India Today 10.9.2023

www.indiatoday.in OCTOBER 9, 2023 `100 OC DL (DS)-03/MP/2022-23-24;RNI NO.28587/75 REGISTERED NO. DL(ND)-11/6068/2021-22-2023; LICENSED TOPOST WPP NO.U(C)-88/2021-23; FARIDABAD/05/2023-25 Volume48-Number41;Publishedonevery Friday ofAdvance Week;Postedat LPC Delhi – RMS – Delhi – 110006onEvery Friday & Saturday; Totalnumber ofPages100(including coverpages) INDIA-CANADA TIES THE KHALISTAN FIRESTORM TRAVEL SPECIAL HOLIDAYS IN THE WILD PLAYING ON HOME TURF GIVES INDIA A DECISIVE ADVANTAGE, BUT ONLY IF THEY FIRE AS A TEAM CRICKET WORLD CUP 2023

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 3 he South African stand-up comic Trevor Noah has a disarming way of picking on the world’s follies and funny accents. His topics can be dead serious, and you could die laughing listening to his post-mortems. When he landed in India last week, Noah ribbed audiences about the present spree ofrenaming or changing everything of colonial origin, saying, “We want to change the names of our cities and maybe even our country, but we don’t want to getrid of cricket. Oh no, no, no, not cricket. Not everything the Britishers did was all that bad, after all.” In a funny way, Trevor was right. We might have a conflicted relationship with all things foreign, but cricket has put down roots and gone native. It is now seen as thoroughly and totally Indian. And when we host the 2023 edition of the Cricket World Cup over six passion-filled weeks beginning October 5, we will behave as if it’s a homecoming. All ourinnate skills at pageantry will be on display in what will surely be the planet’s biggest sporting jamboree outside of the Football World Cup and the Olympics. A cumulative live audience of well over 2 billion is expected to watch the 48 games as the circus moves across 10 venues, over 45 days. The total prize money at stake is $10 million—the winners alone will take home $4 million. Will that be the Boys in Blue? It has been a while. The last time we won was in 2011, under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy. Those dozen years of drought seem like a lifetime, but the gap before that was thrice as long. The epochal win by Kapil Dev’s team in 1983 seems like such a settled fact of cricket history now that we tend to forget how utterly unexpected it was when it happened. INDIA TODAY has a kind of umbilical link with the Cricket World Cup: the first edition of both the magazine and the championship came in 1975. Eight years later, India were still so much the minnows—and the one-day format still not so much out of its infancy—that it was a holidaying correspondent who covered it for us. That win changed everything. The game’s centre of gravity slowly but surely shifted towards the subcontinent, with India driving much of the money and the madness. One-day internationals (ODIs) attained a kind of centrality that they still have. Test cricket began to look more and more like a relic from the pre-industrial past, and its spectatorship shrank to the purists. T20, on the other hand, shrank cricket itself to the size of a tweet. The 50-overformat had a balance of both the classical and the pop, the arts and the entertainment. The Cricket World Cup, as it is revealingly called, is therefore still the game’s greatest showpiece—the G20 of cricket. India’s quest for the Cup of ’23 rests on an exciting wager in terms of team composition. The situation is somewhat analogous to what we had in 1983. Kapil’s Devils were an unlikely Ocean’s Eleven who got together for the biggest heist in the world. As the skipper himself told INDIA TODAY in a post-match interview, sipping champagne, “It was the fielding that got us the Prudential World Cup.” Twenty-eight years later, fielding had gone from being a lucky accident to a basic feature; fitness had become a professional afair. But Dhoni’s team was one that had a world-beating swag, with a good sprinkling of the best—giants like Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, swashbucklers like Yuvraj Singh, a steely Gautam Gambhir, besides a handful of colts. Dhoni’s granite resolve was writ large on the way they were soldered together into a winning combination. The onus of repeating that feat, with a rather greener blend, now falls on Rohit Sharma. The present squad of 15 is nearly two parts dew-fresh youth, one part experience. Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin are the only survivors from the 2011 team, and the latterisn’t fully confirmed yet. The captain himself is the only other A-listerfrom the past. In short, it’s a team built largely around a generation that grew up with the IPL—12 out of the 15 have played under 100 ODIs each, six have played under 50, and the back-up wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan (who Sourav Ganguly thinks should be first choice) has 18 matches in all. But players like Shubman Gill (35 caps), Mohammed Siraj(29), Shreyas Iyer(46), Suryakumar Yadav (29) and Shardul Thakur(44) have got the world sitting up and taking serious notice. Theirforays into the 50-overformat have already seen spectacularly fruitful moments. And they are as central to the team as the stalwarts and relative veterans like Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, K.L. Rahul and Hardik Pandya. What they lack, crucially, is big match experience. It will be fascinating to watch how they shape up against the same teams they have excelled against in one-on-one series—say, an Australia or a Sri Lanka—within the high-stakes format of an international tournament. Outside of India, Australia and England are the two teams to watch out for. The latter, under the sway of their Test coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum, have universally adopted a spunky version of cricket called ‘bazball’, which involves playing positively and attackingly regardless of match situation. New Zealand are the dark horse. And Pakistan still have that mercurial capacity to come out of nowhere and knock the best to the ground on their day—they also have captain Babar Azam, one of the best batsmen in the world. As we all know, IndiaPakistan matches become a quasi-final unto themselves, with collective hysteria breaching the circuit barrier. We have lined up a mini feast for you. A detailed SWOT analysis of the India team will aid those who came in late to the game. Sunil Gavaskar and Rajdeep Sardesai ofertheir perspectives, apart from a main essay by Nikhil Naz, Consulting Editor, Sports, India Today TV. When the other G20 of nations was held recently in Delhi, it went underthe motto ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’. The boys can be boys out in the middle and fight till the last ball. But in the stadia and every other public space, we need to play graceful hosts again and live up to the other Indian dictum: ‘atithi devo bhava’(the guest be treated like God). We can stillroot for India by saying: May the best team win, but if our Boys in Blue do bring the cup home, it will be one more tribute to a Rising India. (Aroon Purie) FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF T July 1 5, 1983

UPFRONT TAMIL NADU: DIVORCE OF CONVENIENCE PG 7 UPFRONT GUJARAT: A FLOOD OF ALLEGATIONS PG 18 E-MAIL to: [email protected] or log on to www.indiatoday.in Readers are recommended to make appropriate enquiries before sending money, incurring expenses or entering into commitments in relation to any advertisement appearing in this publication. The India Today Group does not vouch for any claims made by the advertisers of products and services. The printer, publisher, editor-inchief and the editor of the India Today Group publications shall not be held liable for any consequences in the event of such claims not being honoured by the advertisers. 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6 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 BIHAR: NITISH TO THE FORE PG 13 MP: BJP PULLS OUT THE BIG GUNS PG 16 A THAW STARTS IN SRINAGAR PG 9 VIZAG: A CAPITAL GETS READY PG 14 By now, the spectacle of long-time partners making for the exit door is no longer a novel one for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—the undivided Shiv Sena in 2019 and the Shiromani Akali Dal in 2020 are the oft-cited cases that ended in an acrimonious divorce. When the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) joined that list on September 25, it was not entirely unexpected either. Relations between the BJP and its most influential National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner in the south had started to fray ever since K. Annamalai took over as the safron party’s Tamil Nadu president in July 2021. The strident 39-year-old, a 2011 batch Indian Police Service ofcer who resigned in 2019 to join politics, does not miss an opportunity to let loose some vocal pyrotechnics. His manner suited a party that, having largely had to play second fiddle to the AIADMK for years, didn’t seem to mind a spot of overcorrection—even if it meant angering its old friend. Annamalai believes the BJP has to go it alone in Tamil Nadu if it wants TA MIL NA DU DIVORCE OF CONVENIENCE By Amarnath K. Menon AFTER A CLEAN BREAK AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (centre) with party leaders at a meeting in Chennai, Sept. 26 ANI

8 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 to shatter the ceiling on its growth imposed by the 50-year stranglehold of the Dravidian parties—the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its rival, the AIADMK. In June, his comments against the late J. Jayalalithaa, former CM and iconic AIADMK chief, aggravated ties that had already been rendered tenuous by his constant criticism of the AIADMK. Before that, when Jayalalithaa’s demise in 2016 left a vacuum in state politics and led to an open struggle for supremacy between AIADMK’s current chief, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) and his predecessor as CM, O. Panneerselvam (OPS), the BJP had moved in to take advantage of the schism. The power that came from being the Goliath at the Centre allowed it to play arbiter, and then a silent big brother. Moving to a less silent mode in pursuit of its expansion plans was natural progression. Peeved by the young BJP satrap’s intemperate remarks and fearing that it might actually be gaining his party mileage at its expense, the AIADMK has in recent months often accused Annamalai of flouting all norms of coalition dharma. The last straw for the AIADMK came on September 11, when Annamalai alleged that the Dravidian icon and former chief minister C.N. Annadurai—the revered ‘Anna’ who forms part of the party’s very name—had insulted Hinduism during an event in Madurai in 1956. Annamalai’s earlier allegations of corruption against Jayalalithaa—he later backtracked—had prompted the AIADMK to adopt a resolution describing him as “politically inexperienced and immature”. At its Golden Jubilee meet in Madurai on August 20, a decision was taken not to tolerate Annamalai’s barbs any longer. On September 18, AIADMK organising secretary D. Jayakumar declared a conditional “separation of ties” with the BJP—an ultimatum for the removal of Annamalai. The final break came after a meeting between Hindutva politics and perceived anti-minority stand were too costly to bear. Annamalai hastened the process, or provided the pretext the AIADMK needed.” Most experts feel the AIADMK is relieved at getting out of a bad marriage—it hopes to win back some of the minority votes it had lost in 2019 and 2021. It also breaks a narrative the BJP has been crafting sedulously: that Tamil Nadu was a BJP vs DMK contest. A section of the AIADMK genuinely began fearing the prospect of the party being relegated to the third position. Whetherthat would have happened organically without a split is now a hypothetical question—in actual record, the BJP has been a minor league player in Tamil Nadu, mostly dependent on its local guardian. Even with that, in 2019, it lost in all five Lok Sabha constituencies it contested and could win just four a party delegation and the BJP’s leadership in Delhi made it clear that the latter backed Annamalai. “The decision to end the alliance was because of defamatory comments by the BJP state leadership,” confirms AIADMK deputy general secretary K.P. Munusamy. Who is really to blame? “The ego and arrogance arising from political immaturity of Annamalai are substantial factors but the fear of being out of contention in Tamil Nadu politics is the deep fear of the AIADMK that has resulted in the present situation,” says political analyst Ramu Manivanna. “It was waiting to happen even before Annamalai,” adds political commentator N. Sathiya Moorthy. “After the reversals in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 assembly elections, AIADMK cadres were convinced the BJP’s UPFRONT FOR ALL ITS POSTURING, THE BJP IS DEPENDENT ON THE AIADMK. THAT’S WHY IT WAS GUARDED IN ITS RESPONSE TO THE SNAP IN TIES ANI NOT MINCING WORDS Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai at a press conference

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 9 After a long forced hiatus, during which Kashmir’s politics was in semieclipse, a few developments have got everyone watching with interest. On September 22, All Parties Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq walked free afterfour years under house arrest and was allowed to lead the prayers at Srinagar’s historic Jama Masjid. Two other clerics were freed before him, from Jammu’s Kot Balwal jail. Salafist preacher Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri and Barelvi cleric Maulana Abdul Rashid Dawoodi had been booked underthe Public Safety Act in September 2022 for “instigating youth”. The arrest of Dawoodi, chief of the Tehreek-e-Soutul Awliya who has a huge sway in south Kashmir, was even noted by the US Commission for International Religious Freedom as one that had to do with his “religious leadership role”. It was on August 4, 2019, that the Mirwaiz—one of Kashmir’s most prominent separatist faces and also its chief cleric—was detained in a pre-emptive measure. That was a day before the Centre turned Article 370 into a dead letter. This August, as he completed four years of being cooped up at his home in Srinagar’s Nigeen, the Mirwaiz sent a legal notice to the government against his “illegal confinement”. His counsel then filed a writ petition challenging the detention in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, which sought a governmentresponse within four weeks from September 15. However, he was released ahead of the hearing. As for Veeri and Dawoodi, the court quashed their detention on September 8, but the political mood had swung around to that already, with KASHMIR ENTENTE By Moazum Mohammad A THAW STARTS IN SRINAGAR ABID BHAT of the 20 assembly seats allotted to it in 2021. “The BJP needs us more than we need them,” says AIADMK spokesman Kovai Satyan. EPS knows the BJP’s hope of winning a few seats rested largely on its alliance with the AIADMK. Thus, by severing ties with it now, he’s trying to ensure that even in the eventuality of a rapprochement, the BJP is in no position to bargain for more than the five seats allotted to it in 2019. Aware of this ground reality, the BJP, too, is being guarded in its response to the AIADMK announcement, with state leaders who welcomed the end of the alliance being asked to retract their statements. F or now, the AIADMK is upbeat about performing well in the 2024 LS polls. They contend there is a strong anti-incumbency mood against the NDA as well as the DMK in the state. They draw inspiration from 2014, when the party contested the LS polls alone and bagged 37 of the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu—though repeating that feat in the absence of a charismatic supremo like Jayalalithaa will be a huge challenge. Some feel the BJP can woo the AIADMK’s anti-EPS factions led by OPS and T.T.V. Dhinakaran, besides the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), the Indhiya Jananayaka Katchi and the Thamizhaga Munnetra Kazhagam led by John Pandian. “Now, it has the option of leading a third front, and may even win a couple of traditional seats in the southern districts in a three-cornered contest that it was more likely to lose in direct contests,” says Moorthy. In the next few months, its national high command has to decide whether to reconcile the diferences with the AIADMK or put money behind Annamalai’s claim that the party is strong enough to win 25 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. „ PEOPLE’S LEADER Mirwaiz Umar Farooq at Srinagar’s Jama Masjid, Sept 22

