Daily Briefing: Delhi’s Deputy CM Sisodia arrested by CBI; ‘militants’ gun down Kashmiri Pandit in Pulwama; and more

Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was arrested on Sunday after around eight hours of interrogation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) regarding the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy.

The implications: The yin to Arvind Kejriwal’s yang, the face of Delhi government’s education policy, and the nucleus of AAP’s expansion plans – Manish Sisodia’s importance to the party and the government, and the hole his arrest creates, cannot be overstated.

But it was clear that Sisodia had seen it coming. Before he headed for questioning, Sisodia spent about 15 minutes at Rajghat along with MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha and MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj. There were other signs too – from the increased security outside the agency’s office to key roads being barricaded to senior AAP leaders being detained.

Only in the Express

In our latest Idea Exchange session, we were joined by former cricketer and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh, who spoke about  what India should do to win ICC trophies and why politics minus rancour is the way to go ahead. Read what he said.

From the Front Page 

In the latest targeted killing in the Kashmir valley, suspected militants shot a 42-year-old bank guard in the Achan area of Pulwama in J&K Sunday, leaving the lone Kashmiri Pandit family in the village in mourning.

Keen to win back the support of Dalits, tribals, OBCs and minorities, the Congress passed a resolution at its plenary that if voted back to power, it would enact a special Act named after Rohith Vemula to protect and safeguard their right to education and dignity.

Citing a strategic imperative, the Union home Ministry wanted the 8.45-square-km airport component of the Great Nicobar Development project to be kept confidential. But the Environment Ministry, in an unprecedented move, has withheld all discussions on the forest clearance to the entire 166.10-sq km project recommended by the statutory Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in which the airport falls.

Must Read 

Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh’s native village of Jallupur Khaira is all abuzz, especially the rehab centre started by him. Some of its inmates were part of the group that stormed the Ajnala police station last week. Though he has clear personal support here, there is also a sense of disquiet about the demands for Khalistan. “We are glad that he is doing amrit sanchar (baptism) and weaning people away from drugs,’’ his mother, however, tells The Indian Express.

While polling for Assembly elections is underway in Meghalaya, the BJP’s decision to go solo is a significant move, considering its electoral performance has not been particularly impressive in the state where regional parties have always been ahead of others. The Congress which was once a hegemonic presence in the state, is now a pale shadow of its past. At the same time, Independents have always been key to Meghalaya politics.

In Nagaland, another northeastern state where polls are currently underway, the ruling coalition of the NDPP and BJP is the only pre-poll alliance in the race. Given that the Naga People’s Front could field candidates in only 22 out of 60 constituencies this time, and the virtual decimation of the Congress after drawing a blank last time, the NDPP-BJP alliance has reason to be confident.

In our Opinion section today, Shamika Ravi writes on how media coverage during Covid-19 underlined the power of controlling narrative. “Stories are being planted and narratives are being managed. This is likely to intensify in the near future because the power to coordinate among democracies has weakened substantially with the decline of multilateral institutions. Policymakers must create and disseminate counter-narratives that establish more rational and public-spirited behaviour by firms and individuals.” 

And Finally 

On February 21, Seattle became the first city in the US to ban caste-based discrimination. The council member behind the introduction of the ordinance was Indian-origin Kshama Sawant. In an exclusive chat with The Indian Express, Sawant elaborates on what inspired her to introduce the ordinance, why caste discrimination is not talked about as much in the US, the anti-CAA-NRC resolution she introduced in the Seattle Council and more.

Until tomorrow,

Rahel Philipose and Anandu Suresh