer further de-pletion in terms of coalition partnerswhowoulddesert it themomenttheysensepo-liticalwilderness for themselves. Thereju-venationofUDFdependson the readinessof the Congress to address its organisa-tionalweaknesses.Without doubt, the election has also

completedthetransformationofCPMfromanideologicalpartytoanelectoral force.Forquite some time, it has been clear that thePinarayi government has been sheddingideologicalpretensionsat thealtarofpolit-ical expediency. Now that he has createdhistorybybeing theonlyCPMchiefminis-ter in Kerala to lead the party to power foraconsecutivesecondterm,hisholdovertheparty and the government will be beyondreproach. Interestingly, what is left of theLeft in Kerala today is not the Left as animagination or a dream, but just anotherpolitical force with its own set of cold po-litical calculations.

Thewriterwasprofessorof politicalscience,UniversityofKerala

TheCPMhadaconvincingnarrativeandamasternarrator

Keeping to the left in KeralaIDEAS

ONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●STOPRELIGIOUS

GATHERINGSDURINGCOVID:

KAVITAKRISHNAN

●ROADTOCLEANENERGY

GOESVIANATURALGAS:

VIKRAMMEHTA


Himanta Biswa

Sarma

Virus in the systemTenyearsofUPArulesawIndia’svaccinesecurityseverelyundermined.Now,inOpposition,party’sattacksonvaccinemanufacturersarebaseless

Poorlydesignedempiricalandscientificsystems,excessivecentralisationandafailureofexecutionaretobeblamedforthecurrentCovidcrisis.Scientists,bureaucratsandthepoliticalclassmustanswer

Congress muststop jibes at jabs

J Prabhash

Milind Sohoni,

AlakhyaDeshmukh

Table 1: THECRITICAL CAREMULTIPLIER

Treatment Duration Mortality Quality-of-CareMultiplier

Tier I 14 6% 100/6*14=233

Tier II 8 10% 100/10*8=80

Tier III 4 25% 100/25*4=16

TABLE2: STRESS IN SELECTDISTRICTSOFMAHARASHTRA

Districts 30thMarch2021 20thApril2021

DDR Tier IBeds Tier2Beds Stress DDR Tier IBeds Tier2Beds Stress

Ahmednagar 3 430 2396 1 45 430 2827 2

Mumbai 11 7927 4718 0 50 8798 5134 1

Nanded 7 1349 817 1 24 1939 1156 2

Parbhani 5 363 281 1 8 363 400 2

Pune 14 6005 4044 0 37 6689 5638 1

Maharashtra 138 42642 36340 0 423 50356 45290 1

CR Sasikumar

Ahmedabad



8 DECISION 2021W E S T B E N G A L ● K E R A L A ● T A M I L N A D U ● A S S A M ● P U D U C H E R R Y


MAY2

BUCKING its tradition of votingout the ruling party every fiveyears, Kerala chose to staywiththe Left Democratic Front, ren-dering theCongress-ledUDFanembarrassingdefeatinthestate.The coalition,which bagged

19 out of 20 seats in the LokSabha elections of 2019, endedwith 41 seats in the 140-strongAssembly. The UDF showwasmainlyconfinedtocentralKeraladistricts of Ernakulam andKottayam, and ally IUML'sstrongholdofMalappuram.In fact, the Congress, the

UDF's leading party, fared the

worst. Of the 93 seats it con-tested, fielding new and youngfacesinhalfof them,itcouldwinonly 21. In Rahul Gandhi’sWayanad Lok Sabha seat too,where he extensively cam-paigned, theUDFlost inthreeofthesevenAssemblysegments.Congress state president

Mullappally Ramachandrancalled the defeat unexpected."There isnothing inthepoliticalsituation in Kerala that justifiesthisverdict."In the southern districts of

Thiruvananthapuram andKollam, the Congresswon onlythreeoutof25seats.Amongthebiggestshocks for thepartywasthedefeatofVSSivakumarfromThiruvananthapuram tominorLDF ally Janathipathya Kerala

Congress’s Antony Raju.Congress young face and two-termlegislatorKSSabarinathanlost to CPM local leader GStephen,whohadfacedprotestsfromwithin theparty.InOppositionleaderRamesh

Chennithala’s Alappuzha dis-trict, theCongresswinwas lim-ited tohis seat.TheCongresshadexpecteda

wave in its favour in coastal ar-eas in southern districts as thefishermen communitywas an-gry with the LDF governmentover a deal with US firms fordeep-sea fishing. The Catholicdiocese of Alappuzha andKollam had openly come outagainstthedealduringtheelec-tions, leading the Congress tohope for gains in the 40-odd

coastal constituencies inKerala.However, thatdidnothappen.InNorthKeraladistrictsalso,

theCongresscouldnot improveitstally.InKozhikodedistrict,theparty could not win in a singleseat.The IUMLon theother hand

won 17 of the 27 seats it con-tested, retaining its hold on itsbastionofMalappuramdistrict.Last time, it had contested 23seatsandwon18.The breakaway Kerala

Congress led by P J Josephwononly two of the 10 seats it hadcontested.AmongtheUDFleaderswho

lost were KM Shaji (IUML), V TBalram (Congress), Anil Akkara(Congress)andKSSabarinathan(Congress).

The defeat is a second blowfor the Congress after the localbodyelectionsinDecember,thatthe LDF had swept, andmanyparty leaders admitted it was ado-or-die battle. After theDecemberloss,theCongresshadbroughtinformerchiefministerOommen Chandy to the cen-trestage,making him the chair-manof theelectioncommittee.Ithadalso this timeselected

names based on "winnability",avoiding its usual pitfall of fac-tionalleaderspushingownlead-ers.Thepartyalsohopedtohave

madeanimpactwiththeanom-alies in electoral rolls allegedbyChennithalaintherun-uptovot-ing. The ruling CPM hadmain-tainedsilenceonthematter.

BJP DEFEAT IN BENGAL

ALLY IUMLHOLDS ITSGROUND

Wayanad to coastal areas,Cong can’t stop Pinarayi wave

KeralaCMPinarayiVijayangreetssupportersatacountingcentre inKannuras theresults indicatehe is returningtopower,onSunday.AP

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHANDIGARH,MAY2

FARMERS AGITATING againstthe three farm laws since lastyear burst crackers and distrib-uted sweets at dharna sites inHaryanaasnewscame inof theBJP's defeat in the Assemblyelections inWestBengal.Theprotestingfarmerscalled

theWestBengalresultstheirfirstsignificant win against the rul-ingBJPat theCentre,whichwill

boost theiragitationagainst thefarmlaws.Intherun-uptotheelections,

many farmer leaders of theSamyukta Kisan Morcha hadtoured Bengal to campaignagainsttheBJPaspartoftheirag-itation.Theyhadappealedtothevotersnot tosupport theBJP.The election results were

keenly followed at the protestsites in Haryana on Sunday. Assoon as it became clear thatMamata Banerjee's TMC wassweeping the polls, farmers at

the venue of their protest at atoll plaza in Hisar district dis-tributed gulab jamuns, whilethose at a toll plaza in Jind dis-trict burst crackers anddistrib-uted ladoos.“Nextyear, the farmers from

the entire country will go toUttar Pradesh to defeat it (therulingBJP)thereintheAssemblypolls,” saidHaryanaBKU leaderGurnam Singh Chaduni, whohad addressed several publicmeetings in Bengal against thefarmlaws.

“TheBJPmaydisappearfromthe country,” said Chaduni in avideomessageaddressedtothefarmers. “Now, the reverse gearof the BJP government hasstarted.”Jind BKU president Azad

Palwa said, “The Bengal resultswill give more strength to thefarmersastheyhadcampaignedagainstPrimeMinisterNarendraModi there. This is our first bigvictory as the BJP hadmade theBengalAssemblyelectionapres-tige issue.”

SEEN AS as a prime contenderfor the Chief Minister’s post inAssam, senior BJP leaderHimanta Biswa Sarma spoke toLizMathewafterhisparty’svic-tory in thestate.Excerpts:

WhathashelpedtheBJPreturntopower?Prime Minister Narendra

Modi has made the Northeastthecentreofdevelopmentinthecountry... There are policies to-wardsthedevelopmentof infra-structure,roads,railway,univer-sities etc. The state governmenttootookanumberof initiatives.Peoplehavealsoappreciatedthestategovernment’sfightagainstCovid... and have voted againstthe divisive politics and unholyalliancesof theOpposition.

TheBJPusuallybackstheincumbentCMinanelection.Whynot inAssam.The central

leadershipwillhavetoanswerthisques-tion.But I thinkasapolitical party, wedonothaveastrait-jacket formula.According to thepolitical situationand requirement,the party adopts apolicyor stand.

Ashealthminister,youmanagedthestate’sCovidsituation.Doyouthinkithelpedtheparty’svictory?Some things have con-

tributed. A women empower-ment policy, of transfering cashto22 lakhwomen, themanage-mentof CovidwhereAssamisamodel for other states... Peoplehave realised that continuity ingovernmentwouldmakeAssamprosperous.

GiventheCovidsituation,doesn’t thestaterequireexperiencedhands?It’s time the country is

united, keeping aside politicaldifferencesandrallyaroundthePM...Whoever is going to headthe government, first priority istomanage theCovidsituation.

WereyoupromisedchiefministershipofAssam?No,absolutelynot...Wehave

not discussed anything on thatline... I am satisfied that, some-where in theBJP’s victory, there

is a small contribu-tion frommy sidealso.

What’sgoingtobenewinthisgovernment?Wehaveavision

documentwhich isslightly differentfrom the last one.Becausewedidnothavegovernmental

experience last time... Last time,itwasonly Iwhohadtheminis-terial experience in the govern-ment.Butthistimewewillhavemanyexperiencedhands...

WhatwillhappentotheCAAafter theWestBengaldefeatfor theBJP(thepartykeptquietontheAct inAssamduringthepolls)?The CAA is a legislation

passed by Parliament and theCentre has to frame rules for it.Wewill not be able to say any-thing unless we have the rules.ButIstronglyfeelthatIndiamustprotect itsgenuine refugees.

‘On CAA... I feelwe must protectgenuine refugees’


THE CONGRESS-led grand al-lianceorMahajot,andthetie-upformed by two new regionalparties in Assam, failed to stopthe NDA forming the govern-ment fora secondterm.Among those who lost was

stateCongresschiefRipunBora,from his constituency Gohpur.Soonafter,hesubmittedhisres-ignation toSoniaGandhi.In the 2016 elections, the

Congress had won 26 seats inAssam.Thiswasthefirstelectionafter demise of the veteranCongressleaderTarunGogoi.Till11pm on Sunday, the Congresshadwon18 seats andwas lead-ing in 12, a marginal improve-ment of just four seats despiteputtingupaspiritedfight, form-ing some strong coalitions andgetting itshouse inorder.AseniorCongressleadersaid

that the lack of a face for CMmight have hurt theMahajot’sprospects. In the absence ofGogoi, there were several con-tenders for the post in the stateunit, with differences betweenthemspillingout in theopen.Oneofthecontentiousissues

fortheleaderswastheCongressdecision to align, for the firsttime, with MP and perfumebaronBadruddinAjmal'sAIUDF--which enjoys a large supportbase amongst Bengali-originMuslims. In the campaign, theBJP constantly attacked theCongress-AIUDFalliance,sayingitwould promote illegalmigra-tion,helpingtheBJPdousesomeof the fireover itsCAAplans.In 2016, the AIUDF hadwon

13seatswitha13.05%voteshare.Thistimethepartycontested20seats and till 11.15pm, hadwonnineandwas leading inseven.When asked about the

Mahajot Sunday, Assamminis-ter Himanta Biswa Sarma told

thepressinGuwahati,“AstrongOppositionisgoodforthehealthof democracy. My only point isthattheOppositionshouldleavepolitics of appeasement. I hopethey speak for the entire popu-lationofAssam.”The electionwas essentially

atriangularcontestbetweentheNDA,Mahajotandanallianceoftwonewlyformedregionalpar-ties-- theAssamJatiyaParishad(AJP) and Raijor Dal (RD). Thatalsohurt theCongress.The Congress leader quoted

above said, "TheAJP andRDateupourvotes.”WhiletheAJPfailedtosecure

a lead on any seat and its presi-dent Lurinjyoti Gogoi lost boththeconstituencieshecontestedfrom, jailedactivistAkhilGogoi,wholeadstheRD,wassettowinSibsagar. Gogoi is in jail for overa year now after being bookedonchargesof sedition.“As Akhil Gogoi steps into

parliamentary politics, I hopethat the unparliamentaryworkthat he was involved with tillnowstops,” SarmasaidSunday.On Lurinjyoti Gogoi, he said,

"Hehasa future.”The influential BPF, led by

HagramaMohilary,aformerallyof theBJP,wassupposedtohavegiven a shot in the arm to theMahajot in the BodolandTerritorial Region (BTR). ButSunday’s results showed thatwasnot thecase.