10 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 UPFRONT even the state BJP seeking theirrelease. A huge throng of cheering, sloganchanting devotees greeted the 50-yearold Mirwaiz as he arrived at Jama Masjid to lead the Friday prayers. Wearing white-and-gold robes, he broke down as he climbed the stairs of the pulpit and talked about peace and reconciliation, calling forthe return of Kashmiri Pandits. “We have been called separatist, anti-national and peace disruptors. We represent the interests and aspirations of Kashmiris. We seek a peacefulresolution of theirissues,” he said, carefully avoiding any acrimony towards the Centre. Instead, he used Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words on Ukraine—that “this is not an era of war”—in the context of Kashmir. He added, “We have believed…in eforts seeking resolution through an alternative to violent means, which is dialogue and reconciliation. We have personally sufered for pursuing this route.” His soberly worded, almost conciliatory speech is being seen as a departure from the past. Separatists, both moderates like the Mirwaiz and hardliners like the late Syed Ali Geelani, would often touch upon United Nations resolutions on Kashmir and alleged human rights violations in their speeches— and these would routinely be followed by bouts of stone-throwing. After his September 22 speech, as the Mirwaiz left the complex, there were no raucous protests outside Jama Masjid. It was a positive sign that indicated his readiness to move on, feels Rekha Choudhary, former political science professor at Jammu University. “Interestingly, one can compare his political evolution to that of Omar Abdullah. In the past few years, Omar has become seasoned and pragmatic without losing his political space,” she says. “From the speech, one can see a similar pragmatism in Mirwaiz too. No overt bitterness orresentment towards the Centre. Just a sense of appreciation of the times.” In the past, Mirwaiz has drawn criticism from the hawks for a softer approach towards the Centre. Being a ‘moderate’ within the separatist space has never been easy. Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Lone was only the more prominent among those assassinated by militants for favouring talks with New Delhi. In fact, it was an assassination at the hands of militants—that of his own father, Mirwaiz Maulvi Farooq, in 1990—that had yanked the Mirwaiz into public life at an early age. Yet, unfazed by that overall context of threats, and without much diluting the core stand of Kashmiri self-determination, he had exhibited the latitude to engage with the Centre—at a time when then PM A.B. Vajpayee too was meeting the separatists half-way. It was a defining juncture of his political career and many in New Delhi identified him as “potential mainstream”. Says Choudhary, “As a political actor in Kashmir, he is relatively less controversial.” With the Lok Sabha election drawing closer, many say the BJP may use the Mirwaiz’s softened stance to their advantage—showcasing it as a vindication of their policies. In June, Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari had met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi, and urged him to go for confidence-building measures in J&K. Among his suggestions was the trio’s release. Bukhari, who has been accused of being ‘BJP’s B-team’, later engaged with former Hurriyat chairman Abdul Gani Bhat, another moderate, and Shia leader Aga Syed Hassan Mosavi Al Safavi, igniting some curiosity. Syed Muzafar Rizvi of the Itihadul Muslimeen, a Hurriyat constituent, even joined Apni Party and was appointed its Kashmir vicepresident on September 11. “The doors of our party are open for anyone… who believes in the Indian Constitution, doesn’t believe in communal politics and is not involved in drug abuse and terrorism,” says Bukhari. A senior policy analyst says the Mirwaiz’s presence willreduce the political space fortraditional parties like the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party. In the vacuum created by mass arrests after the annulment of Article 370, the two were trying to caterto both the mainstream and separatist constituencies— projecting themselves as the ‘sole voice’ of Kashmir. That will change now. “Mirwaiz’s release will also debunk the propaganda thatreligious freedom has been curbed in J&K,” says the analyst. “It is just the beginning, an experimental move. More CBMs can follow.” All considered, a turn so unexpected it must count as a googly. „ ALTAF BUKHARI HAD DEMANDED MIRWAIZ’S RELEASE DURING HIS MEETING WITH AMIT SHAH GRIDLOCK OF ARRESTS On August 5, 2019, Centre revokes special status/ autonomy of J&K granted under Article 370 of the Constitution Around 8,000 people were detained, including politicians, separatists and activists, amidst a blanket communication blackout and military build-up. Many are still behind bars Ex-CMs Farooq and Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti, veteran Hurriyat leader, the late Syed Ali Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq put under house arrest NIA also launched probes into alleged links to terror funding against Geelani, his family, the Mirwaiz, and several others Geelani, Kashmir’s most hawkish separatist leader, passed away on Sept 1, 2021 Mirwaiz’s release on Sept 22, coming after release of clerics Abdul Rashid Dawoodi and Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri, marks a softening of policy

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 13 On September 10, Janata Dal (United) national president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh once again raised the ‘Nitish (Kumar) for PM’ issue, a bogey that seems to raise its head every three months or so nowadays despite remonstrations by the man himself. In a video posted on Twitter, Lalan Singh was seen addressing a gathering in Nalanda, the Bihar chief minister’s home district, to virtually claim Nitish had better credentials to lead the country than many others. “Aap sabon neek aisa neta iss desh ko diya hai jo poore desh ka netritva karne keliye khada hai (You have given a leaderto this country who is ready to lead all its citizens),” Lalan is heard saying. The location, the Harnaut seat in Nalanda from where Nitish was first elected as an MLA in 1985, may suggest that Lalan was playing to the gallery, but the timing also points to the JD(U) creating some elbow room in the crowd that is the INDIA bloc, the 28-party national Opposition alliance that has come together to fight the BJP in the 2024 general election. A senior JD(U) leader also described this as a subtle reminder to the Congress that leadership of the Opposition alliance was by no means a pre-fixed afair. Two weeks after Lalan staked his party leader’s claim, it was Bihar UPFRONT NITISH BACK TO THE FORE assembly deputy speaker and senior JD(U) leader Maheshwar Hazari’s turn to test the waters. But he seemed to be targeting the Bihar electorate as well as the alliance constituents. Hazari was intent on burnishing Nitish’s credentials for the top post, referencing his long tenure as Union minister, Bihar’s longest-serving CM and his “blemish-free (read ‘corruption-free’) record in every post”. Asked about Hazari’s statement, Nitish responded saying, “Eesab hum nahin kahte hain, hum sabko mana karte hain (I don’t say these things, I tell everyone not to say such things). All (parties) will fight unitedly and a decision (about leaderBIHAR By Amitabh Srivastava ship) will be taken afterwards.” JD(U) leaders pitching fortheir captain is par for the course, but party sources say there is more to it this time. It seems a section of the party’s leadership is mifed at what they see as the Congress’s “reluctance” to reciprocate Nitish’s goodwill gestures. “After snapping ties with the NDA in August 2022, Nitish was the first to insist on a Congress-yukt Opposition. In fact, Telangana CM K. Chandrashekar Rao came to see Nitish in Patna in August 2022, but the latter did not favour his idea of a non-Congress Opposition alliance,” says a senior JD(U) leader. Nitish had RANJAN RAHI DARK HORSE Bihar CM Nitish Kumar at a function in Patna, Sep. 21

14 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 in fact paid two visits to Delhi in September 2022 to meet Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to cement his stand. These claims by the JD(U) are not entirely out of place. In the past, Nitish has openly favoured Rahul for the top job and also reached out to regional satraps like Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi party (AAP), Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi party (SP)— whose political success owe a lot to pushing the Congress to the margins in theirrespective states—and made them agree to work with the Grand Old Party. It’s also generally agreed among allies that if not forthe Bihar CM’s tireless campaign in the initial stages, INDIA may not have fructified as an alliance the way it has. “Nitishji has refused to be the prime ministerial face of the alliance, so there was no surprise when he also refused to take on the job of INDIA bloc convenor. The Congress has a spring in its step now after the Karnataka win, but shouldn’t it have proposed him as the alliance convenor?” asks the JD(U) leader. Some senior JD(U)leaders also want Nitish to keep his candidacy alive in case the situation opens up post election. “Given his acceptability across the board, Nitishji can emerge as the dark horse,” says the JD(U)leader. On his part, Nitish has remained steadfastly with the Opposition alliance, but a few of his recent decisions—from opposing the INDIA ban on alleged ‘godi media’ TV anchors to supporting the women’s reservation bill(even though alliance partner Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) described it as lip service)—has shown that the he is unwilling to give up his image of a politician who keeps “independent views”. Nitish’s advantage stems from the fact that he holds the key to a state where he had ensured massive victories forthe NDA, as part of that alliance, in the previous two Lok Sabha polls—in 2019, that gave the NDA 39 seats out of 40. This time, the BJP will not have the luxury of a divided opposition and Nitish and Lalu Yadav (RJD patriarch) are together a formidable opposition. Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to Bihar on September 16 again underlined the JD(U) chief’s place in the scheme of things. Shah appeared to be trying to create a division between the vote banks of Nitish and Lalu, largely sparing the former while going hammer and tongs at the RJD. The BJP is well aware that if the committed vote banks of the RJD and JD(U) vote in tandem, the MGB (mahagathbandhan) could steamroll the NDA. In the past too, the same alliance of Nitish, Lalu and Congress had decimated the safron coalition in the 2015 assembly poll. Beyond the subtle overtures to Nitish in Shah’s speech, the BJP is also trying to wean away the Kushwaha vote from Nitish’s arsenal of supporters. To that end, the party had installed Kushwaha leader Samrat Choudhary as state unit president in March and has also roped in Upendra Kushwaha (head of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party). Kushwahas (or Koeris) are the ‘Kush’ of Bihar’s numerically significant Luv-Kush bloc that has been the bedrock of Nitish’s social support base. For the Kurmis, the ‘Luv’, Nitish, of course, is the first love. Analysts say the ‘Nitish for PM’ pitch could be an attempt to undermine the BJP’s eforts and keep the Kushwaha vote staunchly behind the CM. „ UPFRONT Nearly a decade after knowing it would lose Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh is finally set to move into its own capital. Chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is allready to operate from Visakhapatnam as the state’s administrative headquarters. This momentous shift, set to begin on Dussehra on October 23, auspicious for new beginnings, will see Jagan move into an ofce in the port city overlooking the Bay of Bengal. At a cabinet meeting on September 20, the CM ordered constitution of the committees that would expedite the shifting process and ensure a smooth transition. For overthree years, Jagan has advocated this move as part of his ambitious three-capital plan, but legal obstacles have impeded progress. The Andhra Pradesh High Courtruled that the state government lacked the legislative authority to decide on the capital’s relocation and mandated the timebound development of Amaravati. The government challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, which is expected to address these matters in December. By Amarnath K. Menon THEJD(U)FEELS CONGRESS IS NOT APPRECIATIVE ENOUGH OF NITISH’S EFFORTS IN RAISING THE I.N.D.I.A. BLOC NEW POWER HUB Visakhapatnam city

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 15 Meanwhile, the ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP)is eagerto complete the relocation by the year-end, signalling its commitment to decentralised development. This is with an eye on the 2024 summer elections to the Lok Sabha and state legislative assembly. By opening the Chief Minister’s Ofce in Visakhapatnam ahead of the mass move, Jagan aims to demonstrate his unwavering resolve to the decision. The three-capital plan was conceived with the hope that the spread of governance activities would stimulate equitable development across Andhra Pradesh, with Amaravatiretaining its role as the legislative capital and Kurnool designated as the judicial capital. The decision comes at a time when the rival Telugu Desam Party (TDP), staunchly opposing the shift, grapples with the aftermath of the arrest of their leader, N. Chandrababu Naidu, by the state’s Crime Investigation Department. This adds to the TDP’s woes, as it would have to challenge the government’s decision while seeking Naidu’s release from prison. Ganta Srinivasa Rao, a former minister and TDP MLA, says, “Capital shift is a ploy to divert people’s attention from the arrest of ourleader,” even as a non-partisan joint action committee prepares to host the ‘Visakhapatnam Vandanam’rally on October 15 in support of Jagan’s move. Beyond politics, analysts argue that harnessing the strengths of Visakhapatnam—a city chosen by NITI Aayog as one of India’s four growth hubs—to establish it as a viable economic and administrative hub makes practical sense. Developing Amaravati would require more than a decade, even if all the resources of the cash-strapped state are pumped into it.“Development will be seen in reality soon. The state government is keen to develop the city on a priority basis,” asserts chief secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy, who on September 23 reviewed the progress of various projects, including the Vizag Metro, National History Museum, Signature Tower and Convention Centre at Kapuluppada, the water park on the Vizag-Bheemunipatnam Road and the Science City on Kailasagiri Hills. Forthe administration, the relocation exercise poses several challenges. A state secretariat is yet to be planned. In contiguous Telangana, it took nine years, including the Covid-19 pandemic disruption, for CM K. Chandrashekar Rao to pull down existing structures and invest more than Rs 1,000 crore to build an impressive edifice. For any such grandiose plan, Jagan has to wait for the apex court’s decision on the government’s right to move the capital. Jagan is optimistic about the outcome and is, therefore, shifting his ofce for a start. New seafront blocks being built by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation at Rushikonda are to serve as the CMO and CM’s residence. A container substation is being installed, a police station is being set up. There’s a catch, though. The report of a high court-constituted committee, in response to a public interest petition against the Rushikonda constructions violating Coastal Regulation Zone norms, is not yet out. As the high-rises at Rushikonda cannot accommodate all government ofces, the idea ofrepurposing two defunct engineering colleges to serve as the secretariat is being explored with CM JAGAN IS OPTIMISTICABOUT THESC’SDECEMBER DECISION AND IS, THEREFORE, SHIFTING HIS OFFICE FOR ASTART A CAPITAL GETS READY VISAKHAPATNA M

