Daily Briefing: Revisiting the Maharashtra journalist murder case; PM Modi in Parliament; and more

Last year, 48-year-old journalist Shashikant Warishe was allegedly murdered for opposing a Central refinery project in his home district of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. But what did the prime accused, Pandharinath Amberkar, have against Warishe? Exactly one year on, an Indian Express investigation has revealed that Amberkar and his network of family members were involved in a slew of land transactions in and around villages where the project is proposed.

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In his final speech in Parliament ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi went all guns blazing against the Congress yet again. This time around, he focussed his attack on the Congress’ “lack of commitment” to deprived sections and to democracy; on its “outdated” “colonial mentality”, and on its alleged failure of governance while in power for decades.

Hitting back, meanwhile, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the PM’s speeches — whether at an election rally or in Parliament – are just a “heap of lies”.

From the Front Page

In the UP Assembly, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath welcomed the Varanasi district court’s decision to allow puja in the southern cellar of the Gyanvapi mosque complex this week. He said now even Lord Krishna is not ready to wait — alluding to the Krishna Janma-bhoomi-Shahi Idgah mosque dispute in Mathura.

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On January 31, the Varanasi court passed an order to initiate puja at the southern cellar of Gyanvapi mosque complex within seven days. The Uttar Pradesh administration moved fast to ensure the order was implemented that very night itself. From swift meetings to discreet preparations, here’s what all happened.

Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey is set to retire on February 14, and his successor will be picked through a consultative process being adopted for the first time. Earlier, Election Commission members were appointed solely at the discretion of the government. What has changed, and how has the Supreme Court ruled on the matter? We explain.

Meanwhile, elections are being held in Pakistan today. In our Opinion section, Husain Haqqani writes: “Instead of repeating the old cycle of elect-dismiss-disqualify-arrest, the army might this time be willing to put its weight behind the elected civilian leadership in what can best be described as Pakistan’s Bangladesh Formula.”

And Finally…

India’s first Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand wanted someone to “carry the torch forward”. Three years later, since he started his Soviet-style chess academy, there’s a queue of contenders ready to take on the mantle.

Delhi Confidential: PM Modi’s speech in Rajya Sabha began at 2.09 pm. Just a few minutes before that, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal was seen asking ministers to occupy the empty seats in the first and second rows. Some of those who had been asked to move ahead, went back to their own seats when more senior ministers arrived.

🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 things’ podcast, we dissect Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code with our legal editor, Apurva Vishwanath, Uttarakhand correspondent, Avaneesh Mishra, and political editor, Liz Mathew.

Until tomorrow,
Sonal Gupta and Rahel Philpose

Business As Usual by EP Unny