WITH

HIMANTABISWA

SARMA

SENIORBJPLEADER

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEW

HealthMinisterKKShailaja(Mattannurseat),CPM;

61.97%votes

ChiefMinisterPinarayiVijayan(Dharmadam),CPM;

59.61%votes

ManiCKappen (Pala),Independent;50.43%votes

PRajeeve (Kalamassery);CPM;49.52%votes

KKRema(Vadakara),RevolutionaryMarxistPartyof India;47.63%votes

MBRajesh (Thaithala),CPM;45.73%votes

BIGWINNERS

KSurendran(Manjeshwaram,Konni),BJP;by5,832and17,208votes

JoseKMani (Pala),KeralaCong(M);by15,386votes

BIGLOSERS

JMercykuttyAmma(Kundara),CPM;by521votes

ESreedharan(Palakkad),BJP;by973votes

KERALA


1,98,23,318Turnout

(approxnumber)

74%Turnout(approx)

ChiefMinisterSarbanandaSonowal,(Majuli),BJP;

67.53%votes

HealthMinisterHimantaBiswaSarma(Jalukbari),BJP;

77.32%votes

RanjeetKumarDass(Patacharkuchi),BJP;71.69%votes

RakibulHussain(Samaguri),Cong;58.09%votes

AkhilGogoi(Sibsagar), Independent;46.61%votes

BIGWINNERS

ChandanBrahma(Sidli),BodolandPeople’sFront;by31,320votes

LurinjyotiGogoi(Duliajan),AJP;by30,570votes

PranabDoley(Bokakhat), Independent;by45,181votes

RipunBora(Gohpur),Cong;by29,294votes

PramilaRaniBrahma(KokrajharEast),Bodoland

People’sFront;by20,095votes

BIGLOSERS

ASSAM


1,90,60,452Turnout

(approxnumber)

82%Turnout(approx)


MAY2

FAR fromwinning at least half-a-dozen seats as it claimed itwould do, the BJP endedwith aduck in Kerala, losing evenNemomthatithadwonin2016.Moreover,unlikelasttimewhenitendedupsecondinsevencon-stituencies, it managed thatmark inonly five.The Nemomwin had been

positioned as a stepping stonefor the BJP into Kerala's politics.The party had also hoped tomake gains by playing up thecontroversyovertheSabarimalatempleentryissue,targetingtheHinduvote.However, itgotonlyaround11%of thevotes, aroundthe same as 2016, and a dropfromits2019LokSabhacount.AmongthebigloserswasBJP

state president K Surendran,who could win neither of thetwoconstituencieshecontestedfrom,KonniorManjeshwar.Themuch-publicisedMetro

Man E Sreedharan, a self-pro-claimedchiefministerial candi-date, put up a fight till the last

round of counting in Palakkadconstituencybuteventuallylost.In Kazhakootam con-

stituency,partycandidateSobhaSurendranlosttoTempleAffairsMinister KadakampallySurendran, despite the latterbearing theSabarimalaheat.During the campaign, CPM

CM-candidate Pinarayi Vijayanhad stated thatwhile five yearsback the BJP had opened its ac-count inNemom,"this time,wewill close that account and theBJP’svote sharewill godown’’.OnSundayafter CPMcandi-

date V Sivankutty defeated theBJP’sKummanamRajasekharanin Nemom, Vijayan noted, "BJPleaders even said the partywould form the governmentwithoutgettingamajority.”Prime Minister Narendra

Modi had himself raisedSabarimala issue in his cam-paign, recitingAyyappachants.The poor show of the BJP in

Kerala is likely to trigger unrestin the state unit. The RSS hadbeen directly involved in cam-paigning in several constituen-cies. A party leader said the re-sult showed Kerala does notaccept thenewBJP leadership.

BJP back to ground ‘zero’in Kerala, temple noanswer to party prayers


MAY2

ALTHOUGH THE CPM-led LDFretainedpowerinKeralawith99seats, LDF ally Kerala Congress(M) chairman Jose KMani lostfromhisparty’shomelandPala.JoselostPala,whichhisfather

late KMMani represented forhalf-a-century, to NCP-KeralaleaderandsittinglegislatorManiCKappan.TheNCP-Keralaleaderhadwontheseat in theby-elec-tionheld in2019after thedeath

of KMMani. Kappan retainedPala for amargin of 15,000-oddvotes.Jose'spartybaggedfiveseats

for theLDF incentralKerala, butthe loss of Pala is a setback forhim.TheJuniorManihadquitasa member of the Rajya Sabhaearlythisyeartocontesttheelec-tion fromPala, in a bid to claimthe legacyof his father. If hehadgot elected, Jose would haveemerged as a key figure in thenewPinarayiVijayancabinet.Josehadearliergotelectedto

the Rajya Sabha on aUDF ticketwhenhispartyhadbeenanally

of the UDF. After shifting to theLDF,hehadquittheRSmember-shiponmoralgrounds.In the LDF, Jose had faced

protests from a section of CPMworkers who have been tradi-tionally against the KeralaCongress(M).Infact,daysbeforeelections, KC (M) workers hadclashedwith theCPMinPala.On Sunday, Jose blamed his

rival's underhand dealwith theBJP forhisdefeat.In a saving grace for Jose, his

rivalPJ Joseph’sKeralaCongresswononlytwoseatsoutof the10it contested.

Jose Mani gives up RS seat butloses bid for his father’s mantle

Sweets, crackers at Haryana farm protest sites

AtKhatkar tollplaza, Jind

AkhilGogoi’swifecelebrateshiswinSunday.DasarathDeka

UDFThripoonithuracandidateK.BabucelebrateshisvictorywithsupportersatKochi. PTI

Mahajot mathslacked one Xfactor: a CM face

Ahmedabad

9


Decoding the Assembly verdictsSIMPLYPUT

HowdidMamataweathertheaggressiveBJPcampaigninWestBengal?HowdidBJPovercometheangeragainstCAAinAssam?Whatfactors ledtoDMK’sreturninTamilNaduafter10years,andLDF’sback-to-backvictoriesthatendedthetrendofalternatingregimesinKerala?Alookatthekeytakeaways

LDF win could trigger change in all parties

@ieExplained

#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould like

explained, pleasewrite to [email protected] EXPLAINEDTHEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,MAY3,2021

WEST BENGAL

KERALA

ASSAM

BJP silent onCAA, choseto focus onschemes andtarget AIUDF

DIPANKARGHOSENEWDELHI,MAY2

FORTHEBJP,May2wastobeacrowningmo-ment,when theywouldwinWest Bengal.Anelection campaign that lasted for over amonthsawthepresenceofabatteryofcen-tralministers,includingHomeMinisterAmitShahandPrimeMinisterNarendraModi.ButonSundayafternoon,withoutawheelchairforthefirsttimeinafewweeks,itwasChiefMinisterMamataBanerjeewhospoketothepeopleofthestateasthevictor.Whatarethefactorsthatledtotheresult?

WelfarewebThreeyearsafterahugewininthe2016

elections,the2019LokSabhaelectionswereawake-upcall for theTrinamoolCongress.TheBJPwon18of 40seats, andover40%ofthevote.ItwasthenthattheTrinamooldou-bleddownon its alreadyextensivewelfarewebforthepoor,bringinginDuareSarkaar,andDidi ke Bolo, a campaignwhere com-plaintscouldbemadetoacentralisedphonenumber. Over the last one decade, theTrinamool had instituted several schemessuchasRupashree,Kanyashree, andSaboojSaathithatsawmonetarybenefitsfortheun-derprivileged.TheBJPframedtheseschemesascentresof corruptionbyTrinamool lead-ers.Ontheground,twothingswereevident.First, theTrinamoolhadfocusedonmakingtheschemesmoreaccessibletopeople,withDuare Sarkaar andDidi KeBolo also givingtheparty informationonwhere theyweregoingwrong.Forinstance,Triinamoollead-erssaidoneofthemostcommoncomplaintswasthelackofSCcertificatesinsomeareas,whichwerethenfreelydistributed.Second,thecentral focusofmanyof these schemeswerewomen,aconstituencythathasstayedloyal toMamataBanerjee. Across districts,even ifmenof ahouseholdwerevoting fortheBJP,manywomenofthesamehouseholdwerestayingwithMamata.

Battle of personalitiesAs the campaign progressed, the elec-

tionsdevolvedintoabattleofpersonalities,Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee versusPrimeMinisterNarendraModi,andtoanex-tentHomeMinisterAmit Shah. This endedupsuiting theTrinamool. For, it is clear thatwhiletherewasangeronthegroundagainstlocal-levelviolenceandpettycorruption,thiswas against the Trinamool andnot againstMamataherself; she retainedherpopular-

ityasBengal’smatriarch,withpeopleblam-ing the local party cadres for their troubles.Thepartythendesigneditscampaignaroundthe personality of Mamata Banerjee, thestreetfighter, wheelchair-bound but stillfighting. TheBJP toomadeher the centre-pieceof itsattack,withthePrimeMinister’s“Didi,oDidi”remarkbecomingaleitmotifintheelections.Butthiswasno2019,andpeo-pleonthegroundwereawarethatModiwasnot on theballot for ChiefMinister ofWestBengal.Ontheground,whileModiwasnotunpopular,hewasnotattheforefrontofcon-versations andwouldonlybe talkedaboutwhenaquestionabouthimwasasked. Andthetaunt,orthefocusedcriticismofMamata,wasnotreceivedwell.

Politics of polarisationReligiouspolarisationwas at the centre

of the campaignall through.While theBJPaccusedtheTrinamoolof“Muslimappease-

ment”,andusedtheslogan“JaiShriRam”al-most as apolitical slogan,Mamata and theTrinamoolhadtowalkatightrope,evenrecit-ing the Chandipath during the campaign.Eventually,thepolarisationseemedtoworkforonesidebetterthantheother.FacedwiththeprospectoftheBJPcomingtopower,theMuslimcommunity,eveninstrongholdsoftheCongressandtheLeft,chosetosidewiththeTrinamool.Ontheotherhand,theBJPsetitselfanEverest-liketargetofwinningBengalwithout the close to30%Muslimvote. Thisrequiredanextremelyhighlevelofpolarisa-tionamongHindus,whichdidnothappen.Mamata’soutreach,andherdecisionnottoovertlyfall intothereligiousbinary,paidoff,withtheTrinamoolincreasingitsvotesharefrom2019, andwidening the gapwith theBJPwhosesharefell.

OrganisationaldifferencesThe run-up to the campaignwashead-

lined by high-profile shifts from theTrinamooltotheBJP,fromministersSuvenduAdhikariandRajibBanerjee topowerful lo-calleaderslikeJitendraTiwarifromAsansol.Whilethiswasbroadlyreadatasashiftingofthepoliticalsands,itallowedMamatatocre-ateasiegementalityaroundherselfandherparty. Much of the imaging became ofMamatafightingtheBJP’sresourcesbyher-self,thenarrativelendingitselftotheinsider-outsider trope as the ChiefMinister calledtheBJP“bargis” (plunderers).Atthegroundlevel,Trinamoolleadersfoughttheelectionswithitsbackstothewall,withmanydesper-atetoshowthosethatlefttheirplace.TheBJPon the other hand,with the newentrants,uncharacteristically appeared ideologicallyhollow. Differences over seat distributionemerged among the old guard of the BJP,thosefromtheLeftthatjoinedthepartyonlytodefeat the Trinamool, andnewentrantsfromtheTrinamool itself. In fact,while theBJPwouldarguethat itwouldnothavehadthe organisational strength to take on theTrinamoolif theinductionswerenotmade,thatmadeforacontradictionontheground.ForapartythatwaspitchingitselfagainsttheTrinamoolasnon-violentandnon-corrupt,many of its candidates inducted from theTrinamool facedtheirownlocalallegationsofcorruptionandviolence.