16 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 plans for a major departmentalrelocation in December. There is no dearth of space to house the ofces temporarily. Three floors of the Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Development Authority headquarters at Siripuram are vacant. Another 30,000 sq. ft is ready for occupation at the Smart City building, besides vacant commercial spaces. While the relocation will be an ordeal for government employees who shifted to Amaravati from Hyderabad just nine years ago, Jagan has announced timely incentives. The cabinet has approved the Guaranteed Pension Scheme, which fixes 50 per cent of the last pay as pension, a substantial increase over the current scheme’s 20.3 per cent of basic salary. Additionally, the state will assist employees in acquiring housing sites before retirement and provide post-retirement health coverage fortheirfamilies. Furthermore, the appointment of additional director general of police Ravi Shankar Ayyanar as the police commissioner aims to enhance security in the city. The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) plans to introduce air-conditioned buses on the Bus Rapid Transit System routes, drawing inspiration from Srinagar’s successful implementation of a similar system. “Srinagar has this and we are inspired to implement it here,” says GVMC deputy mayor Jiyanni Sridhar. Forthe moment, Vizagites could not have asked for more. „ UPFRONT BJP PULLS OUT THE BIG GUNS BATTLE FOR MADHYA PRADESH Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Bhopal on September 25 to address a grand gathering of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cadres, organised on the completion of its Jan Ashirwad Yatra. Even as the PM flew back the same evening, most within the state BJP had no inkling of the surprise the party’s central command was about to spring on them later in the day. A second list of candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly election was announced that evening. It featured 39 names—among them seven Lok Sabha members, including three Union ministers. The following day, the BJP announced another candidate, taking the total to 79 and covering over a third of the 230 seats, even as the rival Congress is yet to come out with its first list. It was on August 17 that the BJP announced its first list of 39 candidates in MP along with 21 in neighbouring Chhattisgarh. Early announcements of nominees and the fielding of senior leaders seem to be at the core of the BJP’s strategy in both states (see A Common Strategy). For the BJP, which is By Rahul Noronha YASIR IQBAL ANI CHANDRADEEP KUMAR EARLY CANDIDATE ANNOUNCEMENTS, UNION MINISTERS AND MPS AMONG THOSE IN THE FRAY... THE BJP HAS LEFT NOTHING TO CHANCE HIS BIG CAPITAL PLAN Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 17 in power in the state and the main Opposition in Chhattisgarh, a win in either state won’t come easy. While the party’s first list mostly covered the seats where it has had a lacklustre performance, the second list made one thing clear—it is leaving nothing to chance. The big names in the fray include Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar (Dimani), Prahlad Singh Patel (Narsingpur) and Faggan Singh Kulaste (Niwas). The party has also fielded Lok Sabha MPs Riti Pathak (Sidhi), Ganesh Singh (Satna), Rakesh Singh (Jabalpur Paschim) and Rao Uday Pratap Singh (Gadarwara), besides BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya (Indore-1). While a few big names were expected to be announced, the scale at which it has been done has left everyone surprised. In the past, even Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was then the Vidisha MP, was fielded against sitting Congress CM Digvijaya Singh from the Raghogarh seat in 2003. But he lost that election. More recently, in West Bengal, the party fielded five MPs in 2021, though only two could win. The party experimented with it in Kerala and Uttar Pradesh too, but without any success. So, what is the BJP’s thinking behind this move in MP? It’s a two-pronged strategy, say those privy to the party’s inner workings. One, keeping the fourtime CM Chouhan, who is facing severe anti-incumbency, down to scale, if not exactly in the shade. Two, mobilising support for candidates in seats adjoining the ones from where these senior leaders are in the fray. The Jan Ashirwad Yatra—held before every election to galvanise party workers—was divided into five phases, each led by different leaders, Chouhan not among them. The BJP central leadership has also avoided declaring Chouhan as the CM face. Now, by fielding its top leaders as candidates, it has kept them in the race for the top post in case the party wins. Tomar, who is contesting from Dimani in Morena district, is expected to have a positive impact on other seats in the Gwalior-Chambal belt. Just as Vijayvargiya’s candidature from Indore, the party hopes, will improve its chances in the Malwa region and veteran tribal leader Faggan Singh’s in the tribal belt of Mahakoshal. “When my candidature was announced, I was surprised too,” says Vijayvargiya. “But being a loyal soldier of the party, I will do whatever it wants me to.” The Congress is keenly observing these developments, while keeping its cards close to its chest. Its leaders feel the BJP has pressed the “panic button”, sensing a certain defeat. State Congress president Kamal Nath took to X (previously Twitter) to declare that the BJP’s candidate list belies and undermines the Chouhan’s government’s claims of development over the past 15 years. On his own party’s failure to come out with a list, the former CM says, “We have already unofficially informed the candidates who have been finalised. They have started working in their constituencies.” Is it possible that the BJP has taken the Congress by surprise too? „ RAISING THE STAKES (L-R) Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Singh Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste BATTLE FOR CHHATTISGARH A COMMON STRATEGY Ô Just like in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP was first of the mark in Chhattisgarh, coming out with a list of 21 candidates on August 17 Ô The names include Durg MP Vijay Baghel (inset, right) from Patan, which Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel represents Ô The 21 seats are the ones where the BJP is relatively weak, and it wants to give its candidates ample time to reach out to the electorate Ô It will also give the party a chance for coursecorrection if there’s any negative feedback Ô The BJP has eight Lok Sabha members from the state, besides Durg MP. Some of them could also get a ticket Ô Like in MP, the Congress has yet to declare its candidates. Internal surveys point to anti-incumbency against many of its 71 sitting MLAs, though not against the CM. He remains popular and the party’s main draw Ô But the Congress, say insiders, wants to have a mitigation plan in place in case of a rebellion from the MLAs who fail to make the cut

18 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 Bhadresh Patel, who grows bananas on his 20-acre farm, would routinely keep an eye on the Narmada’s levels near Ankleshwar during monsoon. It was no diferent on September 17. The day remained dry and the last ‘message’ doing the rounds was that the Sardar Sarovar Dam, nearly 100 km away, would not release any more waterthat evening. It was as late as 10.30 pm when that changed suddenly: word arrived, via the first ofcial communication, that water would be released from the dam. Patel knew what to do, and he had to do it quick before relocating to higher ground. “I heaved the fridge onto the dining table, covered the car’s exhaust with polythene, placed the sofa on the settee. That was all I had time for. Water gushed in and we had to flee,” he says. By 11.15 pm, Patel’s home was submerged under 5-6 feet of water. Floods are not unusual in Ankleshwar-Bharuch, the two towns that flank the Narmada close to the Sardar Sarovar Dam, but this one was deemed the worst in 50 years. It was devastating: his standing crop was entirely washed out, leaving Patel to stare at a potential loss of Rs 20 lakh. The collective damage in the five districts of central Gujarat, mainly Bharuch and Vadodara, is estimated to be around Rs 5,000 crore. “Usually, we get a lead time of 10-12 hours to prepare; this time, we were alerted 45 minutes before,” Patel says. That morning, chief minister Bhupendra Patel had performed a ‘Narmada jal na vadhamna’(a ritual welcome of Narmada waters) at the dam site to mark the 73rd birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At that point, the dam released 1.9 million cusecs of water. That’s whatreached Ankleshwar, about 80-odd km downstream, flooding dozens of villages, and inundating homes, schools and hospitals fortwo days. The incident kicked of a flood of allegations. The Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) called the floods a “man-made disaster”. Jay Narayan Vyas, once a ministerin the Modi-ruled Gujarat cabinet and now with the Congress, issued a statement pointing to the mistakes. “The Met department had clearly predicted heavy rainfall in the catchment areas of the Narmada dam from September 6 onwards in Madhya Pradesh. As the rains intensified in the following week, all the floodgates of the two major dams ahead of the Sardar Sarovar Project(SSP)—the OmkareshGUJARAT FLOODS A FLOOD OF ALLEGATIONS By Jumana Shah

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 19 UPFRONT war Dam and the Indira Sagar Project (ISP) Dam—were opened by September 14-15,” his statementread. “Experienced engineers of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) should have anticipated this by September 7, further confirmed by September 14 looking at the ongoing rains. They should also have been able to draw an estimate of when this water would reach SSP. If the government had started opening the gates of SSP, gradually releasing water periodically, this calamity could have been avoided,” the statement said. Vyas, a water management expert who headed the Narmada Water Resources Department as cabinet minister, says the precise data of when dam gates are opened and the corresponding flow of wateris available in real time to SSNNL engineers and also updated live on its website. However, this data, Vyas alleges, had not been uploaded on the website after September 6. The state government has refuted every allegation, denying any wrongdoing on SSNNL’s part. It laid the blame instead on a “cloudburst” between ISP and SSP on September 15 and 16, caustual level at SSP was 133.73 metres on that day. Hence, it was decided to shut down the RBPH between September 6 and 16,” the SSNNL statement says. Vyas as well as multiple water experts have contested the clarifications. M.S.H. Sheikh, senior environment activist and president, Surat-based Brackish Water Research Centre, has urged the CM to reject SSNNL’s clarification and conduct an impartial inquiry. “No incident of cloudburst has been reported by the IMD. The CWC forecast figures don’t match with the SSNNL statement. There was a forecast of heavy rain in catchment areas and dams upstream were at full reservoirlevel(FRL). Both warning signs were ignored,” Sheikh said in his letter. Gujarat’s largest farmers’ body, the Khedut Ekta Manch, has also demanded action against the guilty. Though the SSNNL has countered the allegations, there is discomfort in the governmentregarding the incident. “Looking at the weatherforecast, NCA had advised to restart RBPH on September 7 itself. It is not clear why it was not done and water was hoarded. With the weatherforecast and the FRL data of the upstream dam, SSP could have started releasing water on September 14 and 15. This wouldn’t have afected the CM’s event on Sunday morning. It is unclear why these decisions were taken,” says an SSNNL source, not wanting to be named. Angerran high in the afected districts. A video of Kunvarji Halpati, minister of state fortribal and rural development, labour and employment, and Bharuch BJP MLA Ramesh Mistry leaving an afected area in Bharuch town after being cornered by people went viral on social media. A man seen expressing his angst at the losses and also dragging in the CM and PM Modi, was booked for“defaming and scolding constitutionally appointed leaders”. The allegations are serious as they expose the perils of the control dam managers enjoy, and the damage human decisions can cause—be it an error of judgement, negligence or an act of political expediency. „ ing a “flash flood” on September 17. “Rainfall figures recorded atrain gauge stations upstream of SSP from September 5 to 14 indicate low to very low rainfall. There was no significant forecast by the Central Water Commission (CWC) orrelease by the ISP and thus no reason to release water from SSP on September 13, 14 and 15. The catchment area of SSP received moderate rainfall on September 15 and a cloudburst happened between ISP and SSP on September 16 and 17. ISP was full and started releasing all the water downstream to SSP. On September 16, at 11 am, the maximum flow recorded at SSP was 2.2 million cusecs [the dam’s discharge capacity is 3.1 million cusecs]. SSP started releasing 45,000 cusecs downstream on September 16 at 10 am, 100,000 cusecs at 12 pm, 500,000 cusecs at 2 pm and 800,000 cusecs at 5 pm. Some 1.9 million cusecs were released in the early morning of September 17,” a detailed statement by SSNNL read, adding that the data too was made available on the website. Questions are also being raised about the SSNNL’s decision to stop operations of the River Bed Power House (RBPH)—one of the two hydel generation units—on September 6. The RBPH generates power by using the force of water, which then flows out to the sea. Had the RBPH been functioning, that much water would have flowed down. SSNNL maintains that there was no rain throughout August. “In the Sardar Sarovar Reservoir Regulation Committee (SSRRC) meeting of Narmada Control Authority (NCA) on August 1, it was decided that the SSP level of water on September 4 should be 136.64 metres while the acTHE ABRUPT RELEASE OF 1.9 MILLION CUSECS OF WATER FROM THE NARMADA DAM CAUSED THE FLASH FLOODS Bharuch Ankleswar Narmada River Sardar Sarovar Dam G U J A R A T MAN-MADE? Flooded streets of Ankleshwar, Bharuch district, Sept. 19 KALPESH GURJAR

UPFRONT NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION GLAS SHOUSE I n a media interaction on September 24, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that his party will win the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. For Rajasthan, however, he said the contest would be pretty close. It’s natural that most politicians predict victory for their party in the run-up to elections, but Rahul’s statement on Rajasthan has raised several eyebrows within the party. Speculation is that by not expressing confidence of a victory the way he has done in the other three states, the Gandhi scion has indirectly sent a message to Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot who declined to step down last year when he was asked to contest for the post of Congress president. The first family of the Congress never forgets a snub, it seems. NO ROOM FOR VETERANS Former Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh recently found out that he has been displaced from his room at the party’s state headquarters. The Midnapore MP has a habit of meeting party workers over tea and pufed rice from time to time. However, recently when he entered the room designated for him at the party ofice, he found that the air-conditioner had been removed. He went to switch on the television only to find out that the cable had also been disconnected. Ghosh—who is credited as the most successful president of BJP’s Bengal unit—had no prior knowledge about this change. Ghosh’s predecessor Rahul Sinha has also lost his room to the ongoing revamp of the old building, which is slated to become a call centre. Kaushik Deka with Dhaval Kulkarni, Amarnath K. Menon, Arkamoy Datta Majumdar and Jeemon Jacob If Elizabeth Antony, wife of Congress veteran A.K. Antony, is to be believed, the couple’s son Anil K. Antony joined the BJP because of a resolution passed in the Congress plenary held earlier this year in Raipur. The Congress resolved to take certain steps to avoid promotion of nepotism within the party. Worried about his future, Elizabeth sought divine intervention through her spiritual guru Father V.P. Joseph Valiyaveetil. The priest advised her that Antony joining the BJP would brighten his political prospects. This revelation has the Congress’s Kerala unit worried because other young party members could seek such divine intervention as well. En Route to God’ s Own Party CHANDRADEEP KUMAR Illustration by SIDDHANT JUMDE On September 22, BRS Malkajgiri MLA M. Hanumantha Rao resigned, having earlier rejected the party’s nomination for re-election. Writing to BRS supremo K. Chandrashekar Rao, he alleged there is no democracy in the party. The pink party had turned down his pre-condition: to give a ticket for Medak, which he represented earlier, to son M. Rohith. The father-son duo is now vying for Congress tickets. But what of the party’s one family, one seat policy? AjitPawar’s chief ministerial ambitions have never been a secret. Now, there are other aspirants for the post from the Pawar parivar. Ajit’s nephew and Karjat-Jamkhed MLA Rohit Pawar’s supporters put up banners hailing him as a “future chief minister”. Others claim that NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) chief Sharad Pawar wants to see his daughter and Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule take charge as the state’s first woman chief minister. Family politics has taken on another dimension with the Pawars. PAWARS FOR POWER Family Package, Anyone?

he first inkling that IndiaCanada relations were in free fall came during the recently concluded G20 summit. India turned down Canada’s request for a bilateral meeting and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had only a pullaside chat with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau instead. During their discussions, while Modi expressed his deep concerns overthe continuing anti-India activities by Khalistan extremists, Trudeau talked tough about “the importance ofrespecting the rule of law” and concerns about “foreign interference”. It was, however, Trudeau’s actions thatfollowed the meeting that signalled how ties between the two countries had gone truly downhill. When Trudeau’s prime ministerial aircraft developed a technical snag before take-of in New Delhi, he refused India’s ofer to fly him back in another aircraft and waited two days, confined mostly to his hotel room, till his plane was fixed.

