THE SUNDAY TULSI VIVAH Vol. 37 No. 6 | Sunday, November 2, 2025 27 Pages | `5 & for State `6 | Reg. No. MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 46955/1988 M.p.c.s. office Mumbai-400001 FREE PRESS JOURNAL INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation GOOD LIFE Weekend Writer-director Aditya Sarpotdar believes in always living in the future Live Smart Decode your laziness Is ‘busyness’ becoming a badge of honour and exhaustion the proof of our worth? Sunday Read SRK@60 – Turning a Baazigar into a Baadshah DEVASTATION | Mismanagement turns sacred Ekadashi celebration into deadly chaos Shailender S Dhawan 1960-2025 Temple tragedy claims 9 lives The Editor who stayed Kiranmai Tutika AMARAVATI A day meant for prayer and devotion turned into a scene of heartbreak at the Sri Vijaya Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Kasibugga, Srikakulam district, on Saturday. A deadly stampede during Ekadashi celebrations claimed nine lives — eight women and a child — and left 13 others injured. Thousands of devotees had gathered at the privately man- Aadhaar updates go digital OPPOSITION UNITES OVER ALLEGED VOTER FRAUD FPJ News Service Ravikiran Deshmukh MUMBAI MUMBAI In a major push towards digital convenience, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has rolled out sweeping reforms to simplify and digitise the process of updating Aadhaar details. The changes, effective from Saturday, will allow cardholders to modify key personal details — including name, address, date of birth, and mobile number — entirely through the UIDAI portal without visiting enrolment centres. In a unity display, Maharashtra’s opposition parties took to the streets on Saturday, demanding that no elections be held until the alleged irregularities in the voters’ list are corrected. The protest march, titled Satyacha Morcha (March for Truth), was organised by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (Sharad Pawar) — joined for the first time by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). 4Contd on | Nation aged hilltop temple since early morning to offer prayers. Around noon, a section of the metal railing on the staircase leading to the first floor collapsed. In the ensuing chaos, devotees lost balance and fell over one another, triggering a crush that left several people unconscious and many severely injured. Emergency teams rushed the victims to hospitals in Kasibugga and Palasa. Three of the injured remain in critical condition. District officials said MVA parties and MNS join hands in a show of strength, demanding rectification of voters’ lists before civic and local body polls. The morcha began from Fashion Street on Mahatma Gandhi Road and culminated outside the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters. What stood out was the large turnout of Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS supporters, signalling a new political realignment. The leaders accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of ignoring widespread voter list discrepancies, including multiple entries, fake Aadhaar linkages, and wrongful deletions that, they claimed, favoured the ruling BJP. Sharad Pawar, in his address, recalled the protests of the Unified Maharashtra movement, saying the march symbolised the fight to preserve democracy and constitutional rights. 4Contd on | Mumbai 4See also | Mumbai that while the temple normally sees about 2,000 devotees on weekends, over 15,000 people had gathered for the Ekadashi festivities — far beyond its capacity. Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha, who visited the site, said the tragedy was the result of overcrowding and poor management. “The deaths are deeply painful. A thorough inquiry has been ordered,” she said. late but left too soon 4Contd on | Nation PM vows to end Maoism by March 2026 Agencies RAIPUR Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the number of Maoist-affected districts in India has come down sharply to just three from 125 over the last 11 years, expressing confidence that the entire country, including Chhattisgarh, will soon be completely free from Maoist terror. He declared the government aims to eliminate Maoism by March 31, 2026. 4Contd on | Nation V Sudarshan J ournalists are prepared for bad news round the clock. But not the kind I got today. Barely had I finished reading the papers in the morning I got a call saying Shailender S Dhawan, my predecessor who had held the post for almost continuously since July 31, 2008, was no more. He had vacated his office only in April this year, barely six months ago. He died of congestive heart failure. To colleagues and friends who knew him well, this is code for broken heart disease. His heart broke because he could no longer do what he liked best: bring out another FPJ edition with hooks for headlines on the front page, the best page of the day. Shailen obsessed about headlines, holding the page till he got the right one. Sometimes I wondered what would happen if he didn’t get the right headline, but that was never. I had known Shailen from the last century, the early nineties. 4Contd on | Nation ANCE, PHATA ORDIN S NIKLA HERO Rahul corrects self image, snubs PM FROM New Delhi ● ANIL SHARMA Gandhi esident Rahul an ongress vice-pr image of a politici selhas built-up an his mind and who hardly knowsis mentioned in , rily he dom acts. Ordina e of his abmostly becaus d news reports ns. Rahul change occasio sence on crucial pear as a deci- C K