Little tooffer fromBJPTheBJPcampaignfundamentallyhinged

ontwofactors,anti-incumbencyandallegedMuslim appeasement, and therefore reli-giouspolarisation.Wherevertheconversa-tioninconstituenciesturnedlocal,toMLAs,to organisation, to the identification of theChiefMinister,orthealternativestheBJPwasproviding,theBJPlosttheargument.WhiletheBJPhadamanifesto,notonepromiseofthemanifestowas invested in as part of asustainedcampaignpitch,asanalternativeto the Trinamool’swelfare schemes.Withthe central leadership takingownershipofthecampaign,andnoclarityonwhichofthelieutenants,SuvenduAdhikari,orMukulRoyorDilipGhoshoranyoneelsewouldbechiefministerialcandidate,therewasnoanswerto the question of who else butMamata.Despiteitspublicityandrallyblitzkrieg,theBJPwas not able to convince voters that itwould win. So even in places whereTrinamoolcandidateorthepartyitselfwasunpopular,withpeopleevenfearfuloflocalhooliganism, the safer choicewas to staywith the Trinamool. The party’s organisa-tionstoodintact.

LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI,MAY2

THEVICTORYoftheLDFmarksthefirsttimesincethe1980sthatanincumbentpoliticalcombination has returned to power inKerala.Indoingso,theLDFhassurpasseditsearlier tally of 91 in the 140-memberAssembly.Howwaselectoralhistoryrewrit-ten in Kerala, andwhat are the key take-awaysfromSunday'sresults?

Vijayan’s leadershipChiefMinisterPinarayiVijayan's strong

anddecisive leadershipduringthecrises—floods and pandemic— that battered thestate during the past fewyears contrastedsharplywiththeCongress-ledUDFregime.Minorities,especiallyMuslims,sawVijayanandtheLDFasabulwarkagainsttheemer-gence of the BJP in the state. The ChiefMinister'sleadership,appreciatedespeciallyby women and the youth, was able to

counter the disenchantment among sec-tionsofHindusoverhisSabarimalamoves,whichhad contributed to the LDF's rout inthe2019LokSabhaelection.

Nature of politicsThe LDF's victory could change thena-

tureofpoliticsinthestateinsomesignificantways. In Kerala,where freebie politics hashadnogreat role, the freekits andpensionschemes offered by the LDF governmenthavebeenamajor success. “It's not freebiepolitics...Peoplewantdelivery,developmentanddecisive leadership. They appreciatedtheChiefMinister'sperseveranceandcom-mitment,”saidJohnBrittas,theRajyaSabhaMPwhohasbeenmediaadvisortotheCM.

Jolt forUDFThe outcome in Kerala is not just bad

newsfortheCongressinthestate,ithasthepotential to dismantle theUDF itself. TheIndianUnionMuslim League, the leadingMuslimparty in the state, is likely to have

complaintswith theCongress's inability toboth confront the BJP at the national level,andtokeepitstraditionalstrongholdssafe.

BJPdown, not outEven thoughVijayanhas succeeded in

“closing”theaccountthattheBJPopenedinKeralawithoneseatin2016,theBJPwasabletomake it a triangular fight in some con-stituencies. TheBJP'snational leadership isunlikelytotakeitseyesoffthestate,andwilltry to fish in the troubled waters of theCongress–andmaybegetsomedisgruntledleadersovertoitsside.ThecentralagenciesthathadcreatedheadachesforVijayanandhisgovernmentcouldcontinuetohaunthisnewgovernment.

Pressure on leadersAtthesametime,theLDF'slandslidevic-

torycouldtriggerbickeringanddisintegra-tion in both the Congress and BJP. In theCongress, therewillbecalls forarevamp—most senior leaders including Ramesh

Chennithala,OommenChandy,MullappallyRamachandran,andKCVenugopal,aswellasthecentralleadership,couldbeunderfire.IntheBJP, therewillbedemandsforthere-movalofKSurendran,whofailedtowinei-therofthetwoconstituencieshecontested.

Waning community influenceTheelectionshowedthediminishingin-

fluence of community leaders in the elec-toral choiceof thepeople.TheLDF'smarchwas not slowed by the calls given by theleadersoftheChurchorNairServiceSociety.

Organisational challengeThe results show that Vijayan was

backedbytheCPMcadre;henowfacesthechallenge of grooming a younger leader-ship.While the Congress still has a verystrongsecondlayerwithleadersrepresent-ing all communities and sects, the CPMlacks that advantage. Vijayan's new coun-cil ofministers is expected tohaveanum-berof younger leaders.


THE BJP, along with allies AGP and UPPL,haswontheAssamAssemblyelectionsandis set to become the first non-Congressparty to form thegovernment for a secondtime.Whatare thekeytakeaways fromtheelections?

CAA did not hurt BJPIn 2019, the BJP had faced violent

protests inAssam, leading to five deaths inpolice firing, after the Centre passed theCitizenship Amendment Act (CAA) inParliament. The BJP campaign in AssamcarefullyavoidedplayinguptheCAA.Whilereleasing its poll manifesto last month,partypresident JPNaddadidsaythat“CAAhas beenpassed by Parliament…Itwill beimplemented in letter and spirit.” TheCongress as well as new regional partiestried their best to keep theCAA issue alive,withtheCongresspromisingalawtorepealtheAct,but the issuefoundlittle tractionastheBJP avoided it during the campaign.

Congress-AIUDF allianceThe Congress tied up for the first time

withMPBadruddinAjmal’sAll IndiaUnitedDemocratic Front (AIUDF), which enjoys alarge support base among Bengali-originMuslims, or Miyas. The BJP constantly at-tackedthealliance—andAjmal inparticu-lar — during the campaign, alleging that itrepresentsathreattotheinterestsof indige-nouscommunities fromtheMiyacommu-nity. This polarised the votes to the BJP’sfavour in most regions, while the allianceconsolidated votes in the Muslim-domi-nateddistricts of LowerAssam.

Bodoland voteThe Congress-led Mahajot’s alliance

withinfluentialBodolandparty, theBPFledby HagramaMohilary, a former ally of theBJP, was supposed to have boosted the al-liance in the Bodoland Territorial Region(BTR).But inSunday’s results, thethreeBPFministers from the BJP-led government,nowwiththeCongress-AIUDF,all lost theirseats.TheBJP,ontheotherhand,alliedwiththe Bodoland party UPPL, which has in itsfold popular student leaders who signedthe recent BodoAccord.While the BJP contested four Assembly

seats falling in theBTR, theUPPLcontestedthe remaining eight. The two partieswerealso in ‘friendly’ contests in threeseats.TheUPPL’s emergence served a blow toMohilary’s influence, challenging hisstatureasthefaceofBodopolitics fornearly15years.

New regional partiesThe election has been essentially a tri-

angular contest involving the NDA, theCongress-led Mahajot, and an alliance oftwo new regional parties — Assam JatiyaParishad (AJP) andAkhil Gogoi’s RaijorDal(RD) — formed in the backdrop of resent-ment against theCAA.TheAJP andRD,which chosenot to ally

with the Congress, fared poorly with onlyAkhilGogoiwinning, inSivasagar.AJPpres-ident LurinjyotiGogoi, former general sec-retaryof theAASUand the faceof theanti-CAAprotests, lost inbothseatshecontested.Thedefeat raisesquestionabout the fu-

ture of Assamese sub-regional nationalistpolitics in the face of the BJP’s brandof na-tionalistic politics.

Sops and schemesThe BJP has gained from implementa-

tion of several welfare schemes targetingvarious sections of society.For instance, theOrunodoischemegives

amonthly assistanceof Rs830given to ac-countsofwomenmembersofmarginalisedfamilies through a Direct Benefit Transferprocedure.Thegovernmenthassaidthesceneben-

efits around22 lakhwomen.Anotherexampleisthedole-outscheme

calledChahBagichaDhanPuraskarMela inwhich lakhsof teagardenworkershavere-ceived Rs 8,000 in their accounts since2017-18, again through DBT. The govern-ment has released around Rs 400 crore toall eligible tea tribe community members—claimedtobearound7.5 lakhbeneficiar-ies — in two instalments of Rs.2,500 each.In the third tranche, over Rs 230 crore hasbeen transferred — Rs 3,000 each to indi-vidual accounts.

TAMILNADU

DMK lessonsin opposition,AIADMKmisstepsahead of pollsARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI,MAY2

AFTER 10 years in opposition, the DMKcouldn’t afford another defeat in this elec-tion.That itwoneventually isduetoanum-berof factors:

Lessons learnt in 10 yrsThelasttimetheDMKwasinopposition

for so long was in the 1980s, for almost adecade, when AIADMK founder A GRamachandranwasinpoweruntilhisdeathin1987.AftertheDMK’sdefeatin2011,Stalinled the party’s campaign and was its keystrategist in the 2016 polls. He erred bychoosingtocontestalone,adecisionthatledto the formation of a third front led by Leftpartieswhich eventually split the anti-gov-ernmentvotes.The 2019 Lok Sabha victorywas Stalin’s

steppingstoneintheroadtopower.Aheadofthe2021polls, not only Stalin but the entirepartyappearedconfidenteventhoughthereseemed tobenovisible signsof stronganti-incumbency. Itwasthe10-yearsstuntinop-position that helped theDMK towin votes,especiallywhentheAIADMKlackedacharis-maticleadertomatchthestatureof thelateJJayalalithaa.

Theminority factorBothkeypartiesinTamilNadu,DMKand

AIADMK,carrysecularcredentials.MorethanDMK, in fact, Jayalalithaa had strong cama-raderiewithminoritycommunities.Shewasalso loudinresistingBJP’sHindutvapolitics.Inthiselection,whatmadetheDMKvic-

tory easierwasAIADMK’s alliancewith theBJP.ThesilenceofAIADMKonmanyminor-ityissues,andthesupportof itsMPsforCAAin Delhi, alienated a section of minoritieswho used to vote for AIADMK duringJayalalithaa’s time.

OBCVanniyar quotaThe10.5%reservationannouncedforthe

OBC Vanniyar community under pressurefrom ally PMK, a party with a strong baseamongVanniyars,hadhelpedAIADMKgainvotes in northern and parts of westernTamilNadu.However, thehurrieddecisiononreser-

vation for one community just before theelections antagonised almost all otherOBCcommunities, especially the Thevar com-munity. While rebel leader T T VDhinakaran’sAMMKwasexpectedtoupsetthe AIADMK’s prospects in the Delta andsouthern districts, early data fromElectionCommission shows that the consolidationof other OBCs against the ruling regimehelped DMK rather than Dhinakaran, wholost all seats includinghis own.However,inthecomingdays,completing

a caste survey to restructure the existingreservationsystemwillbeamajorheadachebeforethenewDMKregime.

The alliancesMoney power, a generally good percep-

tionaboutEKPalaniswami’sgovernance,ef-fective handling of the Covid-19 first wave,and the declaration of the Vanniyar quotawereamongthefactorsthatpreventedaroutof theAIADMK.Butwhat soured theparty’sprospects was major lapses in building astrongalliance.Ontheotherhand, theDMKmanagedto

form a strong alliance with the Congress,CPM,CPI,DalitpartyVCK,andTamilnation-alistleaderVaiko’sMDMK.TheyalsohadtheIndianUnionMuslimLeague(IUML)andan-other Muslim party, ManithenyaMakkalKatchi(MMK).Andinseveralminority-dom-inatedpocketsinvariousdistricts,thediversealliance helped exploit the anti-BJP senti-ments of Christian andMuslim voters infavourofDMK.Meanwhile, the AIADMK, already fight-

ing internal rivalries and the rebelDhinakaran-Sasikala faction, was losingmanymore allies ahead of polls. At least sixparties including Captain Vijayakanth’sDMDK,KKrishnasamy’sPuthiyaTamilagam(an outfit with a vote base among SC com-munities), S Karunas who leads a smallercommunity outfit Mukkulathor Pulipadai,MLAMThamimumAnsari’s ManithaneyaJananayaga Katchi, A C Shanmugam’s NewJustice Party and actor Sarath Kumar’s AllIndia SamathuvaMakkal Katchiwith a votebaseamongtheHinduNadarcommunity inSouthernTamilNaduwereamongtheallieswho left theAIADMKcampdays before thepollswereannounced.