A DIPLOMATIC FACE-OFF BREAKS OUT AS CANADA ALLEGES AN INDIA HAND IN THE KILLING OF KHALISTANI MILITANT HARDEEP SINGH NIJJAR ON ITS SOIL. THE FALLOUT IS NASTY BY RAJ CHENGAPPA AND ANILESH S. MAHAJAN I N D I A - CA N A DA T I E S Photographs by CHANDRADEEP KUMAR, GETTY IMAGES

26 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 It was a week laterthattheCanadian premier dropped a bombshell on India when he told members of Canada’s House of Commons, the equivalent of the Lok Sabha, that “Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar”.Aruler of a nation, especially one belonging to the powerful Group of 7 or G-7 nations, accusing India of being involved in an extra-judicial killing of a foreign citizen in a foreign country was unprecedented—that too, without providing evidence. An angry India describedTrudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and, in turn, charged Canada with becoming “a safe haven forterrorists, extremists and organised crime”.The exchange sparked of a diplomatic firestorm that threatens to grievously gutrelations between the two nations. WHERE’S THE SMOKING GUN ? In the following days, both countries indulged in titfor-tat punitive actions against each other. Canada took the first step of expelling an Indian diplomat, Pavan Kumar Rai, a Punjab-cadre IPS ofcer, posted in Ottawa. India followed it up by expelling a Canadian diplomat based in the country’s High Commission in Delhi. Canada announced it was pausing ongoing negotiations for an Early Progress Trade Agreement with India; New Delhiretaliated by suspending visa services, including e-visas, in Canada. It also asked Ottawa to trim the number of diplomats posted in India, around 90, to India’s 30 in Canada. India faced a setback when a New York Times report revealed that after Sikh extremist Nijjar was killed in a shootout in Surrey in Canada, US intelligence ofcials had shared information with Ottawa that helped it conclude India was involved. Quoting unnamed US ofcials, the report stated that it was their Canadian counterparts who finally unearthed the “smoking gun”, gathering intelligence, including intercepted communication or SIGINT (signals intelligence) of Indian diplomats in Canada, indicating New Delhi’s possible involvement. Coming after a successful execution of its G20 presidency, the allegations had geopolitical implications that could undo India’s enhanced global stature and reputation. Canada is part of the Five Eyes alliance, which includes the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, countries whose intelligence agencies share information with each other routinely. US officials revealed that President Joe Biden had already taken up the Nijjar killing issue with PM Modi during his bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 I N D I A - CA N A DA T I E S P RO F I L E H A R D E E P N IJJA R On June 18,two shooters wearing hoodies waylaid a grey pickup truck outside a gurdwara in Surrey, a town on the western coast of Canada, pumped some 35 rounds into the occupant and escaped.Ordinarily,this would have passed offas a stray gangland killing, butthe victim here was Hardeep SinghNijjar, 45, the head ofthe banned militant outfit,Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), and a wanted terroristin India with a bounty ofRs 10 lakh on his head.Te Indian government’s list of charges against Nijjar was long—in the past15 years, he had allegedly ordered severaltargeted killings inPunjab, collaborated withPakistan’s ISI, used Khalistani militants to smuggle arms into India, run an extortion racket with otherPunjab-based gangsters and promoted anti-India sentiments among Sikhs inCanada as well as India. Born in 1977 in a village near Jalandhar,Nijjar migrated toCanada as a 20-year-old, allegedly on a fake passport and a fake name,Ravi Sharma. A plumber by trade, he was suspected to have been close to the slain militant andKhalistan Commando Force (KCF) commander,Gurdeep Singh a.k.a.DeepaHeran Wala.Nijjar’s asylum papers filed before the Canadian authorities in 1998 claim he was arrested in 1995 by the PunjabPolice and “tortured”.His claims were repeatedly rejected, but by 2001, possibly with the help ofthe Sikh diaspora, he acquired Canadian citizenship. Nijjar seems tohave flownunder the radar for thenextfewyears,thoughthereare reportsof hismeetinglike-minded Security agencies believe that Nijjar, as head of the KTF, created a pro-Khalistani network in Canada, allegedly hiring gangsters to carry out targeted killings and organising armed training camps O

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 27 OUTGUNNED Nijjar bearing arms; a poster declaring him a martyr Khalistanimilitants in Tailandin2007 toform a‘globalmodule’.Membersofthismodulewere reportedlyinvolvedinthe bombblastatLudhiana’s ShingarCinemathesame yearandthekillingof RuldaSingh,aleaderof theRashtriyaSikhSangat, anRSSaffiliate, in2009. Nijjar returnedon thePunjabPoliceradar around2013-14,whenhe joinedtheKTFafter Jagtar SinghTarabecamethe self-styledleaderofthe terroroutfit(police reports suggestthetwometfirst atthe2007Tailandrendezvous).Butfromthen on,Nijjar seems tohave goneonoverdrive. Indian securityagenciesbelieve hevisitedPakistana numberoftimesduring thisperiodtocoordinate pro-Khalistanactivities. Te year 2015 was momentous forNijjar. After Tara was arrested from Bangkok—he had been convicted in the 1995 bomb blast killing ofthen Punjab chief minister Beant Singh—Nijjar became the new KTF chief. TeKTF headquarters, too, shifted to Surrey.But during interrogation, Tara reportedly spilled the beans aboutNijjar’s plan to transport guns across the Indo-Pak border into Amritsar using a paraglider.Te plan was foiled and security agencies were soon requesting the RoyalCanadian MountedPolice (RCMP),the national police service there,to trackNijjar’s whereabouts. In 2016,the new KTF chief reportedly enlisted gangsters to carry out targeted killings inPunjab, including that ofRSS leader JagdishGagneja in Jalandhar. Earlier, in December 2015,Nijjar reportedly organised arms training camps for ‘apprentice terrorists’ in the rural MissionHills area ofBritish Columbia. Tis was revealed after thePunjabPolice arrested one ofthem, Mandeep SinghDhaliwal, in June 2016.He had reportedly been sent byNijjar to India with a hitlist.Te targets included ex-Punjab top cop Mohammad Izhar Alam and Sikh religious leaderBaba Mann Singhji Pehowa. A red corner notice was soon issued againstNijjar. By 2018,Canada had putNijjar’s name on the no-fly list and the following year,theUS too did same, after a recommendation by the Federal Bureau ofInvestigation. In 2020,theNational Investigation Agency (NIA) declaredNijjar a terrorist and confiscated his properties in India.Te agencies also alleged that his men had infiltrated the farmers’ union protests in 2020-21. Teyear2023,of course,hasprovedruinous forNijjarandmany otherpro-Khalistanoutfit leaders.Nijjar’sname croppedupagaininthe controversial caseofproKhalistanpropagandist AmritpalSinghwhowas arrestedinApril.Ten, in May,unidentifiedassailantskilledKhalistan Commandoforcechief andveteranmilitantParamjitPanjwar inLahore. OnJune15,KhalistanLiberationForce(KLF) chief AvtarKhanda,acancer patient,diedatahospital inLondon.Aweeklater, Nijjar,too,methisend. —Anilesh S. Mahajan AFP BY 2018, CANADA HAD PUT NIJJAR’S NAME ON THE NO-FLY LIST AND THE FOLLOWING YEAR, THE US TOO DID THE SAME

I N D I A - CA N A DA T I E S Canada-based pro-Khalistani elements and gangsters who are wanted in terror-related cases in Punjab ARSHDEEP SINGH DALA, 27 Gangster/ Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) Adreadedgangster fromPunjab’sMoga,DalamovedtoCanadawithwife,daughter in2020. BasedinSurrey, heworkedcloselywithKTFchief HardeepSinghNijjarandPakistan-basedISYF chiefLakhbirSinghRode.Setupmodules for targetedkillings/extortioninPunjab,Haryana. Faces 26FIRs inPunjab, Interpol’s red-cornernotice. GURJIT SINGH CHEEMA, 50 International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)/ Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) Atruckerbyprofession,he isbasedinBrampton,Ontario.VisitedIndiain 2017 toallegedlyoperationaliseaterrormodule. Arrangedaweapons consignmentfromacross theborderwiththehelpofPakistan-basedISYF chiefRode.Hasared-cornernoticesince 2018. GURPREET SINGH BRAR, 38 ISYF/ KLF BelongingtoMoga,heis presentlybasedinSurrey. HadestablishedBramptonheadquartered‘SinghKhalsaSewaClub’. Onhis visittoPunjabin2016,Brarallegedlyraisedan ISYFterrormoduletotarget sacrilegesuspects. Wasbookedunder theUAPAinAmritsar in2017; hasared-cornernoticeagainsthimsince2018. MALKEET SINGH FAUJI, 39 ISYF/ BKI HailingfromAjnalainAmritsar,hemigratedtoCanadain 2014,afterallegedlyoperationalisinganISYFmoduletocarryouttargeted killingsof right-wingHinduleadersandcontroversialSikhpreachers.PresentlybasedinSurrey,hehasbeenfundingother terrormodules. Ared-cornernoticewas issuedin2020. MANVIR SINGH DUHRA, 34 ISYF BornandraisedinItaly,he nowresides inFortStJohn, BritishColumbia, andhas beenallegedlyinvolvedinspottingandradicalisingSikhyouths for carryingoutterrorist activities inPunjab.AtFauji’sbehest,heis said tohavesentfunds for raisinganISYFmodule. HadevenvisitedPunjabin2017 tomotivatethe modulemembers totarget sacrilegesuspects. SATINDERJIT SINGH, a.k.a. GOLDY BRAR, 35 Gangster GangsterLawrenceBishnoi’s second-in-command,heis running thegang’sextortionracket andother criminalactivities fromCanada,where hemovedin2017.Allegedlyorderedthehitonsinger SidhuMoosewalaandranterrormodules forKTFto carryouttargetedkillings inPunjab.Facesatleast 13FIRsbackhome,twored-cornernotices.Some reports suggesthe escapedtotheUSin2022. LAKHBIR SINGH, a.k.a. LANDA, 34 Gangster/ Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) Sonofanex-servicemanfrom TarnTaran,heisacloseaideof Pakistan-basedHarwinderSinghRinda,agangster-turned-BKIterrorist.FledtoCanadain2018, fromwhereheis runninghisoperations.Wantedin high-profilecases inPunjab, includingRPGattack ontheIntelligenceHQofthestatepoliceinMohali in May2022. Inall,faces 23FIRsbackhome.

in New Delhi. State Department Secretary Antony Blinken at a press conference said, “We want to see accountability and it’s important that the investigations run their course and lead to a result.” India hit back at its critics, with external afairs minister S. Jaishankar in his speech at the UN General Assembly saying, “Rule-makers do not subjugate rule-takers.After all,rules will work only when they apply equally to all.Nor must we countenance that political convenience determines responses to terrorism, extremism and violence. Similarly, respect for territorial integrity and noninterference in internal afairs cannot be exercises in cherry-picking.” INDIA’S TOUGH STAND Jaishankar’s extraordinarily tough statement signalled that India will bat on the front foot in its face-of with Canada. And that it was calling out the “double standards” ofWesterncountrieswho have taken extreme action against foreign nations to protect their national interests while denouncing any efort by emerging powers to do so. Later, in response to a specific question on Canada’s charge, Jaishankar told a gathering ofAmerican foreign policy experts,“We have toldCanada thatitis not theGovernment of India’s policy, and thatif they have something specific orrelevant, we are open to look atit.” It was clear, however, that India was no longer willing to stand by and watch Canada-based Khalistan extremists carry out nefarious anti-India activities, including aiding and abetting terror strikes, while Ottawa refuses to clamp down on them citing freedom of speech and sedition laws diferent from India’s. And that if Canada continued with what one Indian diplomattermed as “masterful inaction to curb such violent, extreme anti-India elements”, New Delhi was willing to put its entire bilateral ties on the line and downPARVKAR SINGH, a.k.a. PARY DULAI, ISYF BasedinSurrey,herunsaPunjabiTV channelandisallegedtobeworking closelywiththeISYFchief’sCanadabasedsonBhagatBrar.Was closetoNijjarandhashadcontactswithPakistan-andUK-basedpro-Khalistanis.Booked in2017 for supplyingweapons toaterrormoduleinAmritsar. SULINDER SINGH VIRK, ISYF AMalaysianSikhwhomigratedto Canada,he resides inBramptonandis allegedtobeassociatedwithSikhradicalsbasedinToronto.AlsoincontactwithPakistan-based BKI chiefWadhawaSingh.Heis chargedwithraisingaterrormodule,whichwasbustedbyPunjabPolicein2017. MANDEEP SINGH DHALIWAL, 34, KTF MovedtoCanadafromLudhianain2012. WhilebasedinSurrey,he is saidtohave beenradicalisedby,andlater received arms trainingfrom,Nijjar.WasallegedlysentbacktoPunjabin2016tocarryouttargetedkillingsofHinduright-wing leaders.Faces sixFIRs for criminal/terroristactivities. HARPREET SINGH, 59 Pro-Khalistani activist Atrucker,he isbasedinBrampton.MigratedfromMukerian,Punjab,withhis familyinearly2000s.VisitedPakistanin 2018.HasallegedlinkswithPakistan-basedKhalistanZindabadForcechiefRanjitSinghNeeta.Allegedlyhandledthe smugglingofaweapons consignmentintoPunjabin2020. RAMANDEEP SINGH, a.k.a. RAMAN JUDGE, Gangster Ashooter inJaipalBhullar’sgang,he fledtoCanadain2019. Inassociation withDala,he isaccusedof raisingaterrormodulethat carriedoutthetargetedkillingsofasacrilegesuspectandabusinessmaninMogain2020.Currently basedinBritishColumbia,he faces sevenFIRs inPunjab. INDIA HAS MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT WILL BAT ON THE FRONT FOOT IN ITS FACE-OFF WITH CANADA, EVEN DOWNGRADING TIES

