NEW DELHI 29 DECEMBER 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES The Perfect Pi Equation MAGAZINE The Talented Mr Palekar EXCLUSIVE VOICES AD YOU LIKE IT Where Myth Meets Reality Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar S Vaidhyasubramaniam Anu Aggarwal Debashis Chatterjee Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Namrata Joshi A New Year, a New Style Guide Making of a Nation SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS ‘I TAKE A LOT OF PRESSURE’ Transforming Trigunas Kejriwal peeved as L-G orders probe into AAP schemes A N U P V E R M A @ New Delhi President Droupadi Murmu pays her last respect to former prime minister Manmohan Singh during the state funeral, at Nigambodh Ghat on Saturday | PTI Cremation over, political row over memorial isn’t Congress, BJP slugfest over last rites at Nigambodh Ghat in Delhi PREETHA NAIR & RAJESH KUMAR T H A K U R @ New Delhi HOURS after the cremation of Manmohan Singh on Saturday , political tussle over a memorial for him escalated after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused the government of “total insult” of the former prime minister since his last rites were performed at Delhi’s Nigambodh Ghat instead of a designated burial site. In a post on X, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said, “The great son of Mother India and the first Prime Minister of the Sikh community, Dr Manmohan Singh ji, has been insulted by the present government by performing his last rites today at the Nigam Bodh Ghat.” Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, too, attacked the government saying the Centre should have thought ‘beyond politics and narrow-mindedness’ in this matter. “By not providing an adequate place for the cremation of former PM Dr Manmohan Singh, the government has not done justice to the dignity of the post of former PM, the personality of Manmohan Singh, his legacy and the self-respecting Sikh community she wrote on X. ,” In his pushback, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra lit into Rahul for politicising the issue, saying the Centre has already written to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Dr Singh’s family conveying the Union Cabinet’s decision to allocate space for the memorial. A government statement said the funeral could be held as the process of setting up a trust Dr Manmohan Singh deserves our highest respect and a memorial. The government should have shown respect to this great son of the country and his proud community — Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader SC puts Punjab on 2-day notice over farm leader S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Saturday put the Punjab government on two-day notice on shifting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been fasting at the Khanauri border for over a month seeking legal gurantee to MSP on all crops, to a hospital. The SC slammed the government for allowing the situation to escalate and not complying with its earlier directions to provide medical aid to Dallewal. At a special hearing, a twojudge vacation bench, led by and allotting land for the memorial could take a while. Kharge had on Friday written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting to hold the funeral at a place where his memorial could be built. BJP president J P Nadda, too condemned Rahul and Kharge for politics in the name of memorial. “When the entire nation mourns the demise, the Congress is busy turning this moment of grief into an opportunity to fulfill their political agenda,” Nadda alleged. Congress leader K C Venugopal hit back at Nadda and BJP alleging they crossed , all boundaries of decency The . “shoddy arrangements and the conduct of the cremation were deeply insulting”, he said. P7 Justice Surya Kant and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia, found that the state has not complied with its earlier orders. During the hearing, Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh informed the SC that a team of experts visited tried to persuade Dallewal to shift to a hospital. “But he (Dallewal) has refused any medical aid, saying that it will undermine the cause of the farmer’s movement,” Singh said. The bench then slammed the gover nment for not doing enough to contain the situation and asked it to seek logistics support from the Centre. FINAL JOURNEY TO NIGAMBODH GHAT Singh’s body, placed in a flower-bedecked casket and carriage, was taken from his 3, Motilal Nehru residence in Delhi to the Congress HQ. Final journey then started from the AICC office to the Nigambodh Ghat, where the procession reached around 11.30 am ELDEST DAUGHTER LIT FUNERAL PYRE The funeral pyre was lit by Manmohan Singh’s eldest daughter, Upinder Singh, at Nigambodh Ghat. Priests and family members recited religious hymns from the holy Gurbani. Chants of Satnam Waheguru filled the air, as Singh was cremated BHUTAN KING PAYS TRIBUTE TO EX-PM Security forces gave a salute of three volleys of small arms. Buglers sounded the Last Post. King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and the foreign minister of Mauritius, Dhananjay Ramful, were among the foreign dignitaries who paid tributes to Singh L-G VK Saxena on Saturday ordered a probe against private individuals allegedly collecting details of women in the name of AAP Mahila Samman Yojana and other schemes based on the complaints made by Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, however, ter med the complaints against his party as “fake” and alleged that the BJP wanted to stop its scheme. Delhi will go to polls in