2016 2019Assembly LokSabha

BJP 30% 36%

AGP 8% 8%

Cong 31% 36%

AIUDF 13% 8%

Others 18% 12%

ASSAM

2021ASSEMBLY (

BJP32%

AGP8%

Cong30%

AIUDF9%

others21%


DMK 31% 33%

Cong 6% 13%

AIADMK 41% 19%

BJP 3% 4%

Others 19% 31%

TAMIL NADU

2021ASSEMBLY


LDF 43% 35%

UDF 39% 47%

BJP 10% 13%

Others 8% 5%

KERALA

2021ASSEMBLY*


Trinamool 45% 44%

BJP 10% 41%

Cong 12% 6%

LeftFront 26% 7%

Others 7% 2%

WESTBENGAL

2021ASSEMBLY

TMC48%

BJP38%

Cong3%

LeftFront6%

Others5%

DMK38%

Cong4%

AIADMK33%

BJP3%

LDF39%

UDF35%

BJP11%

Others15%

Others22%

Trinamoolsupporterscelebrate thevictory inBolpur.PTI

How Didi won personality battle

*Note: In the2021pie chart forKerala, theElectionCommission lists 14.86%as "Others",whichmaycontain smallerUDFandLDFconstituents. In the tables,UDFandLDF includeall constituentparties.

Ahmedabad


THEWORLD


ITALY

COLOSSEUMTOGETNEW STAGE

Aprojecttobuildahigh-techstageintheRomanColosseumwillallowvisitorsacentral

viewpointfromwithintheancientstructure“toseethemajestyofthemonument”,Italy’s

cultureministersaid.Heannounceda$22millioncontracttobuildtheretractablestructure

thatwillrestorethetraditional“arena”forcombatforgladiatorialshowsinancientRome.

AFGHANISTAN

Roaringtankerfirekills7inKabulASEARINGblazethatroaredthrough dozens of fueltankers on the northernedgeoftheAfghancapitalofKabul killed sevenpeopleand injured 14 others, theInterior Ministry saidSunday. Therewasno im-mediate indication ofwhether itwasanaccidentor sabotage. Investigatorswerecombing through thearea,authoritiessaid. AP

TOPOFTHEWORLD

GERMANY

50copsinjuredinBerlinriotsMORETHAN50policeoffi-cerswere injuredandover250 protesters were de-tainedaftertraditionalMayDay rallies inBerlin turnedviolent, theGermanPoliceUnion said Sunday.Morethan20differentralliestookplaceintheGermancapitalon Saturday, and all but afewwerepeaceful. AP

ELSALVADOR

CrisisafterHousevotesoutjudgesLAWMAKERS ALIGNEDwithSalvadoranPresidentNayib Bukele voted to re-move the top judgesof thecountry’s supreme court.But justminutes after thevote, the judges ruled thattheactionwasillegal,settingup a clash of the country’stoppowers. REUTERS

Atthesiteof theblazeinKabulSunday.AP

DAVEGRAHAM&ADRIANABARRERAMAY2

MEXICAN PRESIDENT AndresManuel Lopez Obrador said onFriday the United States wouldprobablysendhiscountry5mil-lionmoredosesofAstraZeneca'sCovid-19 vaccine, as the com-pany admitted production inLatin American had sufferedmultiple setbacks.Mexicoisstrugglingwithbe-

hind-schedulelocalAstraZenecaproductionandshortfalls inde-liveries from foreign suppliersand has asked the US to helpwithmorevaccines.Therequestisinadditiontosome2.7millionAstraZeneca dosesWashingtonsent toMexico inMarch.“It’sprobablethatthey'llhelp

us with a loan, while theAstraZenecaplantinMexicogetsupandrunning,” LopezObradorsaidataregularnewsconference.Under a deal reached last

year, themAbxience laboratoryin Argentinamanufactures theactive ingredientof thevaccineandships it forbottlingtoa fac-toryinMexicoownedbyacom-pany called Liomont. The shotsare to be delivered across LatinAmerica.Argentinahasdeliveredcar-

gos of the active ingredient toMexico,butLiomont'scommer-cialproductionhasslippedfroman original target of March. In astatement sharedwith Reuterson Friday, AstraZeneca said de-liveries of the shotswould nowbeginbefore theendof June.AstraZeneca said it regretted

the setbacks,which it attributedto limited access to critical sup-plies, lower-than-expectedprocessyieldsfrominitialvaccinebatches,andlongertimestomeetinternal “site qualifications” forthosebatches. REUTERS

4 ASTRONAUTS BACK IN RARE NIGHT SPLASHDOWN

SupportteamsworkaroundtheSpaceXCrewDragonResiliencespacecraftshortlyafteritsplasheddownonSunday.SpaceXsafelyreturnedfourastronautsfromtheInternationalSpaceStation,makingthefirstUScrewsplashdownindarknesssincetheApollo8moonshot.ThecapsuleparachutedintotheGulfofMexicooffthecoastofFlorida,justbefore3am.NASAviaReuters

REUTERSMAY2

MYANMAR SECURITY forcesopened fire on some of thebiggest protests againstmilitaryrule in recent days on Sundaykilling eight people, media re-ported,threemonthsafteracoupplungedthecountryintocrisis.The protests were coordi-

nated with demonstrations inMyanmarcommunities aroundtheworld tomarkwhat organ-iserscalled“theglobalMyanmarspring revolution”.“Shake the world with the

voiceofMyanmarpeople’sunity,”theorganiserssaidinastatement.Streams of demonstrators,

some led by Buddhist monks,made their way through citiesandtownsacrossthecountry,in-cluding the commercial hub ofYangon and the second city ofMandalay, where two peoplewere shot and killed, theMizzimanewsagencyreported.

Three people were killed inthe central town ofWetlet, theMyanmar Now news agencysaid, and twowere killed in dif-ferenttownsinShanStateinthenortheast,twomediaoutletsre-ported. One person was alsokilledinthenorthernjade-min-ingtownofHpakant,theKachinNewsGroupreported.Reuters could not verify the

reportsandaspokesmanfortherulingjuntadidnotanswercallsseekingcomment.

Insomeplacescivilianswithcrudeweaponshavebattledse-curityforces,whileincentralar-easmilitaryandgovernmentfa-cilitiesthathavebeensecureforgenerations have been hit byrocket attacks and a wave ofsmall, unexplainedblasts.Therehavebeennoclaimsof

responsibilityfortheexplosions.Thestate-runbroadcasterinits

eveningbulletinonSaturdaygavedetails of at least 11 explosionsover36hours,mostlyinYangon.

AstraZenecaadmitsLatinAmericanvaccinedelay;Mexico looks forUShelp

AwomanreceivesadoseofAstraZeneca’sCovid-19vaccine,duringamassvaccinationprogrammeinMonterrey,Mexico, lastmonth.Reuters

Israel bans travel toIndia, six other countries

Thailand sees second day ofrecord-high virus deathsTHAILAND’S HEALTHMinistryon Sunday reported 1,940 newcoronavirus cases,whiledeathshit21forasecondday,thehigh-est daily number of fatalitiessince thepandemicbegan.Thailandlargelycontrolledthe

virus early in the pandemicthroughshutdownsandstrictbor-

dercontrols.Butathirdwavethatbegin in earlyApril includes thehighlytransmissibleB.1.1.7variantandhasaccounted for abouthalfof itscasesanddeaths.Sunday’s numbers brought

thecountry’stotalconfirmedin-fectionssince thepandemicbe-ganlastyearto68,984.REUTERS

Jerusalem: Israel has temporar-ilybarreditscitizensfromtravel-ling to Indiaandsixother coun-tries, citing high Covid-19infectionrates there.Ajointpressreleaseissuedby

thePrimeMinister’sOfficeandtheHealthMinistryonFridaysaidthatIsraeliswillnotbeallowedtotraveltoUkraine,Brazil,Ethiopia,SouthAfrica,India,MexicoandTurkey.This regulation will come

into force onMay 3 andwill re-main inplaceuntilMay16.Non-Israelis will be able to

travel to these countries, pro-videdtheyplantostaythereper-manently,thepressreleasesaid.Theregulationwillnotbeap-

plicabletothosewhostayatair-ports in transit in one of thesecountriesforatimeperiodofupto 12 hours while waiting for aconnecting flight. PTI

YUBARAJGHIMIREKATHMANDU,MAY2

WITHDISCONTENTrisingwithinthe ruling Nepal CommunistParty-UnifiedMarxist Leninistand in the Opposition, NepalPrimeMinister K P Sharma Olihasdecidedtofaceavoteofcon-fidenceonMay10.Thedecisionwasmadeduring

aCabinetmeetingheldonSunday.ItcomesafterOlihadlongre-

fusedtoseekavoteofconfidenceeven as former allieswithdrewtheir support and pulled theirministers fromOli’sCabinet.

Nepal: PM Olito seek voteof confidence

ASSOCIATEDPRESSDUBAI,MAY2

THEUNITEDStatesonSundayim-mediately denied a report byIranian state-run television thatdeals had been reached for theIslamicRepublictoreleaseUSandBritishprisoners in exchange forTehranreceivingbillionsofdollars.Itwasn’timmediatelyclearif

the report represented amoveby the hard-liners running theIranian broadcaster to disruptnegotiationswiththeWestamidtalks in Vienna on Tehran’s tat-terednucleardeal.It alsowasn’t known if there

had been any ongoing negotia-tionswith theWest over frozenfunds and prisoner exchanges,bothofwhichaccompaniedthe2015atomicaccord.EvenafteraninitialAmerican

denial, an anchorwoman onIranianstateTVstillrepeatedtheannouncement.“Some sources say four

Iranian prisoners are to be re-leasedand$7billionaretobere-ceivedbyIraninexchangeforre-leasingfourAmericanspies,”theanchorwomansaid.

State TV saysIran agrees dealsto free prisoners,US denies report

CROSSWORD4419

ACROSS1 Quiet individualexcelled(5)

8 Eachgirlhas tobecast insupportingpart (5,3)

9 Iamalongtimegetting thelikeness (5)

10Weare its ruin, so tospeak(2,2,4)

11What’s turnedout tobeacutofascythe(5)

12 Itmaybesweettoeat-ornot(3)

16 Highspirits (6)17 Drawsomecrudepictures(6)

18 Nigerian tribesmanreflectingnativecharm(3)

23 Fast ships (5)24 Nonehere is sane(3,5)

25 Beginswithwriterson love(5)

26 Not tobetakenasshy(8)27 Promptaboutgoingonday-shift (5)

DOWN2 Householdchores forchildrentodo(8)

3 Drinktocelebrate retirement?(8)

4 VerygoodnotebyCharles(6)

5 Said inFrance tobethesame(5)

6 TheSpanishboygets thegirl(5)

7 Giants in thegorsepossibly(5)

12 Afterthought Iadded ina letterfromGreece (3)

13 Ato-do?Yes (3)14 Verygoodorder fordessert(5,3)

15 Shownorhidden(8)19 Excludedthesaidpoet (6)20 Baresdisguisedweapon(5)

21 Ignitiontakesplaceat thispoint (5)

22 Brief electricity failure(5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)You'restill inastrongerpositionthanmanypeople,evenif itdoesn'tfeel

likeit,andshouldthereforesurviveanymini-crisesthisweek,includingtheoccasionalfinancialwobble.Yourbestqualitiesareyourdeterminationandrefusaltogiveintoobstacles.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Otherpeopleoftenseemreluctanttotellyouthewholestory.Mindyou,ifyoudon't

knowwhat'sgoingonyou'llbelessvulnerabletoboutsofgossipandback-stabbingoverthecomingweek.Infact,youshouldbeinafairlysecureposition,abletotalkyourwayoutofalmostanycorner,howevertight.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Byallaccountsyouareabouttobecomeevenmoresecretivethanever. Justwhy

thisshouldbesoisnotexactlyclear,butitcouldbethatotherpeoplearenotyetabletounderstandyourversionofthefacts.Perhapsyoushouldtrytoexplainyourselfbetter.