30 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 I N D I A - CA N A DA T I E S grade its relations with Ottawa. In short, post G20, India had arrived, and would not be pushed around. Jaishankar’s use of the words “political convenience” summed up India’s approach towards Trudeau and Ottawa’s charge of New Delhi’s involvement in Nijjar’s murder. The 45-year-old Nijjar, whose killing Canada now charges India of being involved with, was among the two dozen Canada-based extremists that Indian intelligence agencies had warned Ottawa about. Nijjar was head of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), a banned terror outfit, and took refuge in Canada as early as in 1997 on forged documents in the name of one Ravi Sharma (see The Teeth of the Tiger). In the past 15 years, Indian intelligence agencies accused him of aiding several targeted killings in Punjab, using Khalistani militants to smuggle arms into India and run an extortion racket with other Punjab-based gangsters. Placing a Rs 10 lakh bounty on his head in 2022, the Indian government had requested Canada to extradite him, but to no avail. A top Indian police ofcial says, “It’s truly frustrating. All the Canadian ofcials do is talk, talk, talk, but take no action against any of the extremists—it’s a stone-walling approach. Even when these terrorists claim on social media that they were involved in a killing and do a virtual nanga naach (nude dance) about it, we get no cooperation from Canada.” From an early start with cooperation, the India-Canada relationship has periodically curdled into cool disregard. After a brief, warm spell, Justin Trudeau has now dragged it into deep winter INDIA-CANADA RELATIONS 1950s-1960s Under theColomboPlan, India becomes largestbeneficiary ofCanadianaid.Civilnuclear cooperationresults inthe CIRUSnuclear researchreactor withCanadiancollaboration beingcommissionedin Trombay.Canadaalsoagrees tocooperateinbuildingcivilian nuclear reactor technologyfor power supply. 1974 TePokhran1 nuclear test see CanadaaccuseIndia ofmisusingCirus forbomb-making, cuttingoffall nuclear cooperation andpushingfor worldwidenuclear sanctionsagainst India.Western countries, including Canada,treat Indiaasanuclear pariahandsetup astringent regime topreventtransfer oftechnologyand nuclearmaterial toDelhi. 1985 TebombingoftheVancouver-LondonBombayAir IndiaKanishkaflightoffthe coastofIrelandkillsall 329onboard.CBI inquiryestablisheshandofBabbarKhalsa InternationalandParmarasmastermind. Tetrialfor theKanishkabombingdrags on—onlyoneperson, InderjitSinghReyat, is convicted;Canada’s tepidresponse strainsDelhi-Ottawaties. 1980s Migrationfrom India,especially Punjab, risesdueto changes inCanada’s ImmigrationAct.Canadian PMPierreTrudeau,fatherofJustinTrudeau, doesn’theedIndianPMIndiraGandhi’s warningsaboutKhalistanielements, as terrorists fromPunjabtakerefugein Canada.PMTrudeaurefuses toextradite terroristTalwinderSinghParmar. Graphic by TANMOY CHAKRABORTY GETTY IMAGES AFP

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 31 Blame it on historical and politicalreasons. Historically,Canada has had a liberal immigration policy, including granting refuge to asylumseekers, becoming in the process home to a diverse immigrant population, with India heading the list.The Indian diaspora inCanada is now estimated to be 1.85 million, with Sikhs numbering around 800,000. Barely 5,000-6,000 of these are active supporters of Khalistan. In fact,relations withCanada had nosedived when the thenLiberalParty premierPierreTrudeau,father ofthe currentincumbent,turned down requests by his Indian counterpart Indira Gandhi in the early 1980s to extradite Khalistan extremist Talwinder Singh Parmar, who had taken shelter in Canada. Parmar would later go on to mastermind the Kanishka bombing of 1985, the mid-air explosion of the Air India MANY SPY A US HAND IN THE EVENTS, TO BRING INDIA DOWN A FEW NOTCHES AFTER ITS G20 ASSERTIVENESS 2018 CanadianPMJustinTrudeau’sfirsttriptoIndia turnsouttobeadiplomaticdisasterwhen theCanadianhighcommissioninvites Jaspal Atwal—convictedforattemptingtomurderan Indiancabinetminister in1986—toanofficial dinnerbeinghostedbyTrudeauin Delhi.Teinviteis rescinded after it causesafurore. Trudeaucontinues tocite ‘freedomof expression’ atIndia’s concernsover increasingKhalistani activism. 2023 OnSeptember 18,adiplomatic bombshellexplodedafterPM Trudeau, speakinginCanada’s parliament,accusesagentsof theIndiangovernmentofbeing linkedwiththe Junemurder ofKhalistaniactivistHardeep SingNijjar.Canadaexpelsan Indianintelligenceagent. India denies thecharges, callingthem ‘absurd’,expelsaCanadian diplomat.Ties reachanadir. 1990s Anupturnin India-Canada relations, especiallyin trade,ensues after economic liberalisation. ButIndia’s 1998 nuclear tests in Pokhranseeties deteriorateagain amidstWestern sanctions. Canadianforeign ministerMitchell Sharpdeclares, “Trustbetween thetwocountries isgone.” 2006-2015 India-Canadaties improveduringthe tenureofConservativePMStephen Harper,whovisits Indiain2009and 2014. India-USnucleardealof 2005 paves thewayfor the India-Canada civilnuclear cooperationagreement in2010.PMModivisitsCanadain 2015as ties improve. In2018,thetwo countries signacommercial contract forCanadatosupplyuraniumfor India’spower reactors. AFP AP

32 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 I N D I A - CA N A DA T I E S aircraft killing all 329 passengers and crew. India’s frustrations grew when the Kanishka judicial inquiry dragged on fruitlessly for years,resulting in the acquittal of many ofthe key accused. More recently, Sikh extremists have captured several gurdwaras across Canada, with many displaying signs saying, “Indian ofcials and dogs not allowed.” These gurdwaras have allegedly become a major source offunds as well as secret sanctuaries to nurture militants. TRUDEAU’S POLITICAL COMPULSIONS Politically, Sikh voters are influential in only 20-25 constituencies, but, given the nature of Canadian politics, can prove decisive in government formation.As happened in the mostrecent parliamentary election in 2021, when Trudeau’s Liberal Party won only 160 seats, falling 10 short ofthe majority mark of 170 needed in the 338-member house. It was the Left-leaning New Democratic Party, headed by Jagmeet ‘Jimmy’ Dhaliwal, that extended support to the Liberals with its 25 seats and enabled Trudeau to form a government and return as prime minister. Now serving his third term as prime minister(eight years in all), Trudeau has become increasingly unpopular, largely for domestic reasons, particularly for his government’s shoddy handling of the economy. Latest Canadian opinion polls indicate his personal popularity is at its lowest ever and were a general election to be held now, the Liberals will be ousted and the Conservatives win a handsome majority on their own. On the foreign policy front, Trudeau has been on the back foot in Parliament overthe charge that China had exercised influence over the outcome of the previous general election and the prime minister had done nothing about it. Trudeau’s relations with India have always been rocky and his equation with Modi marked by a palpable lack of chemistry. What bothered New Delhi is the presence of Trudeau and his ministers at events organised by Khalistan outfits in Canada. His first ofcial visit as prime minister to India in 2018 turned out to be somewhat of a diplomatic debacle. Especially after news broke that JaspalAtwal, a former member of the banned International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and an ex-convict, was invited to an ofcial dinner Trudeau was hosting in Delhi. The then Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh had also refused to meet Canada’s defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, terming him a “Khalistani sympathiser”. To make matters worse, Trudeau was apparently mifed that Modi didn’t come to the airportto receive him personally as he did for otherforeign leaders. Then, during his bilateral meeting with Modi, the Indian PM lectured him sternly for doing precious little to prevent Canada from becoming a haven for Khalistan terrorists. According to the Indian government’s assessment, after the 2021 election, Trudeau’s political position has weakened considerably and he has strong political compulsions to back the Sikh immigrant community to retain power. F or India, this was a deeply bothersome development.While Khalistan extremists had lain quiet during the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a resurgence of activities in the past two years. Worse,there was a growing nexus between Punjab’s ganglords, who indulged in extortion and drug-smuggling, andKhalistanextremists,many of whom usedCanada as a base.TheModi government had reached out to the large Sikh diaspora by agreeing to open a pilgrim’s corridor between India and Pakistan for the Kartarpur Gurdwara in November 2019. India had also considerably whittled down the blacklist of Sikh extremists and allowed 312 of them, who were earlier banned, to enter India. Priorto the Punjab assembly election, Modi’s actions even drew praise from Ripudaman Singh Malik, a former Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) activist, who was one of the main accused in the Kanishka bombing but was acquitted in 2005. He was promptly dubbed as an “Indian central agency stooge” and, in July 2022, shot dead in Surrey. Among the chief suspects was Nijjar, who had been at loggerheads withMalik for years, especially overthe rights to printthe Guru Granth Sahib. Nijjar’s killing was seen as a gang rivalry between extremists to settle scores.On September 20,two days afterTrudeau went public with his allegation against India, Sukhdool Singh alias Sukha Duneke, asBOTH SIDES NEED TO GET OFF THE HIGHWAY FOR QUIET TALKS INSTEAD OF SPEEDING HEADLONG INTO CONFLICT

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 33 sociated withPunjab’s notoriousDavinderBambiha gang operating inCanada, was shot down inWinnipeg. Sukhdool was the henchman ofArshdeep Singh Dala, a gangster and member of Nijjar’s KTF, and the killing was seen as part of the intergang rivalry with Lawrence Bishnoi, the other powerful Punjab ganglord. Bishnoi is one of the key suspects in the killing of popular Punjab singer Sidhu Moosewala. It is this nexus between extortion gangs, drug warlords and extremists that is a key worry for India as many ofthem seek refuge inCanada when the police crack down on them. India believesPakistan’s InterServices Intelligence is trying to revive the Khalistan issue after failing to stir trouble in Kashmir. Intelligence ofcials are keen to nip such attempts in the bud. With Trudeau at the helm, Canada has so far been insensitive to India’s security interests, which has become a major reason for the deteriorating relations between the two countries. Indian foreign policy experts believe there are several major reasons why Trudeau took the explosive route of briefing the Canadian parliament on the Nijjarissue ratherthan relying on diplomacy to sort out issues with India. For one, The Globe and Mail, Canada’s leading daily newspaper, was about to break the story of India’s involvementin theNijjar killing.AndTrudeau was keen to pre-empt criticism in Parliament that he had dined with Modi at the G20 while India was seemingly violating Canada’s sovereignty. It would also divert attention not just from the charge of being soft onChina overits transgressions but equally from the economic woes, including the high cost ofliving,that have beset Canada.Mostimportantly, it would ensure thatNDP would not pull out of his government given that the party has a large support base among Sikhs. It may also consolidate Trudeau’s Sikh vote bank for 2025. As an Indian diplomat putit,“ForTrudeau,the opportunity presented was like killing four birds with one stone.” Some experts see a US hand in this development because it was American intelligence agencies that shared information about India’s involvement. The US motive, they believe, is to bring India down a couple of notches after its G20 assertiveness. Since America is likely to mediate between Canada and India to cool down temperatures, New Delhi’s obligations to the US will only grow. Others dismiss the assessment, saying the US was not only blindsided but conflicted by this development. The US is forced to balance its interests between a close strategic ally (Canada) and a growing strategic partner (India). Moreover, Canada has yetto provide any evidence thatimplicates India, and Trudeau’s political opponents will go after him if it does not come soon. On his part, Trudeau feels that India, by hinging its relations with Canada solely on the Khalistan issue, is making a mountain out of a molehill as the population of expat Sikhs is minuscule in his country. TIME TO GET ON THE RAMP Most experts call for the two countries to de-escalate diplomatic tensions because of the high stakes involved in the relationship, especially the growing economic ties. Trade in goods and services between India and Canada has steadily grown to $8 billion (approx. Rs 66,500 crore) in India’s favour, butis well short ofthe potential.Canadians have begun to invest heavily in India, especially with pension funds accounting for an estimated $55 billion (nearly Rs 4.6 lakh crore). Close to 226,000 Indian students were studying inCanada in 2022,trafc that has grown in recent years.There’s also a large Indian immigrant population seeking job opportunities.With India’s growing importance as bulwark against China and pivot in the Asia-Pacific, both areas that align with Canada’s forward-leaning policy, itis inOttawa’s interesttonurture its relationship withNewDelhi.Trudeau, having demonstrated to Sikhs that he stood up forthem and “withstood India’s bullying”, can assuage India by cracking down on major Khalistan extremists operating in the country, without facing flak from his domestic constituents. Rather than suspend visa issuance to all Canadians, India should focus on cancelling visas and passports of PIO card-holders conducting proven extremist activities in addition to confiscating their physical and monetary assets in India for being absconders from justice. As a former Indian High Commissioner to Canada put it, “Both sides need to get on the ramp and of the highway so that quiet negotiations are possible ratherthan speeding headlong into conflict.”The problem is, as another Indian diplomat putit,“when you smell blood, asTrudeau has done, you don’t know where to the draw the line.” He believes thatthe relationship will go into cold storage forthe nexttwo years tillCanada’s 2025 general election.Others are optimistic and advocate thatthe two countries return to the diplomatic table, for, howeverintractable the situation may seem, diplomacy is the art of making an impossible rapprochement possible. „ A DISTANT EMBRACE Modi greets Trudeau at Bharat Mandapam during the G20 summit, Sept. 9 AFP

HOME ADVANTAGE AND THE INDIAN XI’S SIZZLING PERFORMANCES IN THE PAST MONTH CRICKET WORLD CUP COVER STORY

SUGGEST THAT WE ARE PEAKING ON TIME, BUT WORRIES REMAIN THE HUDDLE Captain Rohit Sharma gives a pep talk before the team takes the field By NIKHIL NAZ AFP

