FREE PRESS - VOL. 12 NO. 178 | BHOPAL | FRIDAY | DECEMBER 9, 2022 | PAGES 16 Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; Modi tsunami sweeps Gujarat WWW.FREEPRESSJOURNAL.IN EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE FOR 24X7 UPDATES EDIT INVINCIBLE IN GUJARAT, VULNERABLE ELSEWHERE ENGLAND PLAYER RAHEEM STERLING TO RETURN TO WORLD CUP Pg-14 Support reflects anger against dynasty rule: Modi CONG WRESTS HIMACHAL, APP DISTANT THIRD GANDHINAGAR/SHIMLA BJP returned to power in Gujarat with a historic victory while Congress made a comeback in Himachal Pradesh in the results announced on Thursday which also marked the start of an election season that will see several assembly polls next year in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. The BJP has won 153 seats and is leading in three more of 182 assembly seats in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, smashing all previous records of electoral performance. The Congress held its nerve in Himachal Pradesh and won 40 seats in the 68-member as. sembly , For Aam Aadmi Party which won the MCD elections on Wednesday the results in Gujarat , gave some satisfaction though the party's numbers were far less than the expectations of its leaders. AAP made its maiden entry in the Gujarat assembly winning five seats and its leaders saw a lot of hope in the party getting 12.92 per cent vote share in the state where the BJP has been in power for almost 27 years. AAP leaders also declared that the party has now gained "national party" status. Congress recorded its worst performance in Gujarat and is poised to win only 17 seats, partly due to AAP splitting the opposition vote. Bypolls to six seats held across five states also gave a mixed result with Congress and BJP winning two seats each and BJD and RLD on one each. Samajwadi Party candidate Dimple Yadav won the Mainpuri Lok Sabha BJP leaders and workers dance as they celebrate the party's decisive lead in Gujarat Assembly elections, in Gandhinagar, on Thursday CONG STOPS BJP RATH IN HIMACHAL NEW DELHI Himachal Pradesh Congress President Pratibha Singh adresses a press conference after the party's victory in Shimla on Thursday seat with a huge margin. Incumbent Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel is set to take oath on December 12. The BJP won the highest number of seats in Gujarat's history and recorded its seventh straight win. The BJP not only improved its own record of 127 seats, made in 2002 with Narendra Modi as Chief Minister but surpassed the Congress' best tally of 149 seats in the 1985 elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was overcome with a lot of emotions seeing the phenomenal election results in Gujarat. CONTD. ON P6 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said Gujarat has broken all records and created history by showering love on the BJP despite the party being in power in the state for 25 years.Addressing party workers here, Modi said the support to BJP shows that people's anger against dynasty rule and corruption was rising. He said people had voted for the BJP as it was taking all facilities to the poor and middle class at the earliest. "I am thankful to the voters of Himachal also, where our vote share was just less than one per cent below that ," of the winning party he said. "I bow to people. Their blessings are overwhelming," the prime minister said.The BJP was on course to win 156 seats in the 182-member state assembly, its best ever performance in Gujarat. GOVERNMENT NEW LAW COLLEGE SCANDAL Principal, prof suspended; 3 contractual faculty terminated, author arrested OUR STAFF REPORTER Indore News Brief Hijab protest: Iran executes 1st prisoner DUBAI: Iran said Thursday it executed a prisoner convicted for a crime allegedly committed during the country's ongoing nationwide protests, the first such death penalty carried out by Tehran. EC accepts TRS to Bharat Rashtra Samithi HYDERABAD: The EC on Thursday informed TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao that it has accepted the name change of his party from T elangana Rashtra Samithi to Bharat Rashtra Samithi. In a letter, the EC cited a request from the party to accept its name change. EC said necessary notification in this regard will be issued." ADB okays $780 mn for Chennai metro NEW DELHI: The Asian Development Bank on Thursday said it has approved a $780 million multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) to build new lines and improve the connectivity of the metro rail system in Chennai with the city's existing bus and feeder services. Citing inquiry report in Government New Law College scandal, Department of Higher Education (DHE) on Thursday suspended principal Dr Inamur Rahman and a professor and terminated the services of three contractual teachers even as author of a controversial book Dr Farhat Khan was arrested from Pune. “We have suspended the college principal and a professor (Mirza Moziz Beg) and terminated and black- listed three contractual teachers (viz Prof Feroze Ahmed Meer, Prof Suhail Ahmed Wani and Prof Ameek Khokar) after an inquiry committee found them involved in controversial activities,” higher education minister Mohan Yadav told Free Press. Besides, Dr Farhat Khan, whose controversial book titled 'Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System' containing objectionable content against Hindu community and other Hindu outfits, was arrested from Pune while she was ANNOYED WITH COMMENTS ON SAVARKAR Youth tries self-immolation during Cong's BJY in Kota JAIPUR: A youth tried during self-immolation Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kota, Rajasthan on . Thursday The youth is said to be a BJP supporter and was allegedly annoyed with the comments of Rahul Gandhi