CANCER(June22- July23)Youmayresolve tobestillmoresociable, andrelishthatgrowing

confidencewhichenablesyoutoprovideentertainmentandpleasure forotherpeople.Keepaneyeonthemainchance,butrealise that if yougoyourownway,youmight losevaluablesupport.But, then,you'll alsofreeyourself frompeoplewhohavebeenholdingyouback.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Alleyesmustbeonworldlyambitions,includingprofessional

aspirations,butalsocommunityresponsibilities.You'llgaingreatsatisfactionoutofseeingotherpeopledowellfromyourefforts.Youmightevenbeabletotalkyourwaytothetopwithanemphasisonstyleandappearance,leavingtherealsubstanceandcontentuntil later.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sept23)Yourstarsarebeginningtolookquiteextraordinarilyadventurous,andyou

maybeabouttobreakoutofanemotionalstraight-jacketandtrysomethingnew.Listenwelltopartners'advice,forevenif theysoundmuddledatfirst,there'ssomegoodcommonsenseinamongstthevaguepromises.

LIBRA(Sept24-Oct23)There are signs thatpartners could bebecomingincreasingly

irascible, but never fear.Suchbouts of irritationwillhave their turn, butwill pass,andwhoever gives you ahardtimeover the coming fewdays could endup feelingrather shamefaced.

SCORPIO(Oct.24-Nov.22)Youcanafford torelaxa little.However, as longasplanetary tensions

aremaintained,youcouldcomeunder intenseemotionalpressure toreformyourdomesticarrangements.Someoneyou'veknownforrathera longtimecouldcomeupwithastunningproposalatanymoment.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov23-Dec22)Themost livelyplanetary patternsoccur in regions ofyour horoscope

slightly detached fromyourownpriorities. Youmaytherefore begin to imaginethat the grass is greener on theother side, but by the sametoken you are also avoidingtroubles that are afflictingother people.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Creative influencesare astounding,which is obviouslyexcellent for allwho

move in artistic fields. Thepay-off for everyonebornunder your signshould be steadily risingromantic passions, so almostanything couldhappen in theemotional department.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Your familysituation is nowlooking increasinglychangeable. Other

people should be allowed themaximumfreedom tomanoeuvre,while you inyour turnmust have thecourage of your convictions.Younever know - youmightreach an agreement thatsuits everyone.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Keeptalking.Andatall costsmakesurethatotherpeopleunderstandexactly

whatyouaresaying.Actually,thiswillbemoredifficult thanyouthink, soyou'llhave tospelloutevery last tinydetail andpunctuationmark. Itwillbewellworth theeffort.

SUDOKU4460

DifficultyLevel4s

Instructions

TosolveaSudokupuzzle,

everydigitfrom1to9

mustappear ineachofthe

nineverticalcolumns, in

eachoftheninehorizontal

rowsandineachofthe

nineboxes.

DifficultyLevel

1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;

3s=Medium;4s=Hard;

5s=VeryHard;6s=

Genius SOLUTIONSUDOKU4459

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto

therespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget

theanswerforthegivenquip.

Whatdelightsusinvisiblebeautyisthe____.-MarievonEbner-Eschenbach(9)

SOLUTION:GENII,BASIN,BLANCH,VERBALAnswer:Whatdelightsusinvisiblebeautyistheinvisible.-MarievonEbner-Eschenbach

GNEII ABCHLN

SABIN AELRBV

SolutionsCrossword4418:Across:1Alleviated,6Cold,10Tempo,11Dogkennel,12Nuisance,13Throb,15Animate,17Scamper,19Reefers,21Pierrot,22Roast,24Identify,27Underdone,28Pilau,29Dash,30Stretchout.Down:1Asti,2Limousine,3Viols,4Andante,5Eaglets,7Owner,8Deliberate,9Testcase,14Fairground,16Aperture,18Portfolio,20Spinout,21Precede,23Aides,25Topic,26Suit.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Lullover,Myanmarremains incrisis

ABRIEFlullinanti-coupprotests,andaperiodofwhatappearedtobemorerestraintfromthesecurityforcesseemtohavecometoanendasSundaywitnessedthelargestdemon-strationsinthecountryinre-centdays,andthekillingof

eightprotesters.ThelullhadbegunaroundthetimeofanASEANmeet-inginwhichthejuntachiefpromisedtore-

duceviolence.Buttherenewedshootingofprotesterssuggeststhatlittleprogresshasbeenmadetowardsendingthecrisis.

8 reported killed as Myanmarprotests aim to ‘shake the world’

Ahmedabad


ECONOMY


Market Watch

FPISTURNNETSELLERSAFTER6MONTHS

New Delhi: Snapping their six-month buying spree, foreign investors

turned net sellers in April and pulled out Rs 9,659 crore from

domestic equities, spooked by the intense second wave of coronavirus

and its fallout on the economy.PTI

GEORGEMATHEWMUMBAI,MAY2

WITHTHEdailynumberofCovidcases rising steeply, insurancecompanies are refusing to givehealthcovertopersonsrecoveredfrom Covid-19 and are askingthemtowaituptosixmonthsforrenewalofpolicies.Mostinsurersareiffyabouton-

boardingcustomerswhohavejustrecovered fromCovid, saidan in-surancesectorofficial.“Asaresult,insurershaveputacoolingoffpe-riodof3-6monthsafterCovidde-tection,”hesaid.The delay in renewals has

comeamid reports that insurersare refusing to pay up inmanycasesdespite thedirectiveof theInsurance Regulatory andDevelopmentAuthority of India(Irdai)thathospitalbillsunderthe‘cashless system’will have tobesettledwithin twohours of dis-charge. “There are even com-plaints that someinsurersare re-fusingtoissuenewCovidpoliciestopersonswithoutanyillnessfear-ingaspurtinclaims,”saidasource.According to government

data, there are 1.87 crore con-firmedCovidcasesinthecountry,of which 1.53 crore have recov-ered. These peoplemayhave towaitforsometimebeforegettingthemselves covered again. “Acoolingoffperiodistoensurethatcustomershave recovered com-pletely,(andthey)arenotexperi-encinganyimmediatesideeffectsof the infection and are in opti-mumhealthatthepolicyproposalstage. Asmost Covid survivors

onlyexperiencemildsymptoms,availing insurance cover shouldnotbeaproblem,”saidAnandRoy,managing director, Star HealthandAlliedInsurance.“This means one can buy a

healthinsurancepolicyonlyafter3-6 months of having turnedCovidnegative.Given the rate atwhich Covid is spreading rightnow, it’s advisable for all to get ahealth insuranceplannow, anddon’twait,becauseincaseonegetsCovid,itwillbecomedifficulttogetthehealth insuranceplan imme-diately,”saidAmitChhabra,head-health insurance, Policyba-zaar.com.ThesecondCovidwavehasled

toanunprecedentedsurgeinnewinfections.“Giventhelackofclar-ity around the severity andviru-lenceofthismutant,itisadvisableto stay safe, takeprecautionsandhaveyourselvescoveredundertheumbrella of health insurance.Considering the rapid spread ofnewvariantsofCovid-19,itishardto say anything about the long-

termeffectsof it,”Chhabrasaid.AccordingtoRoy,Covid-19isa

newdiseaseand there is yet a lotweneedtounderstandaboutthisillness in ascertaining long-termeffectsonaperson’shealth.“Inthepast, we’ve seen patients whohaverecoveredfromCovid-19ex-perience a reinfection or haveothercomplications.This isexac-erbatedwhenthepatienthasco-morbidities.Underwritingofsuchproposalsismorecasespecific,in-dividualswithorwithoutco-mor-bidities, extent of treatment andsequelofCovid,”Roysaid.Meanwhile,insurancecompa-

niessettledonly54percentoftheclaims received from the cus-tomers who have taken CovidhealthinsuranceasofMarch2021.Of total claimsof Rs14,608croreundertheCovidhealthinsuranceschemes, insurers settled onlyclaimsworthRs7,900crore,whichis 54 per cent of the amountclaimedbytheinsuredpeople.Ontopofthis,while9,96,804

peoplemadeclaimsasofMarch

2021, insurerssettledtheclaimsof 8,55,250 people, leaving out1,41,554 people who are yet toget themoney from insurancecompanies, according to figuresavailable with the GeneralInsuranceCouncil.“Amajor chunkof the insur-

anceclaimsiscashlessandsettledbytheinsurancecompanyonthedaythepatientisdischarged.If1.41lakhpatientswhoseclaimsareyettoget themoney fromthe insur-ance company, that’s somethingthat insurance regulator Irdaishould look intoand issueanad-visory,”saidaninsurancesectorof-ficial.Acommoncomplaint fromthecustomersisthatinsurersdras-ticallycutdowntheclaimamountonsomeflimsyreasonsandmanyof them, includingpublic sectorfirms,refusetoreimbursemoneytopolicyholders.However, insurers saidmany

claimsare inflatedbills thatdon’tcomeunderthetermsandcondi-tions of the policy. Asmany as66.37per centof total claimsun-der the Covid health insurancepolicies are fromfive states,withMaharashtra accounting for themaximum number of claims.During the 12 months endedMarch2021, insurance firms re-portedan18.11per cent increaseinhealth insurancepremiumin-cometoRs58,584crore.Ofthis,re-tail customers accounted for Rs26,258 crore and grouppoliciesamountedtoRs27,750crore.Two corona-specific prod-

ucts — Corona Kavach andCorona Rakshak — werelaunched by insurers under theguidanceof Irdai.

UPTO6-MONTHCOOLINGPERIODFORRENEWAL

PRANAVMUKUL&ANILSASINEWDELHI,MAY2

ATLAST count, nearly one ineveryfiveairtrafficcontrollersat Delhi’s Indira GandhiInternational Airport— thecountry’s largest—wasoutofaction, eitherdirectlyor indi-rectly affected by Covid-19.Officials at POSOCO—India’selectricity grid manager —have alluded to a “worryingshortage”ofoperators,includ-ingthosemanningsomecon-trol rooms.Theseare someofthecriticalinfrastructureoper-ationsthatcouldbepotentiallyat risk fromthe second surgethatthecountryiswitnessing.According to Health