38 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 CRICKET WORLD CUP COVER STORY worldwide acceptance and also the biggest prize money in the sport—the 2023 edition has a total purse of $10 million or Rs 83.3 crore. The previous edition saw a global cumulative live audience of 1.6 billion viewers: expect a jump by at least 40 per cent this time as the circus moves across 10 venues, covering a total of 48 games spread across 46 days. INDIA’S STRENGTHS So can the Indian team pull it off? Truth be told, since the 2011 triumph, they have been found wanting on the biggest stage, especially at crucial junctures (see box Dry as Dust). The word was out—India can be beaten, and beaten in various ways. The Men in Blue arrived in Sri Lanka forthe Asia Cup last month with questions aplenty: the openers had been misfiring; Virat Kohli had endured an extended dry patch in ODIs; K.L. Rahul and Shreyas Iyer’s match fitness were in doubt; all-rounder Hardik Pandya hadn’t been in action as a bowlerfor long; bowlers Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel seemed to be in the team not on the dint of their performances, but out of the sheer need to have allrounders to balance the playing XI; and ace speedster Jasprit Bumrah was returning from a long-term injury with no evidence to show that he had regained the form orthe strength to bowl the 10-over quota. Four weeks on, all doubts have been laid to rest, the Indian XI has answered emphatically, dominating the continental eamIndiacaptainRohitSharmawas just beginning to field questions from the press after India’s thumping win in the Asia Cup final when he was interrupted by the deafening sound of crackers being burst outside. He paused, allowed the noise to die down and then, almost instinctively, remarked, “World Cup jeetne ke baad phodo, yaar (Burstthe crackers after we win theWorldCup, guys)!” While Rohit’s comment was in jest, it does encapsulate the mood of a cricket-mad country that has been experiencing an extended title drought atthe world level since 2011 when M.S. Dhoni led the Indian team to victory. There could be no better time and place to end that pain than the 2023 edition of the ODI (one-day international) World Cup. If there was a 28-year gap between the time Dhoni’s Daredevils lifted the cup and when Kapil’s Devils won it forthe first time in 1983, the hope is that ‘Rohit’s Roarers’ will end the impasse in this edition. The ODI World Cup is considered the G20 of cricket, the epitome of the white ball limited overs version of the game. Since the inception of one-dayers in 1975, the World Cup has emerged as cricket’s showpiece event, gaining INDIA HAD TO WAIT 28 YEARS AFTER KAPIL'S DEVILS FIRST LIFTED THE WORLD CUP IN WILL THIS BE ROHIT SHARMA'S SWANSONG? GETTY IMAGES

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 39 THE IMAGE OF M.S. DHONI'S SIX TO FINISH OFF THE GAME IN THE 2011 FINAL IS ETCHED IN EVERY INDIAN CRICKET FAN'S MIND INDIA’S RUN AT THE CRICKET WORLD CUP ENGLAND ENGLAND & WALES AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND ENGLAND INDIA & PAKISTAN INDIA, PAKISTAN & SRI LANKA ENGLAND,IRELAND, NETHERLANDS, SCOTLAND, WALES WEST INDIES AUSTRALIA KENYA, SOUTH AFRICA & ZIMBABWE BANGLADESH,INDIA & SRI LANKA ENGLAND & WALES 1975 1983 1992 1979 1987 1996 1999 2007 2015 2003 2011 2019 Winner: WEST INDIES Winner: INDIA Winner: PAKISTAN Winner: WEST INDIES Winner: AUSTRALIA Winner: SRI LANKA Winner: AUSTRALIA Winner: AUSTRALIA Winner: AUSTRALIA Winner: AUSTRALIA Winner: INDIA Winner: ENGLAND FINISH: Group stage, 1W - 2L FINISH: 6W - 2L FINISH: Round robin stage W2-L5-NR1 FINISH: Group stage, 3L FINISH: Semi-finals, W5-L2 FINISH: Semi-finals, W4, L3 FINISH: Super six, W4-L4 FINISH: Group stage, W1-L2 FINISH: Semi-finals, W7-L1 FINISH: Runners-up, W9-L2 FINISH: W9-L1-T1 FINISH: Semi-finals, W7-L2-NR1 AFP

40 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 CRICKET WORLD CUP COVER STORY championship and then decimating a full-strength Australian side in a short, pre-Cup ODI series. The warning signals had been sent to the rest of the cricketing world. In Shubman Gill—the highest run-scorer for India in ODIs this calendar year—India has one of the most talented young batters in world cricket. His breathtaking stroke-play aside, the 24-year old’s ability to translate good starts into substantial knocks is ample proof that he has a head mature beyond his years. Captain Rohit Sharma, fresh from scaling Mount 10K in one-day cricket, seems to have finally found the balance he’d been searching for between attack and defence—an approach that saw him finish with the best strike rate amongst the top six run-getters in the Asia Cup. If anyone ever doubted Virat, the Delhi superjock served a timely reminder of his ODI prowess by smashing a match-winning century in a crunch game against Pakistan. That he’s now just two centuries short of Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time ODI record of 49 tons should be enough to fuel his fire ahead of the Cup. K.L. Rahul has risen again like the proverbial phoenix. Down and out after a serious back injury, the makeshift wicket-keeper cum middle-order bat has reclaimed his spot in the Indian starting XI. His jaw-dropping batting average of 93 since his return, coupled with the fact that he has been keeping wickets in all the matches—embellished with some stunning catches and showing no signs of his injury—has helped India in more ways than one. Hardik Pandya the batter was never the worry. Hardik Pandya the T20 bowler had been a certified asset too. But the jury was still out on Hardik Pandya the ODI bowler. The Asia Cup, though, delivered an emphatic verdict: the sheer pace and control with which the vice-captain bowled was befitting of a full-time ODI bowler and not the sixth bowling option he was often viewed as. Indeed, India’s bowling unit, too, has emerged as the talk of the town. Bumrah is bowling like he’d never been away from international cricket, dismissing top-order batters by using a combination of sheer pace and smart setups, just as he had done before his 11-month-long injury THAT OUR BATTERS ARE FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS COULD BE THE X-FACTOR IN INDIA'S QUEST TO LIFT THE 2023 WORLD CUP SHUBMAN GILL INDIA Gill makes his ODI World Cup debut having been the highest run-scorer in ODIs in 2023. His exploits as an opener may well decide India’s campaign MITCHELL MARSH AUSTRALIA An impact player with both bat and ball, Marsh may open for Australia. Named as the next T20I captain, the World Cup will be his chance to justify that decision PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR AP AP

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 41 lay-off. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, the man-of-the-tournament at the Asia Cup, has the entire cricket world scratching their heads, trying to figure out his wrong ’un. And the ever exuberant Mohammed Siraj, with his wobbled seam and extra bounce, has had hapless opposition batters flailing around (his six-ferin the Asia Cup final was a testament to that). T20 WORLD CUP T20 WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS TROPHY WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP T20 WORLD CUP T20 WORLD CUP ICC WORLD TEST CHAMPIONSHIP 2016 2014 2017 2021 2022 2021 2023 Winner: WEST INDIES Winner: SRI LANKA Winner: PAKISTAN Winner: NEW ZEALAND Winner: ENGLAND Winner: AUSTRALIA Winner: AUSTRALIA HOST: India Finish: Semi-finals HOST: Bangladesh Finish: Runners-up HOST: England & Wales Finish: Runners-up Finish: Runners-up HOST: Australia Finish: Semi-finals HOST: UAE & Oman Finish: Group stage Finish: Runners-up DRY AS DUST The Men in Blue haven’t won a top ICC trophy in a decade, the last being the 2013 Champions Trophy From not knowing what their ideal XI was just about a month ago, to becoming the ‘idol XI’ of ODI cricket has marked quite a dramatic turnaround forthis Indian team. It’s this assortment of match-winners that has allowed India to win handsomely in recent one-dayers, including the three-match series against Australia that saw a rearguard fightback by the middle-order pair of K.L. Rahul and Surya Kumar Yadav to seal the first ODI and a Gill-Iyer blitzkrieg that took India to a record total of 399 in the second. Quite clearly, this multi-pronged attack could be the X factorif India is to land the biggest prize in cricket. CHINKS IN THE ARMOUR But work through the sturdy Indian exterior and examine the finer details and some cracks begin to appear in the arsenal. The lack of all-rounders, for one. Much like today’s corporate workplace where multi-tasking is the buzzword, multi-dimensional players have become a necessity in cricket; more so in one-day cricket where the premium is on bowlers contributing with the bat and vice versa. This was also India’s secret sauce during the 2011 World Cup as the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan—all proper batters—chipped in with vital breakIFTIKHAR AHMED PAKISTAN Beyond the prowess of Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi, in Iftikhar, Pakistan has a player who has delivered under pressure, both with the bat and with his slow of-spin AFP

42 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 throughs with the ball. But that’s a luxury this current Indian team cannot afford, with none of their toporder batters bowling at the international level consistently. lame it on the new power-play rules—five fielders inside the 30- yard circle between overs 11 to 40. Introduced in 2015 to rid the format of the ‘boring’ middle phase, it offers no respite to the bowlers. Combined with another rule change of two new balls from both ends—as opposed to the use of only one ball forthe entire 50 overs previously—and the ODI format looks to have changed drastically since 2011. A hard, relatively new ball that comes on to the bat is far more conducive to stroke-play than the worn-out, 40- or 50-overs old ball that is slow off the pitch. The rules have resulted in teams adopting the cavalier batting approach of T20 cricket in ODIs as well, as is reflected in the everincreasing team totals in the 50-over format. Of the 24 occasions where a 400-plus score has been recorded in ODI cricket, 15 have come since the 2011 World Cup. Whateverthe reasons forthe imbalance between the bat and ball, the inflexibility brought on by the lack of genuine all-rounders leaves the Indian XI severely compromised. In a tournament where most top contenders bat as deep as No. 10, India can at best list batters till No. 8 by calling on all-rounders like Shardul, Axar and Ashwin. Then there’s the ‘fear-offailure’ charge that the team contends with perennially. Its genesis lies in India’s apparent inability to bring its A-game on the big day, especially seen in the knockout stages of world cups. Truly world-class teams are known to raise their performance a notch or two on D-days by playing fearlessly. India, on the other hand, has been found out playing percentage (read safe) cricket at the same stage. Is it the expectations of 1.44 billion Indians that weighs them down? “Indians play stats-driven cricket... they are too often, too worried about their stats. They are so scared to take risks, because of what might be said or printed,” is how former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull parsed it during a recent broadcast on Sky Sports. Will this ‘enfeeblement’ be amplified by the fact that India are the hosts, forit means pressure? And more pressure. THE HOME ADVANTAGE Conversely, the ‘home advantage’ also presents India with its greatest opportunity. The fact that the past three editions have seen the hosts pocket the one-day title tells an important story. Familiarity with the condiCRICKET WORLD CUP COVER STORY NAJMUL HUSSAIN SHANTO BANGLADESH One of the best batting talents in The Tigers team. Started the Asia Cup with two big knocks. A busy batter in the middle-order, Indian conditions will suit him LIAM LIVINGSTONE ENGLAND Livingstone stands out as the X factor for the defending champions. An excellent fielder, he has the power to clear boundaries at will. Is a handy leg-spinner too B AP GETTY IMAGES P L A YERS TO WA TCH O U T FO R

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 43 tions undoubtedly gives home teams a winning edge. And on this count, nobody fares better than India, in India. In the period between the last World Cup in 2019 till now, India’s win-loss ratio at home stands at a phenomenal 3.33 (winning 20 games and losing just 6). No team has an edge in head-to-head comparisons in ODIs played in India since 2019. And whilst the argument that the Indian Premier League (IPL) has helped foreign players get accustomed to Indian conditions does have merit, the stats are proof that India’s home advantage is still an overwhelming proposition for most teams. Former Indian team member Harbhajan Singh explains in detail the technical advantage India gains when playing at home. “Indian batters pierce gaps better than other teams. That’s primarily because they use the pace and bounce on home grounds better,” says the 2011 World Cup winner. “While other teams like Australia and England have to take risks when looking for boundaries in India, our batters, familiar with the ground conditions, can accelerate the scoring rate without taking any. The effect is that we have more boundary-hitters in our team compared to any other.” The Indian caravan will move across nine HEINRICH KLAASEN SOUTH AFRICA Among the best players of spin, Klaasen will be the Proteas’ trump card in India. He has the ability to take the game away in the middle overs with devastating stroke-play RASHID KHAN AFGHANISTAN Rashid Khan needs no introduction in white-ball cricket. The skipper is rated as one of the best in T20 cricket; Afghanistan needs him to replicate the success in ODIs KUSAL MENDIS SRI LANKA In line to be the next Sri Lanka captain, Kusal is at ease against both spin and pace. Had an excellent Asia Cup, and is at the top of his game THE INFLEXIBILITY BROUGHT ON BY THE LACK OF GENUINE ALL-ROUNDERS IS A WORRY FOR INDIA. SO TOO THE DIP IN THEIR BIG GAME MENTALITY AP GETTY IMAGES AFP

CRICKET WORLD CUP COVER STORY THE LONG ROAD TO VICTORY With 10 teams in action, each team gets to play nine matches. Over the course of a month, the Indian team will travel to nine diferent venues in the league stages. Can it capitalise on the home advantage? One of India’s most iconic venues will host a contest against the tricky South Africa. The ball moves around a bit here and with dew being a factor, the toss assumes importance, as it will be difcult to grip the ball in the second innings. With a 14:4 win-loss ratio in ODIs at the Chinnaswamy, India’s last group match is against the weakest team of all. One can expect India to post a mammoth total if they bat first, as the Bengaluru wicket has always been a bowlers’ graveyard. India begins its quest for a third title against the five-time champions on a traditionally spin-friendly wicket. India did well against the Aussies in the recently-concluded home series, but the last time they met in Chennai in March, Australia won. India will be favourites as they play Afghanistan at a venue they haven’t lost an ODI match in since 1982. Spinners rule the roost in Delhi, where the ball keeps low. The short boundaries, though, always keep the batters in with a chance. The marquee clash unfolds at the world’s largest stadium, which also hosts the final. The wicket will ofer runs; pacers can extract pace and bounce. India have done well here, boding well for a team that beat Pakistan at the Asia Cup. A high-altitude venue where the pacers will get zip and movement of the wicket. The relaid outfield was not ready in March 2023, which is why a Test match against Australia was shifted to Indore. The higher-ranked hosts go in as favourites on a wicket where the Indian batters should enjoy playing their strokes. India’s last victory here came against Sri Lanka, albeit in a T20I contest. The team’s test against the defending champions is at a ground where they have played one ODI—losing to S. Africa in Oct. 2022. In IPL 2023, Lucknow was infamous for its low scores, forcing authorities to prepare a fresh pitch for the WC. Wankhede has been a mixed bag for Team India in recent years but it’s also where we were crowned champions. Expect a high-scoring contest because that’s what the nature of wickets has been in Mumbai, always. IST 2:00 PM SUN. NOV. 5 vs South Africa Eden Gardens, Kolkata IST 2:00 PM SUN. NOV. 12 vs Netherlands M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru IST 2:00 PM SUN. OCT. 8 vs Australia M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai IST 2:00 PM WED. OCT. 11 vs Afghanistan Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi IST 2:00 PM SAT. OCT. 14 vs Pakistan Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad IST 2:00 PM SUN. OCT. 22 vs New Zealand Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamshala IST 2:00 PM THU. OCT. 19 vs Bangladesh Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune IST 2:00 PM SUN. OCT. 29 vs England Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow IST 2:00 PM THU. NOV. 2 vs Sri Lanka Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai 1 4 6 7 8 9 5 2 3 1 9 2 3 4 5 6 8 7 —Rahul Rawat