on Savarkar. The youth is identified as Kuldeep Sharma (31) and lives in Borkheda, Kota. The incident happened in the morning when Rahul was heading towards a statue of former PM Rajiv Gandhi. Kuldeep reached near to the stage and raised slogans against Rahul Gandhi and then set himself on fire. The police officers present controlled the fire and took him . into police custody A video of Kuldeep is also getting viral in which he is accusing the Gandhi family of being anti-Hindu. His brother Abhilash said Kuldeep was angry with Rahul's repeated remarks on Savarkar. When he came to know that Rahul's Yatra would come to Kota, he planned to stop the Yatra. In the meantime, it was day four of the Rajasthan leg of the Yatra on Thursday and it got a grand welcome in Kota. Thousands including coachwelcome students ing Rahul. CONTD. ON P6 undergoing dialysis in a hospital. Home Minister Narottam Mishra confirmed the development saying she would be also booked for another controversial book also found in the Government New Law College if its content is also found objectionable. On Dec 1, college principal Dr Inamur Rahman had sent six teachers including four Muslims on forced leave for five days after ABVP had accused them of being anti-establishment and promoting religious fundamentalism. CONTD. ON P6 China eases ‘zero Covid’ restrictions OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI The Chinese government announced a rollback of the country’s strict coronavirus restrictions, a major pivot from a policy on which President Xi Jinping . had staked his legitimacy The move is an implicit concession to public discontent after mass street protests against the Covid restrictions gripped China. Protesters were livid over lockdowns that confined hundreds of millions of people in their homes for weeks and dragged down the econo. my They also disliked the seemingly arbitrary way in which the restrictions were enforced. Food for thought: Tribal athletes get only potatoes OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in Tribal athletes lodged in a government hostel for a national training camp lack nutritious food. It has come to light when a video clip in which the athletes are seen complaining about absence of nutritious food went viral on social media. These athletes from all over Madhya Pradesh are in the city for a training camp to participate in the Eklavya Adarsh Awasiya Vidyalaya's upcoming AllIndia Sports Competition, which will be held in RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 Andhra Pradesh from December 17 to 22. An athlete told our reporter, "We are not getting enough protein here and it is vital for our training programme. All we get here in the name of vegetables is potato. We have been here for the last eight days and we hardly get any fruit. Most of the time, they say that we ran out of food." Another athlete said, "We only get half-a-glass of milk, sometimes even less than half. We don't even get one apple; they slice it and give a few slices to us. CONTD. ON P6 `3 QUALITY AT VALUE WEATHER 29.40c. 16.20c Sunrise : 06.54 Sunset : 05.42 SC dismisses probe into Kashmir Pandits' genocide OUR BUREAU / NEW DELHI A 3-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, has dismissed a curative petition seeking a probe by a Central Agency or any other court-appointed agency into the alleged mass killing and genocide of Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu and Kashmir during 1989–1990. “In our opinion, no case is made within the parameters indicated in the Supreme Court decision in Rupa Hurra vs Ashok Hurra case,” said the Supreme Court, which also comprised Justices S K Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer. It had circulated the curative petition on November 22. Its order dismissing the plea has been uploaded on the Supreme Court's website.Rupa Ashok Hurra v Ashok Hurra is a case of 2002 by which a Constitution Bench of the Apex Court introduced the concept of Curative Petition and prescribed the modalities for the same. The Curative Petition was filed against the order dated October 25, 2017 in the review petition, passed by the Bench of the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra and the current CJI Chandrachud. "We have carefully gone through the Review Petition and the connected papers, but we see no reason to interfere with the order impugned. The Review Petition , is, accordingly dismissed", the Bench had held in the order passed after circulation. CONTD. ON P6 Collegium is law of the land, comments against it not very well taken, SC tells Centre NEW DELHI: Amid the ongoing friction between the Centre and the judiciary on the issue of appointment of judges, the Supreme Court on Thursday told the Centre that collegium system is the "law of the land", which should be followed. And, referring to government functionaries' remarks against the collegium, the top court said, "Making comments on the Supreme Court collegium is not very well taken" and told the Attorney General (AG) R. Venkataramani, representing the Centre, "you tell them to control..." A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Vikram Nath told the AG that just because there are some sections of society who express a view against the collegium system, it will not cease to be the law of the land. The bench added that the apex court judgment, which formulated the collegium system for judges' appointment must be adhered to. Justice Kaul told the AG, "There are sections in society who do not agree with the laws made by the Parliamenta...should the court stop enforcing such laws on that ground?...". The bench further added that if everyone in society decides which law to follow and which law not to follow, then there would be a breakdown. CONTD. ON P6