Ministry data, as of Sundaymorning, there were33,49,644 active Covid casesinIndia,anincreaseof80,934overthepreviousday.A senior officer involved

withPOSOCOsaidtherewasa“worryingshortage”of oper-ators, adding a similar short-age of trained, experiencedmanpower handling powerplant control roomshas alsobeencited,withcommunity-level infection spread result-ing inentirebatchesor shiftsbeing forced to quarantine ifeither one of them, or theirfamily members, gets in-fected. “Most of these are in-volvedinoperationsthatcan-not be handled outside thecontrol room, howevertrainedapersonnelis,”theof-ficersaid.“There are very few re-

serves,giventhatashiftof10mayhaveonlysmallnumberasback-up.Withentireshiftsgoneinonego,thereisaprob-lem. The situation is beinghandledfornow,butthereisaconcern,”theofficersaid.Thisismoreworryingsinceacrossa number states, electricitysystemoperatorsarerunningapowernetworkwith an in-creasingshareofrenewables,therebyincreasingthelevelofsupervision required on aday-to-daybasis.In response to a set of

queriesbyTheIndianExpress,aspokespersonfortheAirportsAuthorityofIndia(AAI)said85of 402 air traffic control offi-cers (ATCOs) atDelhi airportwereeitherCovid-19positivethemselves,includingasymp-tomatic, or have an immedi-ate familymember affected.Further, 16 of 112 ATCOs atAhmedabadairportwerealsoaffected. Air traffic controlsacross the country, includingatprivatisedairports, isman-agedbyAAI.“While there are rules

cappingthenumberofhourseach controller can be onduty, there is no doubt addi-tionalworkload.AtDelhiATC,we have shut down 1 or 2channels to manage theshifts. At one point, therewereevendiscussionsaboutcalling those people on dutywho themselves didn’t haveCovid but someone in theirfamilydid.But therewasop-positiontothisplan,andulti-mately it was shot down,” asourceatDelhiATCsaid.Aseniorgovernmentoffi-

cial,who spoke on conditionof anonymity, downplayedanyconcernsofdisruptioninATC operations arising fromthe increase in caseload, say-ingcurrently,“weareoperat-ingonly30-40percentofourcapacity”.Taking cognisance of the

threattofrontlinecrewintheaviation industry, theDirectorate General of CivilAviation (DGCA), in an orderdatedApril27,noted“inviewof rising number of Covid19cases,theDGCAhasreviewedthe conduct of BA test of allaviationpersonnel”. For ATCoperators, the aviation safetywatchdoghasmandatedran-domisedbreathalysertestbe-fore commencementof dutyateachstationonadailybasis.Furthermore, in a letter

writtentochief secretariesofall states on the same day,Tuhin Kanta Pandey,Secretary, Civil Aviation(AdditionalCharge)wrote:“Itis understandable that thecrew, engineers, air trafficcontrollers, technicians,ground staff and frontlineworkers in aviation face sig-nificant risk in dischargingtheir duties”. “To ensure thesectorcontinuestorenderes-sential services to thenation,it is imperative that the avia-tionwork force is coveredonpriority in the vaccinationprogram,”headded.In the response, the AAI

spokesperson also said:“Wholecountryisfacingchal-lengingsituationduepresentsuddenriseof Covid-19casesacross the country.However,learningfromthepastexperi-enceof Covid1stwave,AAI isfullygeareduptoensurecon-tinuityofairtrafficoperationsbystrictlyfollowingCovidpro-tocol,sanitizationofATCUnits,vaccination of ATCOs andkeepingadditionalATCman-powerasstandbytomeetanyimmediate operational re-quirement.Weare confidentthat our airport operationswouldcontinuetobesmooth”.

SECONDSURGE IMPACT

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

SUNNYVERMANEWDELHI,MAY2

THECENTRE’SBudgetaryalloca-tionofRs35,000croreforCovid-19 vaccine in 2021-22 is comingunderquestionafteritdecidedtoprocureonly50percentoftheto-talsupply, leavingtheremainingtobepurchasedbystatesandpri-vatechannelsatmarketprices.Indetermining theBudgetaryallo-cation for vaccine, the FinanceMinistry initially estimated re-quirementof a total of 290crorevaccineshotsfortheentirepopu-lation, after taking into accounttwoshotsperindividualandalsothevaccinethatiswastedduringtheentireprocess.Now,withtheCentreprocur-

ing 50 per cent of the total re-quirements, at a price of Rs 150perjab, itstotalcostfor145croreshots could come to Rs 21,750crore.However,thisdoesnottakeinto account any booster shotsthatmayberequiredandanyin-creaseinpriceofvaccinesfortheCentral government as well.Government officials said theyare not yet clearwhether therewill be any savings from theBudgetaryallocationsonvaccinesevenafterchangesinthegovern-ment policy. In fact, the fund re-quirement, they said, could beevenhigherthanRs35,000croreas the situation evolves, includ-ing the possibility of providingbooster doses, vaccine prices in-creaseandwastagerates.“WearrivedatthisBudgetary

allocationafterdetailedstudyandexamination.See,wehaveabout135 crore people, andwith twovaccine shots required for eachone and taking the vaccinewastageintoaccount,ourinternalunderstanding is thatnearly290crore vaccine shots will be re-quired.Evenifthecentralgovern-mentprocures50percentof therequired vaccines, andwedon’tknowyet if booster shotswill berequired,theymaybeneeded,thecostsinvolvedmayevenbehigherthanRs35,000crore,” sources intheFinanceMinistrysaid.“One also needs to keep in

mind price escalation that wemay need to factor.We have tosee as things evolve. The FM(Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman)hassaidthegovern-mentiscommittedtoprovidingmorefundsifneededforthevac-cines.Whethertherewillbeany

savings on account of procure-mentsbystatesandprivatepar-ties, we are not sure. We areworking to ensure successfulvaccination for all and providefunds for anybooster shots thatmayberequiredaswell.But,webelieveafterreasonableinternalassessment that vaccine pro-curement costs will exceedRs 35,000 crore, keeping thesefactors inmind,” theysaid.As per newpolicy, fromMay

1, thevaccine supplyaredividedinto twobaskets: 50per cent fortheCentre,and50percentfortheopenmarket.Throughthesecond— non-government of India —channel, stategovernments, pri-vatehospitals,andindustriesthathave facilities to administer thevaccine, will be able to procuredosesdirectly frommanufactur-ers.FromSaturdayinordertovac-cinateanyone,includingthoseintheprioritygroupofage45yearsor older, private hospitals willhavetoprocuresuppliesdirectlyfromtheopenmarket.Possible requirement of

boostershots,priceincreasesandwastage are three key elementsthat impact the Budgetary re-quirements of the governmentfor the inoculation drive. Thecountry’soverallwastageratesofCovid-19 vaccine had hoveredaround 13.5 percent in earlyMarch, before coming down toaround 6.5 percent in April. Butthewastage of vaccineswithinstatesalsovaries.In April, Indiawitnessed the

highestdemandforvaccinesinamonthwith 90.50milliondosesadministered by 6.30 pm onFriday,comparedto50.60milliondoses inMarch, 10.05million inFebruary and 3.71 million inJanuary,accordingtotheMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare.

With change in vaccineprocurement policy,Budgetary allocationlikely to see tweaks

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MAY2

EVENAS state governments arestillcontemplatingcompleteshut-downs, manufacturers havestartedannouncingshutdownoftheir plants in thewakeof risingCovidcases.WhileHeroMotoCorponSaturdayannouncedanexten-sionof its shutdownof plantsbysixmoredaystillMay9,JCBIndia,a leadingmanufacturerof earth-movingandconstructionequip-ments,onFridayannounceda10-day pause across all itsmanufacturing facilities in India,beginningMay1.Maruti Suzuki India, last

week,announcedtheadvancingof its Junemaintenance shut-down toMay and close produc-tioninall factoriesbetweenMay1andMay9.All the threeare in-

dustry leaders. While HeroMotoCorp is the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in thecountry,Maruti Suzuki and JCBare leaders in their segment.Industryinsiderssaymanymorecompanies are contemplatingshutting production for aweek,keeping inmind safety of theiremployeesandtohelpbreakthechainandspreadofcoronavirus.Amongothers,MGMotorand

HondaMotorcycle and ScooterIndiahavealso announced tem-porarysuspensionof productionattheirrespectivefacilities.ToyotaKirloskarMotor, too, has under-taken scheduledannualmainte-nanceprogrammeacrossbothitsplantsfromApril26toMay14.JCBIndiacitedtherisingnum-

berofCovidcasesforthistempo-rary suspension of productionacross its facilities at Ballabgarh,

PuneandJaipur.“We have decided to pause

manufacturingoperations for10days,starting1stofMay2021…Itis importanttobreakthechainoftheinfection.Mostofouremploy-eesinourofficesarealreadywork-ingfromhomeandthistemporarypauseofmanufacturingactivitieswill furtherhelp in lowering theactive number of cases in andaroundourmanufacturing facili-ties,”saidDeepakShetty,CEOandMD,JCBIndia.Thecompany,however,saidit

hasbuilt sufficient inventory lev-elstosupportdemandforitsprod-uctsduringthisperiod.Lastweek,HondaMotorcycle

andScooterIndiaannouncedtem-porartshutdownofitsfourmanu-facturingplants for 15dayswitheffectfromMay1,2021.MGMotor India, too, had last

weekannouncedshutdownofits

facility inHalol,Gujarat for sevendays—fromApril29toMay5.While Hero MotoCorp had

haltedplantoperationstemporar-ily inastaggeredmannerfor fourdays fromApril 22-May1, citingrapid escalation in the spreadofCovid-19 across the country, onSundayitannouncedtoextendtheplantclosuretillMay9.“Inkeepingwith its commit-

ment to thesafetyandwelfareofitspeople and tobreak thechainofthespreadofCoronavirus,HeroMotoCorphasdecided toextendthe shutdownat itsmanufactur-ingfacilitiesacrossIndia,itsGlobalParts Center (GPC) inNeemranaandtheR&Dfacility—theCentreofInnovationandTechnology(CIT)in Jaipur by another six days tillMay9,2021. TheplantoperationswillresumeonMay10,”thecom-panysaid.Industry insiders saywhile

manycompaniesinthemedium-andsmall-scaleindustryhavealsotakendecisiontoshutdowntheirplants temporarily,manymorecompanies are contemplatingsuchadecision.While the Central govern-

ment has maintained that itwould not go for a full-scalelockdown as both lives andlivelihood are important, thesharp rise inCovid cases acrossthe country has forced manycompanies to take their owncallandaregoingforplantshut-downs for the safety of theiremployees.Many feel that the govern-

mentsdecision toallowvaccina-tionofalladultsisagooddecisionand itwill help them continuewith theirmanufacturingunhin-deredoncetheirworkers(mostlyfalling in theagegroupof 20and45)getvaccinated.

States,pvtchannels todo50%procurement

Rising engineering, gems shipmentshelp exports jump to $30.2 bn in Apr

Late fee waivedfor delayed filing ofMar, Apr GSTR-3B


THEGOVERNMENThaswaivedlatefeefordelayedfilingofmonthlyreturnGSTR-3BandtaxpaymentforthemonthsofMarchandAprilandalsoreducedinterestrateforlatefilers.TheFinanceMinistry ina statement said ithas

providedseveralreliefmeasuresinviewofthechal-lenges facedbytaxpayers inmeetingthestatutoryand regulatory compliances under theGoods&Services Tax (GST) lawdue to theoutbreakof thesecondwaveofCOVID-19pandemic.TaxpayerswithaturnoverofoverRs5crorehavebeengiven15daysextra time to filemonthly summary returnGSTR-3Bandpaytaxeswithoutpayinganylatefees.


THECOUNTRY’Sexports inApriljumped nearly three-folds to$30.21 billion on account ofhealthygrowthinkeysectorsin-cluding engineering, gems andjewellery, and petroleumprod-ucts, even as trade deficitwidenedto$15.24billion,accord-ingtoCommerceMinistry’spre-liminarydatareleasedonSunday.The country’s merchandise

exportsweretothetuneof$10.17billioninApril2020.Tradedeficitin thatmonthwas$6.92billion.Imports too rose by over

three-folds to $45.45 billion lastmonthasagainst$17.09billioninApril2020.“India’smerchandiseexports in April 2021 were$30.21 billion, an increase of197.03 per cent over $10.17 bil-lioninApril2020andanincreaseof16.03percentover$26.04bil-lion in April 2019,” theministrysaid inastatement.In percentage terms, the

growth rate in exports and im-ports are at record high,mainlydue to base-effect. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic inducedlockdown last year, exportsshrankbyarecord60.28percentinApril2020. InMarchthisyear,exports grew by 60.29 per centto$34.45billion.In April 2021, oil imports

stood at $10.8 billion as com-pared to$4.65billion in thecor-respondingmonthlastyear.Major export commodities

which have recorded positivegrowth in April include gemsandjewellery, jute,pharmaceu-ticals, carpet, handicrafts,leather, electronic goods, oilmeals,cashew,engineering,pe-troleumproducts,marineprod-uctsandchemicals.

DIPR/407/DISPLAY/2021

CHENNAI METROPOLITAN DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITYThalamuthu Natarajan Building, No.1, Gandhi Irwin Road, Egmore, Chennai - 600 008.

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI) – Second Call

(Consulting Services – Individual Selection)

Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), Government of

Tamil Nadu has received inancing from the World Bank towards the cost

of the Tamil Nadu Housing and Habitat Development Project. CMDA now

invites eligible individual consultants / specialists to indicate their interest

in providing the services for the below mentioned assignments under the

Tamil Nadu Housing and Habitat Development Project.