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 45 venues during the group stages (see The Long Road to Victory). And every game, India will start as favourites owing to their current ODI world No. 1 ranking and the fine form they’ve shown the past month. The venues will help too. The England and Australian line-ups, bred on fast, seaming conditions, will face India on the spin-friendly pitches of Lucknow and Chennai, respectively. Pakistan, with its pace-bowling strength and slightly inexperienced batting, will prefer a low-scoring game to give themselves the best chance to beat India. But, expect Ahmedabad, the venue of the India-Pakistan clash, to offer a track with plenty of runs in it, favouring India’s strength in batting in the process. Only New Zealand and South Africa, in Dharamshala and Eden Gardens, respectively, could nullify India’s home advantage to a certain extent as both opponents will relish the seam-friendly conditions on offer at these venues. Though, even here, with the Indian pace-bowling attack of Bumrah, Shami, Siraj and Pandya firing on all cylinders, the Indians would have their noses in front. But India wouldn’t want to rely on home conditions alone. In coach Rahul Dravid, a man who always trusted his methods and process as a player, they have someone who will have prepared a 360-degree roadmap, with data-driven strategies and match-ups forming an integral part of the campaign. There is a lot at stake for Dravid too. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) brought in the seventhhighestrun-scorerin the history of international cricket with only one goal in mind: landing a trophy at the world level. Dravid’s two years at the helm have been marred by exits in the semis of the 2022 T20 World Cup and the loss in the final of the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC). This, then, could well be the Wall’s last hurrah. “I think it is very clearthat forthe Indian public, nothing short of a World Cup win will do. For Dravid and even Rohit HARDIK PANDYA INDIA Could Pandya be the powerhouse that Yuvraj Singh was in 2011? The all-rounder’s presence in the lower order is vital, while his bowling can topple the best batters P L A YERS TO WA TCH O U T FO R DEVON CONWAY NEW ZEALAND Conway will be the mainstay for New Zealand in the initial stage when Kane Williamson might be absent. He has a decent record in India, knows the conditions well THE VENUES WILL HELP... BUT WITH THE PACE BATTERY OF BUMRAH, SHAMI, SIRAJ AND PANDYA FIRING, INDIA SHOULD HAVE THEIR NOSES IN FRONT ALMOST ANYWHERE GETTY IMAGES GETTY IMAGES

GLENN MAXWELL AUSTRALIA A mercurial player who can change the course of a game in mere overs. The unorthodox batting style can disturb a bowler's rhythm. IPL seasoning is another danger Sharma, theirlegacy as coach and captain will be decided based on where India finishes this World Cup,” batting legend and 1983 World Cup winner Sunil Gavaskartold INDIA TODAY. DANGERS AHEAD How often have we heard lines like: ‘Never write off New Zealand in an ICC tournament’, ‘Pakistan is always dangerous’, and ‘Underestimate South Africa at your own peril’. Yet, beyond these challenges, the two biggest threats for India will come in the form of Australia and England. England’s approach in red-ball cricket has fetched them much attention. Termed ‘Bazball’—named aftertheir Test coach Brendon McCullum—it’s essentially ODI-style batting where batsmen maintain a healthy strike rate by going afterthe bowlers and forcing captains to spread the field (imagine multiple Virender Sehwags in a single batting line-up if you will). Yet, it’s how England have played white-ball cricket that’s transforming the sport. The results beartestimony to this: England are the ODI and T20 world champions, but are yet to play a WTC final and last won the Ashes in 2015. What’s worked forthe Three Lions has been theirfearless approach—no matterthe match situation, irrespective of the wickets down, the English batters never seem to curb their attacking instincts. Ditto for Australia. Of course, it’s theirrich reservoir of multi-faceted players that allows these two teams to bat as deep as they do. In turn, it affords them the luxury of going hammer and tongs right through their batting innings. Compare that to a team like India, which is scampering for a spin-bowling all-rounderjust days ahead of the Cup. Injury to Axar Patel has resulted in the team going back to a 37-year-old Ashwin, who before his recall forthe home series versus Australia hadn’t played an ODI match for 20 months. The difference couldn’t be starker. For India to repeat the heroics of 1983 and 2011, a lot will depend on factors beyond cricketing logic. Late evening dew in October-November makes winning the toss crucial. Add to that the luck factor—the odd run-out, a dropped catch, untimely rain interruptions. Without the rub of the green going their way, no team is guaranteed success. It’s these glorious uncertainties that make the Cricket World Cup one of the greatest sports spectacles on Earth. „ Nikhil Naz is Consulting Editor, Sports, India Today TV CRICKET WORLD CUP COVER STORY THE TWO BIG THREATS FOR INDIA WILL BE AUSTRALIA AND ENGLAND, BOTH MASTERS OF THE FEARLESS, ATTACKING GAME PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR — Player profiles by Rahul Rawat JOSBUTTLER ENGLAND The England captain has delivered a World Cup (T20) for his country and now has to shoulder the expectations of being a favourite. One of the most dangerous batsmen playing currently GETTY IMAGES AP

48 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 Te usually tranquil offices in the premises ofthe GujaratCricket Association (GCA)—which manages theNarendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad— are abuzz with activity. If an InternationalCricket Council(ICC)team had visited the stadium a few weeks ago,theBoard ofControlforCricketin India (BCCI) president RogerBinny was here in mid-September while his team continues to camp in the city to oversee preparations for the ICC Men’sCricketWorldCup. Te 2023 edition of the quadrennialOneDay International(ODI) extravaganza—delayed this time due to theCovid-19 pandemic—will kick off with the opening ceremony attheNarendra Modi Stadium onOctober 4.Besides the inaugural match the following day and the final onNovember 19,the 132,000-seater facility—the largest cricket stadium in the world—will be hosting three more ties.Te most anticipated India-Pakistan clash onOctober 14 is among them. Built on the same site as the erstwhile Sardar Patel Stadium,the new facility—named after the Indian prime minister— was inaugurated in 2021. It has already hosted several high-octane matches, including the Indian Premier League (IPL) finals in 2022 and 2023. But hosting half a dozenWorld Cup matches, admit GCA officials, is a different ball game. Te pitch is in “mint condition”, but special attention has been paid to the outfield. A wet outfield had delayed play ALL SET FOR THE BIG BASH Besides the opening ceremony, the Narendra Modi Stadium will be hosting five matches, including the inaugural tie, the India-Pakistan clash and the final in a rain-marred IPL final in May this year, inviting much criticism. So, following a spell of heavy showers in September third week,theGCA is taking “special care”, with a dedicated agricultural engineer on duty. Among the ICC’s recommendations, say sources, was to make the stadium more accessible to differently-abled cricketfans, on par with international standards. All renovations have been completed, with more seating capacity in the media box and a new commentary box to facilitate those covering the proceedings.While the parking capacity has been increased too, direct access to the Metro station from one ofthe exit gates is expected to ease the rush offans. „ Jumana Shah GAME ON TeNarendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad CRICKET WORLD CUP COVER STORY GETTY IMAGES

AFTER THE DEMOLITION OF PAKISTAN AND SRI LANKA IN THE ASIA CUP, INDIAN CRICKET FANS HAVE REASON TO ANTICIPATE ANOTHER WORLD CUP VICTORY UNDER ROHIT SHARMA'S CAPTAINCY By Sunil Gavaskar Photographs by GETTY IMAGES TOP GUNS (L-R) K.L. Rahul, Jaspreet Bumrah, Virat Kohli and Kuldeep Yadav CRICKET WORLD CUP COVER STORY

WillNovember 19,2023, be anotherhistoric day in the annals of Indian cricket like June 25, 1983, and April 2, 2011, were? Will Rohit Sharma joyously lift the ICC World Cup over his head like Kapil Dev and Mahendra Singh Dhoni did on those two iconic days? Will another glorious chapter be written to inspire future generations of cricketers to try and emulate these memorable feats? After the demolition of Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the recently concluded Asia Cup, Indian cricketfans are entitled to believe that, yes, the team under its captain Rohit Sharma will add anotherWorldCup to the trophy cabinet of the BCCI. Casting a glance at the Indian squad, one will find that the batting line-up is such thatit will give sleepless nights to all the bowlers of all opponents. While the skipper hasn’t quite hit peak form as yet, he holds the record forthe highest individual score in ODIs—264 atEden Gardens in 2014— where he got out after being caught on the boundary to the last ball ofthe final over. His opening partner Shubman Gill has already gone past 1,000runs in ODIs this year and bids fairto get close to the 2,000-run mark by the time the year ends. What has been impressive aboutthe talented youngmanis his quick assessment ofthe situation and adjusting his game to address it.Like Virat Kohli who,too, is in red-hotform, Gill doesn’t need to resort to the unorthodox shots that are the signature tunes of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan. The classical correctness of K.L. Rahul and the swashbuckling ways of Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya can cause mayhem with the opposition. With the super-confident Ravindra Jadeja to finish things off, the Indian batting looks formidable indeed. The bowling, too, has got an added edge with the return of Jasprit Bumrah. Whether India will go with the twoMohammeds—Shami and Siraj—will depend to a great extent on where the match is and who the opposition will be. The spin department will be in the hands of the experienced Jadeja and the wiles of Kuldeep Yadav. Shardul Thakur and Axar Patel will provide bulk to the lower order and also help fulfil the fifth bowler’s role. The 1983 and 2011 teams were blessed with an abundance of all-rounders, which eased the burden on the captain considerably. Sharma also has Hardik Pandya, Jadeja, Patel and Thakur, with the latter two perhaps fighting for a place in theXI.Like the ’83 and 2011 teams, this will also be a top fielding unit, with Jadeja unquestionably the best in the game today. Their main stumbling blocks will be the defending champions England, who over the past few years have taken one-day cricket to another level, and Australia, who are always a force to reckon with. Their strength is the number of game-changing all-rounders they have. SouthAfrica will be high on confidence with theirrecent comeback win againstAustralia after being two matches down atthe start ofthe five-matchODI series.They have been dealt a big blow with the injury to Anrich Nortje who will thus miss his second consecutive World Cup. New Zealand as always will fly under the radar and cause more than a few surprises. They are still sweating over the fitness of their captain, Kane Williamson, and the experienced seamer Tim Southee.Afghanistan,too, are capable of an upset ortwo iftheir batting clicks. Bangladesh disappointed in the AsiaCup but will be high on confidence after beating India, albeit without its top players.Whether SriLanka can lift themselves up afterthe humiliating loss in the Asia Cup finals will determine their progress in the World Cup. As always,Pakistanwill be the dangerteam.Even when we played against them years ago, the fighting and the bitching among their players, and often on the field itself, was amusing, to say the least. But when the bowler started his run-up, they would amazingly get totally focused on the job. In Babar Azam, they have one of the finest batsmen the game has seen and he will be the key for Pakistan with his batting and his leadership. India have both the home advantage and knowledge of the pitches and the conditions. Their massive crowd support at every venue can sometimes be disturbing and disconcerting to the opposition. The previous three World Cups have been won by the countries hosting the matches.Over a billion hearts and lips will be praying for India to continue thattradition and make November 19 another unforgettable day in its cricket story. „ Sunil Gavaskar was part of the legendary 1983 World Cup squad and is recognised as one of the greatest batsmen. He is also a respected commentator INDIA HAVE BOTH THE HOME ADVANTAGE AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE PITCHES AND THE CONDITIONS OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 51

BATTLE OF FINE MARGINS CRICKET WORLD CUP/ COLUMN COVER STORY honi finishes it off in style...India wins theWorld Cup....” That was Ravi Shastri’s booming voice resonating across TV sceens in the country as India lifted the 2011 World Cup in Mumbai. Twelve years later, the 50-overs World Cup is back on Indian soil, only this time the expectations are even higher than the six that lit up the Mumbai skyline. The relentless multi-media machine is already asking with breathless excitement: who will play the role of a Dhoni-style grand finisher and take India to the summit once again? How distinct is this boundless ambition and hype from the first time, when India travelled forthe inaugural World Cup in England in 1975? Orindeed before India completed the ultimate underdog triumph in 1983? The ’75 World Cup is bestremembered for Sunil Gavaskar’s bizarre innings of 36 runs in 60 overs. India’s greatest Test opener and a run machine, Gavaskar’s inexplicable run crawl is a reminder of just how clueless Indian cricketers were about the shorterformat in the early years. Fast forward to 1983 when another Indian legend, Kapil Dev, THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THE HOST COUNTRY HAS WON THE PREVIOUS THREE CUPS. CAN WE DREAM OF ANOTHER INCANDESCENT NIGHT ON NOV. 19, THE DAY OF THE FINAL? By Rajdeep Sardesai

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 53 transformed what seemed like a complete mismatch against the all-conquering West Indies into the mostreplayed moment in Indian sport(captured now forever in Hindi cinema in Kabir Khan’s film, ’83). Dev’s effervescence, on and off the field, instilled self-belief in India’s limited-overs skills and allowed Indian cricket fans to live a dream like no other. In 1983, it was the entirely unexpected nature of the win that spurred a euphoric response. But while the nation rejoiced, there was always the realisation that Lords ’83 was a bit of a freak, a once-in-ageneration moment that was unlikely to be repeated. By the time Dhoni’s team triumphed in 2011, cricket’s geographic power shift from West to East was almost complete. This, in turn, led many to hope,rather pray, that India would win the Cup on home turf. It was, after all, the last World Cup of unarguably India’s most-loved cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar. Cricket may be a team sport, but Indian fans are devoted to their superstarindividuals and there has been no bigger cricket deity than the God of Cricket, the baby-faced teenage prodigy we had all grown KAPIL DEV’S EFFERVESCENCE IN ’83 LIFTED THE TEAM, ALLOWED INDIAN FANS TO LIVE A DREAM LIKE NO OTHER OUR CUP OVERFLOWETH Dhoni's boys after the 2011 World Cup win AFP