Climate Resilience and Environmental Specialist

The detailed REOI and Terms of Reference are available in the websites

- www.cmdachennai.gov.in and www.tenders.tn.gov.in. The Expression of

Interest (EOI) shall be submitted and the last date and time for submission

of EOI is 17.05.2021 upto 3.00 p.m. The EOI shall be sent to the Member

Secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, Thalamuthu

Natarajan Building, No.1, Gandhi Irwin Road, Egmore, Chennai - 600 008,

Tamil Nadu, India.

e.mail: [email protected] Secretary,

Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority

Asclaimsrise, insurersgoslowoncoveringCovid-recovered

FreeCovidtest inChandigarhonSaturday.KamleshwarSingh

Thefundrequirement,sourcessaid,couldbeevenhigherthanRs35,000croreasthesituationevolves,includingthepos-sibilityofprovidingboosterdoses,vaccinepricesincreaseandwastagerates.

KeyfactorsE●E

XPLAIN

ED

Tradedeficitwidens

to$15.24billion

Nearlyone inevery fiveair trafficcontrollersatDelhi’s IndiraGandhiInternationalAirport isoutof action,eitherdirectlyor indirectlyaffectedbyCovid. File

BRIEFLY

RBIsupervisionMumbai: The RBI has de-cided to review andstrengthen the Risk BasedSupervisionof thebankingsectortoenablefinancialsec-tor players to address theemergingchallenges.

SBIchiefonrateNew Delhi: SBI will try tokeepinterestratesbenignaslongaspossiblewithaviewto supporting growth,Chairman Dinesh KumarKhara said.Headdedas thelockdownwasnotpan-India,one will have to wait andwatchtoassessCovidimpactonthebankingsector.PTI

Covid infects ATC,power grid ops asstaff, kin fall sick

Manufacturers take onus, shut plants to combat virus surge

$7.44BNAmount raised by Indian firmsfrom the foreignmarket in thesameperiod a year ago

$5.35bn came in through theapproval route of the externalcommercial borrowings (ECB),of the total borrowings duringMarch2021

$3.88bnwas raked in via theautomatic route of raisingfunds from internationalmarkets

Nomoneywas raised throughthe rupee denominated bonds(RDB) or themasala bonds, aswas the case in the year-agoperiod aswell

IndianRailwayFinanceCorporation (IRFC), ONGCVideshRovumaandRECLtdwere the three players thatraisedmoney in the approvalroute category

$3.33bn raised by IRFC inthree tranches for the purposeof infrastructure development,while ONGCVideshRovumaLtd borrowed$1.6 billion foroverseas acquisition

RECLtd—the infra financecompanyinpowersector—raised$425millionduring themonth throughtheECBfacilityfor thepurposeofon-lending

India Inc’s foreign borrowingsjump 24% to $9.23 bn inMarIndia Inc’s external commercial borrowings jumped byover 24 per cent to $9.23 billion inMarch this year, theReserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed

Source:RBI/PTI

NewDelhi:While urging forhighest-level response toad-dress rising Covid cases,Confederation of IndianIndustry(CII)presidentUdayKotak said safeguarding liveswasofutmostpriorityandna-tionwidemaximal response

measurewascalledfortocutthetransmissionlinks.He said: “At this critical

juncturewhen toll of lives isrising, CII urges the strongestnational steps including cur-tailing economic activity toreducesuffering.”ENS

Kotak calls for ‘curtailing activity’

Ahmedabad

SANDIPGMAY2

SHEER POWER could be sheer bliss. JosButtlerproveditwithathunderoushundredthat provided amuch-needed fillip for theflailing Rajasthan Royals. His knock fuelledthem to 220/3, a total Sunrisers Hyderabadfellshortby55runs.Forthelatter,witherst-while skipper DavidWarner left out of theXI, there simplywas no one to turn on thepowerwhenitwasrequired,likeButtler,andsubsequently find themselves clutching atstraws tokeeptheir campaignalive.

Buttler’s strengthAthisabsolutepeak, fewcontemporary

batsmencouldthrill likeButtlerwithhis in-crediblecombinationof timing,muscleandimprovisation. For the first 33 balls of hismostmurderous knock in the IPL yet—ar-guably one of the most destructive in theleague’s history — the Englishman lookedfar fromhis finest. He scratched, stuttered,and scraped to35off 33balls.Butoff thenext31,hewasanotchabove

hisownloftypeak, reelingoutaneye-pop-ping 89 runs, as he fused extreme powerwith extremeprecision.SomeofButtler’sstrokesmadeonewon-

derwhether hewas indeedplaying cricket,or embedding the principles of hockey ortennis into it. Like the scoop he unfurledagainst Khaleel Ahmed,whenhehunkereddown and just lifted it over the ’keeper’shead.Moreevidentwashisfondnessforten-nis,whenheunleashedanarrayof ferociouscutsandslaps,thatflungoffhisbatlikefero-cious forehands, so frighteningly fast thatfieldersfrozeintheirposts.Beforetheycouldmove amuscle, the ball blurred past themlike an apparition. Buttler has a reverse-sweep that hehimself likens to a backhandcross-courtonlythecraftiestofsquashplay-ers couldpull off. Andhe setshimself at thecrease likeabaseballplayer.Once he realised that hewas unable to

time the ball aswell as hewould like, or asgorgeouslyashispartnerSanjuSamsonwasmanaging,hedecidedto impartmoremus-cleintohisshots.WhenButtlerdoesthat,hisback footgoesabitdeeper in thecreaseandthe front footmoves forwardabit. It setsuphis base to harness all the power he pos-sesses,whichalliedwithhis quickhands, isa terrifyingproposition forbowlers.Buttler chosehisbowlerswisely, rather

than getting intoxicated with his musclepower. He neutered Bhuvneshwar Kumar(19 off 13 balls) and Rashid Khan (8 off 12)withcaution;againsttherest,hethrewcau-tion to the winds. Sandeep Sharma wascudgelled for 40 runs off 15 balls;Mohammad Nabi for 20 off five balls, andVijayShankarbled18off sevenballs. It’s thisintelligence and clarity that shone asbrightly as the strokes,makingButtler oneof the finest readers of the game around.

Here, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s newly-ap-pointedskipperKaneWilliamsonmissedatrick by bowling out Khan inside 11 overs.Though it couldhavebeenalldifferenthadShankar not misjudged Buttler’s miscuedwaftat long-onoff Khan’sbowling.Hewasjust on seven then.Onhisshoulders,Rajasthansoared.From

homing in on a middling total of 160 orthereabouts - theywere77 for1athalfwaystage - they rocketed to a massive score.Buttlerclearedtheropeeighttimeswithanarrayof awesomestrokes. Some faded intothethirdtierof theGautamGambhirStand,somesettledintotheViratKohliPavilion.Helaunched into orbit deliveries thatwere al-most perfect yorkers. He demolished any-thing that was fractionally short. Length,line, variations, pace, nothingmattered, asButtler turned into anunstoppable bound-ary-spittingmachine.

Mustafizur’s subtletySince his debut year in the IPL,when he

plucked17wicketsandplayedaremarkablerole in his then franchise SunrisersHyderbad’s title triumph, Mustafizur hassunkwithoutatrace.Betweenthenandnow,he featured inonlyeightgamesandmissedtwoseasonsentirely.Impeded by injuries, even Bangladesh

seemtohavelostfaithinhim.ButonSunday,he illustrated that his vaunted craft has notdesertedhimand it’s justamatterof stitch-ingtogetherafewgamesbeforeheretracedhis lost ground. Hewas in full flow at theKotla, troubling batsmenwith his cutters,slower balls and yorkers. Amaster of dis-guise,hisvariationsarehard todecipher.SoManish Pandey committed too early

into a flick, one of his staple strokes. Thechangeofpacewassomasterfullydisguisedthat the batsman could notmake any last-minuteadjustment.Thestrikecameataripemoment,whenSunrisershadracedto57 insix overs. An off-cutter then accounted forNabi, who had blazed to 17 off five balls.Apart from the three wickets, Mustafizurconceded just 20 runs in four overs, com-manding an economy rate of just 5 runswhen bowlers conceded an average of 10runsanoveronareasonably flat surface.BRIEFSCORES:RajasthanRoyals220/3

(Buttler 124off 64balls, 11x4, 8x6; Samson48off33,4x4,2x6)beatSunrisersHyderabad165 for 8 (Pandey 31 off 20 balls, 3x4, 2x6,;(Mustafizur 3-20, 12 dots), ( Morris 3-29, 8dots)by55runs

VISHALMENONMAY2

Stand-in-captainMayankAgarwal’s (in pic)unbeaten99gavePunjabKingssomehopeatthehalfwaystage.However,hisseventhhalf-centuryforthefranchisewentinvainafteryetanotherexcellentknockfromShikharDhawan—asparkling47-ball 69— that helpedDelhiace the 167-run chasewith 14 deliveries tospareandclimbtothetopof thepointstable.

DhawananchorsDelhi’s chaseAfterathunderousmatch-winningessay—

a49-ball92—againstPunjabKingsafortnightago, Dhawan had provided a peek into hismindsetandthechangeshehasbroughtaboutinhisgame.“Itwasaconsciouseffortfrommyside to improvemystrike rate. Started takingmorerisks.Notafraidofchanges,alwaysopentowards it. Not scared of getting out aswell.Haveworkedonafewshots.Myslogshothasimprovedalot.Itwasthereearlieraswell,butnow I play itmore freely. I'mmore relaxednow,”theleft-handerhadsaid.

Twoweeks later, against the sameoppo-nents, Dhawananchored another perfectly-timed run-chase for Delhi Capitals with asumptuousknock.PrithviShaw’spyrotechnicsmay have propelled them to 63/0 in thePowerplay.Butwith56neededoffsevenovers,itwasDhawan’saggressiveapproachthatgavethe scoreboard the required impetus. Theopener targeted leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi inparticular,pummellinghimfortwosixesandaboundaryoverthemid-wicketfence.

Stand-in captainbails Punjaboutof trouble

With 161 runsfrom six games,Agarwal hadbeensubdued in IPL2021 so far.Coming intoSunday’s match,the additional re-sponsibility ofleading PunjabKings in the ab-

sence of regular skipper KL Rahul, outwithacuteappendicitis,wouldhaveonlyamplifiedthepressure.Thestartwasfarfromideal,withopenerPrabhsimranSinghandChrisGaylede-parting inside thePowerplay. Itwasamonu-mentalstruggleforDawidMalanonhisIPLde-

but,astheNo.4batsmanfailedtorotatestrikeandpenetrate the infield, as the top-rankedT20I batsmandoes for England. This robbedthestand-in-captainofthestrike.Nevertheless,theduostitcheda52-runthird-wicketalliance.Malan’s exit toAxarPatel for 26, andDeepakHooda’s run-out twodeliveries later, peggedPunjabback.At90/4in14overs,ascoreof150seemedadistantdream.But at the opportunemoment, Agarwal

steppedup.Havingmeanderedtoa32-ball37till then, he decided to take charge. The 30-year-old kick-startedhis assaultwith a fear-somepull off KagisoRabada, and followed itupwith a boundary and a six against IshantSharma in the subsequent over. Agarwalbroughtuphishalf-centuryoff 37deliveries.Intheinterim,hesurvivedareprieve,droppedbyLalitYadavatbackwardpoint. Theopenercontinued in hismerryways, drilling threefoursandasix in the final overagainstAveshKhan to finish unbeaten on a 58-ball 99, hisbelligerent stroke-play vaulting Punjab to166/6.Delhi’spacerswereguiltyofpitchingitintheslot,whichallowedAgarwaltostaylowandlofttheball intothestandswithease.BRIEF SCORES: Punjab Kings 166/6

(Mayank Agarwal 99* off 58 b, 8x4, 4x6,Kagiso Rabada 3/36, 6 dots) lost to DelhiCapitals167/4in17.4overs(ShikharDhawan69*off47b,6x4,2x6,PrithviShaw39off22b,3x4,3x6)by7wickets.

Buttler adds to Sunrisers’ miseryEnglishmansmashes tonasRajasthanRoyalsgetvitalvictoryover rudderlessHyderabad

SRIRAMVEERAMAY2

CHASING 219 for victory,Mumbai Indiansseemeddown for the count at 81/3with al-most10oversgone.RohitSharma,QuintondeKock and Suryakumar Yadav had been dis-missedwith Chennai Super Kings spinnersRavindraJadejaandMoeenAlitighteningthescrews.Theaskingratehadreachedwellover15runsanoverwhenKieronPollarddecidedtotakemattersintohisownhands.HisassaultgotthebetterofCaptainCoolMahendraSinghDhoniasMumbaiscriptedamemorableheist.

WhatwasChennai’splanforPollard?Thetimeoutattheendofthe14thoverwas

a freneticaffair in theChennai camp.SkipperMSDhoni,headcoachStephenFleming,bowl-ingconsultantEricSimonsandbowlingcoachLBalaji-allwereinvolvedinintensechatswiththe bowlers. At that stage,Mumbai still needed 89from36 balls but Pollardhad looted 36 runs in thelast two overs to triggerconcern in the Chennaicamp. Talking headsbobbedaround.

Thequestionwas:wheretobowltoKeironPollard?There hadbeenonly one expensive over

fromaseamer–LungiNgidi-bythenwiththeSouthAfricanbleeding14runsintheoverjustbeforethetimeout.Theotheronewasthe13thbowledbyRavindraJadeja,whichkickstartedPollard’smayhem. Interestingly, Jadeja hadtriedbowlingwelloutsidetheoff-stumptwiceand saw theball beingbashedoverhis headfortwosixes.Ngidihadbowledatthestumps,a slower one and a lengthdelivery, but bothdisappearedovertheboundary.Theconsensusafterthediscussioninthetimeoutseemedto

betobowlwelloutsidetheoff-stump.

HasthatlineofattackworkedbeforeagainstPollard?

Yes. Pollard likes to stay beside theball,attimesoutsidetheleg-stump,andtry toswing it to thearcbetween long-offandlong-on.Resultantly,hehashadproblems reachingout to legally-widedeliveriesoutsideoff.Hehaseitherslicedthemforcatchesornotmanagedtopileuptheboundaries.Chennaiusedtode-ployDwayneBravoforthatlineofattack

againstPollardbuthewasn’tintheplayingXIfor Saturday’s game.Hewould runon to thefieldtohaveaprivatechatwithDhoniduringthemayhem,though.

So,didChennai try it?Yes. Immediately after that timeout,

ShardulThakurwentforthatlineofattack.Theexecution, though,went awry. The first ballslippedoutasawidedelivery.Thesecondwasclose enough for Pollard to thump it to thestraightboundary.Thethirdwaswideenoughbut overpitched andallowedPollard toholdhis balance and just free his arms at it for a

boundary.So,Thakurwentforthewideyorkernext but itwas toowide, and theumpire ex-tendedhis armsagain. Thenext ballwasnotfar fromtheoff-stumpandPollard edges theheavetothethirdmanboundary.Thakurgaveupthatlineandwentfortheshortball,andhadto stare at the deepmidwicket boundarywheretheballendedup.So,23runshadcomeoff that over inwhich thewell-outside-offstrategywasattempted.

WhathappenednextagainstPollard?Inthe17thover,SamCurranhadtwoballs

athim.Onewasawell-executedwideyorkerthat thebatsmancouldonlydigout forasin-gle. The otherwas a ball on the legswhichPollarddidn’tputaway.ThatoverwentforjusttworunsandalsosawthefallofKrunalPandya.Now,Mumbaineeded48fromthreeovers.

Is thereanyotherperceivedweaknessinPollard?Leg-spin and pacy bouncers have been

consideredPollard’sweaknesses in thepast,thoughhehasn’t necessarily fallen toomanytimes tobouncers.Quality leg-spinnershavetroubledhim,butChennaididn’tpossessoneontheday.

Whathappened in the final over fromNgidi?By this time, Chennai bowlers had aban-

donedthewell-outside-offplanandNgidiwasgunning for yorkers. Two slipped out as fulltossesanddisappearedforafourandasix.Thebowlernailedonegoodyorker–onthelastballwhen two runswere needed - but by thenDhoniperhapsdidn’thaveenoughconfidenceinhim tohave thedeepmidwicket closer tocut off the second run. Pollard stabbed theyorker in that region to run two. Also, non-strikerDhawalKulkarnihadlefthiscreaseearly-itwouldhavegotRavichandranAshwinintothe actwerehe thebowler - and completedthesecondwithoutmuchfuss.

REUTERSLONDON,MAY2

MANCHESTER UNITED'S Premier Leaguematch against Liverpoolwas postponed onSunday after United fans forced their wayinto the stadium and stormed the OldTrafford pitch to protest against the club'sowners - theGlazer family."Following discussion between the

Police, thePremierLeague,TraffordCounciland the clubs, ourmatch against Liverpoolhasbeenpostponedduetosafetyandsecu-rityconsiderationsaroundtheprotesttoday,"United said in a statement after the gamewascalledoff."Discussionswillnowtakeplacewiththe

PremierLeagueonareviseddateforthefix-ture." Liverpool issued a statement sayingtheywere in full agreementwith the deci-sion.Anhourafterthescheduled1530GMTkickoff, both sets of playerswere still stuckin their hotels. The Lowry Hotel, whereUnited's players were preparing for thematch, was also the scene of a large anti-Glazerprotest.Around200Unitedfanstooktothepitch,

some letting off flares and others carryingposters calling for the Glazers to end theirownershipof theclub theybought in2005.The match was being played behind

closed doors due to COVID-19 restrictionsbutthatdidnotstopchaoticanduglyscenesinsideandoutsideOldTrafford.Media representatives covering the

game, includingReuters,were kept outsideas the stadiumwas locked down after thefanshadbeenremoved.In a statement the Premier League said:

"Following the security breach at OldTrafford, the Manchester United versusLiverpoolgamehasbeenpostponed."Thisisacollectivedecisionfromthepo-

lice,bothclubs,thePremierLeagueandlocal

authorities.Thesecurityandsafetyofevery-one at Old Trafford remains of paramountimportance.Weunderstandandrespectthestrength of feeling but condemn all acts ofviolence, criminaldamageand trespass, es-pecially given the associated COVID-19breaches."Therewasnowordonwhentheymatch would be played. Second-placedUnitedneededawintopreventManchesterCitybeingcrownedchampionsonSunday.Whiletheprotesthadbeenplannedand

waslargelypeaceful, itdescendedintochaosas infiltrated thestadium.Hundreds of fans also gathered outside

the ground, letting off green andgold flares-- the colours of United's shirts when theywereformedasNewtonHeathandadoptedby those who have regularly protestedagainst theclub'shierachy.Mounted policemoved in to try to clear

theareasoutsidethestadiumandthereweresomeisolatedincidentswithbottlesandbar-riersbeingthrown.Theplannedprotest fol-

lows United's initial decision to join aEuropeanSuperLeaguealongwithfiveotherEnglish clubs. Theplans for that breakawayleague fell apart within days due towide-spreadopposition.Former United defender Gary Neville,

whowasa fiercecriticof theclub'sdecisionto join the Super League,was in the groundaspartof theSkySportscommentaryteam."The reasonwhy those thousands and

thousandsoffanscametodayisbecausetheyhave had enough. They have had enough,"Neville said. "We canmake the story todayaboutthedisturbancesandIthinkthatneedstobe coveredbut the story shouldbeabouttheManUtd fans. Theyhavehadenough. Itwillbeverydifficultinthenextfewmonths."Speaking ahead of the protest, United

managerOleGunnarSolskjaersaid:"It's im-portant that the fans' views are listened toandwecommunicatebetter.Myjobistofo-cusonthefootballsideandthatwehavethebestpossible team."

How Pollard knocked the wind out of CSK’s sails Utd-Liverpool clash postponed after protests

E●EXPLAIN

ED

POINTS TABLE

TEAMS M W L PT NRR

DC 8 6 2 12 0.547

CSK 7 5 2 10 1.263

RCB 7 5 2 10 -0.171

MI 7 4 3 8 0.062

RR 7 3 4 6 -0.190

PBKS 8 3 5 6 -0.368

KKR 7 2 5 4 -0.494

SRH 7 1 6 2 -0.623

JosButtlersmashed11foursandeightsixes inhis124-runknockoff 64balls. Sportzpics for IPL

SixTokyoGamestorchstafferspositive

Tokyo: Six peoplewho helpedwithJapan's Olympic Torch relaywere di-agnosedwithCOVID-19, bringing thetotal number of participants in theeventwhogotthecoronavirustoeight,organiserssaid.Thesixpeople,whoin-cluded aman in his 20s and anotherman inhis30s, helpedon the relay inthesouthernprefectureofKagoshimaonApril27,Tokyo2020saidinastate-ment lateonSaturday.Allof themas-sistedwith traffic control andworemasks,withthreeof themdoingsointhecityofAmamiandtheotherthreeinthecityofKirishima,saidtheorgan-isers.Earlierlastmonth,twootherpeo-plewhohelpedwiththetorchrelayonthe southern island of ShikokuwerediagnosedwithCOVID-19,includingapolice officer in his 30swho guidedtrafficinKagawaprefecture.TheTokyo2020organisersurgedpeopletocom-plywithCOVID-19guidelines.

FormernationalselectorRungtasuccumbstoCovidJaipur: Former BCCI selector andRajasthancaptainKishanRungtadiedofCOVID-19atahospital in Jaipur.Hewas 88. The veteran administratortestedpositive for the virus lastweekand died on Saturday. "FormerRajasthan first class cricketer and ex-national selector Kishan Rungta hasdiedofCOVID-19,"aBCCIsourcecon-firmed to PTI. Rungta served as a na-tional selector fromCentral Zone in1998.Heplayed59firstclassgamesbe-tween1953to1970,scoring2717runs.HislateelderbrotherPurushottamwasa BCCI treasurer in the 1970s.Purushottam'ssonKishore

OsakalosestoMuchovainMadridMadrid:Second-rankedNaomiOsakais out of theMadridOpenasKarolinaMuchovawon6-4,3-6,6-1inthesec-ondroundonSunday. Muchovaeasedthrough the deciding set to earn herthirdwin against a top 10 opponentthisyear.The20th-rankedCzechwasasemifinalist at the Australian Open,whichwaswonbyOsakainFebruary."It was a toughmatch today, butwehadsomepreparation,”Muchovasaid.“Iwas ready to playwith all I had to-day,andtousealltheweaponsIcouldand(do)what Ican."Osakawascom-ing off a quarterfinal loss to MariaSakkariinMiami."OnthethirdsetIfeltI juststartedoff reallybadandIcould-n't afford to do that.”Muchova nextfaces 16th-seeded Sakkari, who de-feated Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 6-1.Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova KarolinaPliskova 6-0, 7-5,while fifth-seededAryna Sabalenka defeated DariaKasatkina6-3,6-3. AGENCIES

BRIEFLY



SPORT12ON THE TUBE

Indian Premier League

KolkataKnightRidersvsRoyalChallengers

Bangalore, 7:30pm

Live on Star Sports Network

Shaw-Shikhar continue to sizzle as Capitalssubdue Kings and move atop table

SYNOPSIS

■Buttler’sstrengthandMustafizur’ssubtletyswampHyderabad

SYNOPSIS

■DhawananchorsDelhi’schaseafterstand-

in-captainbailsPunjaboutoftrouble

KieronPollardscoreda34-ball87totakeMIover the lineoff the lastballofthematchagainstCSK . Sportzpics for IPL

Around200ManchesterUnitedfans tooktothepitch, somelettingoff flaresandotherscarryingposterscalling for theGlazers toendtheirownership. Reuters

Ahmedabad

Vol. LIV No. 77 RNI No. 15048/1968. Printed and Published by Hareshkumar K Bhagdev on behalf of The Indian Express Private Limited. Published at : 3rd Floor, Sambhav House, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380 015. Phone (Board) : 26872481- 82- 83, Fax No. 26873950. Printed at : Bhaskar Print Planet, Survey No. 148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad. Chairman of the Board : Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor : Raj Kamal Jha, Editor : Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor : (Gujarat) Leena Misra *

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