54 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 CRICKET WORLD CUP COVER STORY up watching. A packed crowd chanting ‘Sachin, Sachin’ in frenzied unison became almost like a national cricket anthem for overtwo decades, culminating in a magical night at the Wankhede. A memorable quote of the 2011 triumph was from Sachin’s heir apparent, Virat Kohli, who summed up the feelings of the team: “He (Sachin) has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years, it was time we carried him.” achin, of course, has since retired into iconic Bharat Ratna status. Dhoni, that other great talisman of the 2011 triumph, still plays as a Chennai Superking folk hero, having permanently bridged Indian cricket’s north-south divide. In 2011, it was Dhoni’s calm and control that was crucial to victory in the final against Sri Lanka. Now the burden to achieve a hat-trick of World Cup successes falls on the worthy inheritor who lifted Sachin on his shoulders forthe lap of honourin 2011. ‘King’ Kohli is already a sporting legend, having redefined Indian cricket by taking physical fitness and a never-say-die attitude to anotherlevel. He has established himself as arguably the greatest one-day cricketer of all time—statistically even ahead of West Indian master batsman Viv Richards—Kohli has a chance to rewrite the record books again: become the first Indian cricketerto win two World Cups in the 50-overformat. Kohli’s presence in the side is a reminderthat international sport is a baton relay where one generation mentors the next: new stars are emerging, but the old orderisn’t calling it a day just yet. Captain Rohit Sharma made his debut in 2007, but 16 years lateris, when on song, still the most devastating shotmakerin the team. Kohli and Sharma in partnership are a classy jugalbandi (duet)for purists, but the sport itself now plays to a very different beat. Cricket is no longer a languid sport played with a sense of timelessness as part of a gently unfolding drama. Five-day Test cricket is already facing an existential crisis, one reason why England’s recent free-spirited, positive approach (nicknamed ‘Bazball’ after their Kiwi coach Brendon McCullum) has won so many hearts. Even the relevance of the 50-over game is under the microscope: who really wants to see batsmen nudging the ball around for singles and twos in the middle overs any longer? White-ball cricket is now almost an unrecognisable sport, played with supersonic speed, where raw power, athleticism and fearless inventiveness are qualities to be treasured above all else. Amidst the proliferation of T20 leagues across the world, we now even have T10 tournaments and hundred balls per side contests attracting large crowds in an atmosphere akin to a high-decibelrock concert. Not to forget the unimaginable KOHLI AND SHARMA ARE A CLASSY JUGALBANDI FOR PURISTS, BUT THE SPORT ITSELF NOW PLAYS TO A VERY DIFFERENT BEAT S AFP

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 55 riches that have come with corporate support: last year’s IPL sensation Rinku Singh will probably earn more in a season playing for his franchise than Kapil Dev’s entire India career payout. The best cricketers are typically adjusting theirtalents to this gilded age: Indian cricket is now routinely throwing up top-class players who hit the ball harder and furtherthan their predecessors (albeit armed with much better bats) and skillful bowlers who have mastered a far greater variety of deliveries, especially in the crucial death overs. Watching a Shubman Gill—the gen-next batting champion—smash fast bowlers for six after having leant into a gorgeous on drive the previous ball or a Jasprit Bumrah bowl a well-disguised slower delivery after having just delivered a rapid bounceris to celebrate the genius of players with extraordinary skill sets. Not to forget a potential game-changerin Kuldeep Yadav, who is an old-style spinning sorcerer slowly perfecting one of cricket’s most difficult art forms: left-arm wrist spin. Importantly, the sport is far more ‘democratised’ and aspirational than ever before: the players who willrepresent the country in the World Cup come from amazingly diverse backgrounds. The meteoric rise of a Mohammed Siraj, son of an autorickshaw driver, from playing tennis ball cricket on the streets of old Hyderabad to now being a much-feared new ball bowler, is the great Indian cricket dream to cherish. As is that of his fast-bowling senior, Mohammed Shami, who played his early cricket in a remote UP village. When the teams line up, a commerce graduate, K.L. Rahul, will stand alongside a class nine dropout in Hardik Pandya: the only qualification on the cricket field is merit, not lineage. The cash-rich Indian cricket board may still be run by an opaque, unaccountable clique of politically well-connected VIPs, but the sport itself is a joyous reflection of an ‘equal opportunities’ society. So, will this impressively assembled ‘new India’ team win the 2023 World Cup? It most certainly can. But winning a global tournament can be a matter of fine margins:recall the enthralling last World Cup final which was won on a peculiar boundary count-back rule. Both England and New Zealand were tied on scores, but England won it after a super-over because they had hit more boundaries. The sport is also more competitive than ever before: every team in this World Cup, with the possible exception of the Netherlands, will go into every game in this tournament believing they can win. Teams like Australia, England and Pakistan are brimming with match-winning players, while even a plucky Afghanistan could come charging down the Khyber Pass to pull off a surprise ortwo. But here is the good news: the last three World Cups have been won by the host nations. If Rohit Sharma and his men in blue can handle the pressure of massive expectations, there is no reason why we can’t have anotherincandescent night on finals day on November 19, this time at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Afterthe luminosity of Chandrayaan and the buzz of a G20 summit, a World Cup win at a stadium named afterthe prime minister might give even more momentum to the BJP’s ‘Rising India’ drumbeat ahead of the general election. But forthe next few weeks at least, bruising political propaganda battles can wait as the cricketers take centre stage. A carnival of cricket awaits us. Enjoy the spectacle. „ Rajdeep Sardesai is consulting editor, TV Today, and author of Democracy’s XI: The Great Indian Cricket Story NETS STRATEGY Captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid

WITH AN EYE ON THE POLLS, THE MAHARASHTRA GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES SEVERAL STEPS FOR THOSE COVERED UNDER MUMBAI’S SLUM REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS. BUT STALLED PROJECTS AND AN ALLEGED PRO-BUILDER BIAS ARE UNDOING ANY GOOD INTENT By Dhaval Kulkarni NOT MUCH TO DWELL ON 34,000 ACRES Total area of Mumbai 8,333.5 ACRES Area covered by slums THE NATION MUMBAI SLUMS REDOING SHANTYTOWN A swathe of Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, with tenement highrises for residents in its midst

OCTOBER 9, 2023 INDIA TODAY 59 WITH THE LOK SABHA AND STATE ASSEMBLY polls in 2024 drawing near, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government in Maharashtra is going all-out to woo the powerful slum-dweller vote bank in Mumbai. The state government has decided to allot apartments in slum redevelopment schemes at Rs 2.5 lakh to residents of shanties that have come up between 2000 and 2011. It is estimated that this will cover around 1.6-1.8 million people as their slums are redeveloped in the coming years. Slum-dwellers whose houses were constructed before 2000 are legally protected and eligible for free housing. Many are housed in 300 square feet flats under Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects. In 2018, the BJP-Sena coalition under Devendra Fadnavis decided to rehabilitate and grant houses to residents of shanties built between January 1, 2000 and January 1, 2011 at an appropriate cost. In May 2023, a governmentresolution was issued, fixing the price of a tenement at Rs 2.5 lakh. Sources from the Maharashtra state housing department say that, initially, the plan was to charge residents on the basis of the cost of construction. But since this would work out to Rs 8 lakh-Rs 12 lakh for a 300 sq. ft house in a highrise, it was fixed at Rs 2.5 lakh. The state cabinet has also approved a decision to reduce the lock-in period forthe sale of free SRA rehabilitation tenements from 10 to seven years; a bill is expected to be tabled in the legislature soon. This means that individuals who have been given flats free of cost can sell them after seven years. SRA ofcials admit that despite the lock-in period, beneficiaries continued to sell flats or clandestinely create third-party rights. In 2021, a survey of 86,429 tenements by the SRA found that 10,983 were occupied by unauthorised entities. The state government has also approved in principle a policy of covering residents on the first floor of chawls located in slums under SRA schemes. At present, only those on the ground floor are eligible forrehabilitation. Ofcials say this policy will apply to around 2,000 chawls built before January 1, 1976, housing an estimated 18,000 residents, largely in Mumbai’s western and eastern suburbs such as Malad, Kanjurmarg, Ghatkopar and Bhandup. “Since these first-floorresidents were not covered under SRA norms, thousands were rendered homeless,” says Gopal Shetty, the BJP MP from North Mumbai who had taken up the issue with the government. “Builders paid them modest amounts like Rs 10 lakh, and they would shift to far-of places like Vasai, Virar and Nalasopara.” The state housing department is also working on a policy to allow government agencies like the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) orthe City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO)launch or complete work on stalled SRA projects where private developers have shown little interest. A LEGACY ISSUE Bombay’s slums are as old as modernday Mumbai. They began sprouting since the beginning of the 20th century, with the arrival of thousands of economic migrants from across Maharashtra and India. Gradually, informal settlements like Dharavi or the Matunga labour camp took the shape of today’s slums. The city has 2,583 slum clusters, with around 1.2 million structures. Today, of Mumbai’s 34,000-acre approximate area, around 8,333.5 acres, or 24 per cent, is covered by slums. An estimated 48.4 per cent of Mumbai’s 124 million population (as perthe 2011 census)lives in these densely-populated areas. Importantly, slum-dwellers are enthusiastic voters. W 48.4 PER CENT of Mumbai’s 10.2 million population lives in slums LAND OWNERSHIP IN SLUMS Private ownership 3,621 acres BMC 856 acres MHADA 272 acres Others 252 acres Khoti 518 acres Central government 673 acres State government 2,140 acres MILIND SHELTE

60 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 9, 2023 Till the ’70s, slums were considered illegal, and many were demolished. In 1971, the Maharashtra Slum Areas (Improvement Clearance and Redevelopment) Act was passed, and basic amenities like sanitation and water were provided. In the ’90s, a committee under senior IAS ofcer Dinesh Afzalpurkarrecommended the use of land as a resource to tackle the problem of burgeoning slums. The government accepted it in 1995 and the SRA was created. Under its schemes, builders can redevelop slums into tenement buildings to house slum-dwellers. In return, they can develop part of the land for sale in the market. Overthe years, the size of rehabilitation tenements grew from 180 sq. ft to 225 sq. ft, 269 sq. ft and now, 300 sq. ft; the cut-of date for legalised slums has been pushed back from 1995 to 2000. Some 253,421 tenements constructed under SRA projects have been given occupation certificates by July end. However, officials say that the goal of a slum-free Mumbai, with residents being housed in highrises, is a long way of. Asenior SRA ofcial says that around 380 slum rehabilitation schemes have been stuck for years due to lack of clearance from the Union defence and environment, forests and climate change ministries, the Civil Aviation Authority and due to legal/ financial issues. Work on 517 schemes approved since 2008-09 is yet to begin. To kickstart stalled projects, the SRA has empaneled around 30 developers, who will bid fortenders floated by the authority. In another option, financial institutions that have invested in stalled SRA projects will be empaneled and can appoint a new developerto complete work. So far, of the 380 pending projects, 161 have been revived. “We are working to give an impetus to stalled projects and ensure they are implemented efficiently,” says Satish Lokhande, chief executive ofcer, SRA. In around 150 SRA schemes, developers have defaulted on paying around Rs 602 crore as rent to slum-dwellers who are in transit accommodation while their houses are being redeveloped. In August, the SRA issued a circular mandating that developers must pay two years'rent in advance and submit post-dated cheques for another year. “Several SRA projects have been languishing for 10-15 years,” says Krishna Hegde, deputy leader and spokesperson of the Shinde-led Sena.“Residents evicted are yet to get houses and are living in dilapidated transit accommodation...the government is looking into the matter.” ‘PRO-BUILDER SCHEME’ Critics point to how the SRA scheme, instead of catalysing urban renewal, is heavily tilted in favour of private builders. “It is a pro-builder scheme,” alleges Ramesh Prabhu, chairman, Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association. “Builders are also responsible for creating slums…builders, developers, politicians, babus have become richerin the name of the poor.” He points to how successive governments increased the size of SRA tenements and hiked cutof years forlegalising slums, which served to encourage people to create new slums and nurture vote banks. Sitaram Shelar, co-convenor, Hamara Shaher Mumbai Abhiyan, agrees. “The land belongs to the government, which bears the cost, but it is the builder who benefits. The utilisation of land is more towards the resale component, at around 60-65 per cent, with residents housed in the rest. This ensures that SRA tenements are a vertical version of slums with no gardens, open spaces orfacilities that slum-dwellers can access,” he explains. Shelar complains about the faulty attitude of policymakers towards slums. “Slums are not a problem,” he says,”but a source of energy forthe city. They provide labourto it.” As a remedy, Shelar proposes that the size of flats for slum-dwellers be hiked to 350 sq. ft, and an increase in the share of housing be given to government agencies such as the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA)to put up those uprooted by Mumbai’s infrastructure projects. Former minister Varsha Gaikwad of the Congress says that SRA schemes must be pro-people, not pro-builder. “Decisions should not be taken from the comfort of air-conditioned cabins but must take ground realities into account,” she stresses. Varun Singh, founder, Square Feet India, a real estate news website, says that the government must ensure that slum-dwellers do not get multiple houses.“Now, an individual may take multiple benefits under SRA projects…some sell of their rehabilitation tenements and move elsewhere. These leakages must be plugged, but no government wants to bite the bullet as the slum-dwellers are a powerful vote bank,” he says. ■ THE NATION MUMBAI SLUMS SLUM-CENTRIC POLICIES Recent steps by the Maharashtra government for the benefit of slumdwellers in SRA project areas Those staying in shanties constructed between 2000 and 2011 to get flats at Rs 2.5 lakh Plans to let government agencies like MHADA to undertake work on stalled SRA projects Mandatory for developers to pay two years' advance rent to slum-dwellers for transit accommodation, post-dated cheques for another year State cabinet to reduce lock-in period for sale of SRA rehabilitation tenements from 10 to seven years In-principle nod for allowing residents on first floor of chawls to be covered under SRA schemes