February next year. Dikshit has alleged that AAP members have been making women sign forms for the yojna, which seeks to raise monthly dole to `2,100 from `1,000 if the party wins elections. Dikshit has sought a high-level inquiry into the matter. The L-G office issued separate directives to the chief secretary and the police commissioner for a probe. The directive to the police chief said field officers may be told to take action against those involved in collecting personal details. The L-G said the CS may bring the matter to the EC knowledge. On Dikshit’s allegations that intelligence sleuths from Punjab have been visiting his residence at the behest of Kejriwal, Saxena directed to conduct an inquiry and submit the report within three days. Dikshit has also alleged that the AAP government in Punjab is transferring cash to Delhi. In respose, the L-G asked the police chief to take immediate action. Kejriwal came down heavily on the L-G move. “Investigation into what? What is there to investigate? We are not collecting any money We are only asking . people, who wish to avail of these schemes after the elections, to come and register. In the name of this investigation, they want to shut these schemes, which will be implemented after we win elections,” he said. I F R A H M U F T I @ New Delhi COLD waves, record-breaking temperatures, the national capital saw it all this month, but what stands out is the significant rainfall the city received in just 24 hours between December 27 and 28. According to the IMD, Delhi recorded its highest rainfall in 24 hours after 101 years. The last time such a volume was noted was on December 3, 1923, when 75.7 mm of rain was recorded. Delhi usually receives 8 F AYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar A visitor takes pictures at Dal Lake after the season’s first snowfall in Srinagar | PTI Kashmir and Pahalgam and other areas in south Kashmir. Locals rose to the occasion in the Gund area of Ganderbal district by offering shelter to the stranded tourists at their homes and mosques. They were mm of rain during the entire month of December, so the rainfall in the last 24 hours, which was over five times that amount, is particularly noteworthy. Specifically, the city saw 41.2 mm of rain from 8:30 am on Friday to 8:30 am on Saturday . The IMD attributed the rain and thunderstorms to an active western disturbance interacting with easterly winds. The rainfall in the Delhi-NCR is expected to help lower temperatures also provided food and heating facilities. At the Jamia Masjid in Gund, the locals burnt the traditional hamam at night to ensure warmth for the tourists accommodated in the mosque. Videos of the tourists spend- ing the night in the mosque and at the houses of locals have gone viral on social media. “We stayed the night in the mosque in Gund. The locals have given new life to us by providing us food and heating arrangements in the mosque. People here are very hospitable. They looked after us very well,” said a group of tourists from Punjab. “We are extremely thankful to the locals. The tourists are safe here and no harm can come their way People should . visit Kashmir which is paradise on earth,” they added. Besides, hotelier Mohd Altaf Siah provided free accommodation to tourists at his hotel, The Sultan, at Kullan-Rezan in SonP8 amarg from 2.30 am. FOURTH TEST Reddy, steady, go: Emotional hundred saves India at MCG G O M E S H S @ Melbourne IT was tense. It was emotional. The scenes had all the ingredients of a blockbuster Tollywood movie. The protagonist on the field was plying his trade. Enacting one of India’s greatest fightbacks. The celebrations too had sprinkling of movies. Nitish Kumar Reddy first imitated the famous gesture from Pushpa after completing his fifty and later when he reached his maiden Test hundred it was Bahubali scene. India were still on the ropes, but thanks to Reddy and Washington Sundar, India can at least breathe with ease at 358 for 9 in reply to Australia’s first innings’ 474. In the stands were his family members sobbing. Father Mutyala Reddy and his wife were in attendance. Sometime later, Mutyala, his wife and daughter were waiting eagerly for the hotel door to open. Just as the door opened and the 21-year-old cen- turion emerged, Nitish’s mum embraced her son. Even though she tried to control, his sister hugged him saying, “so proud, so happy .” The most emotional moment was that of Mutyala who buried his face in Nitish’s shoulders and cried. He has sacrificed a lot. Even gave up his job so that he could ferry his son from practice to home. He even faced criticism for not having a job. But he had faith in Nitish. As BNP NIXES YUNUS PLAN ON VOTE AGE BNP on Saturday said that Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’ suggestion to set the minimum voting age at 17 could delay the poll process in Bangladesh. | P9 CAPITAL BREAKS 101-YEAR-OLD RECORD IN DECEMBER RAINFALL Kashmiriyat on display amid first big snowfall PEOPLE in the Valley showed what Kashmiriyat is all about by opening their homes and mosques to tourists stranded at different places following the season’s first major snowfall. The Valley witnessed the season’s first major snowfall on Friday. While the plains had moderate to heavy snowfall, the upper reaches, including tourist resorts of Gulmarg in north Kashmir, Sonamarg in central Kashmir and Pahalgam in south Kashmir experienced heavy snowfall. As a result, tourists were stranded at many places, including at Gund in central Kashmir, Tangmarg in north B’DESH the father kissed his son and hugged him tight in the video shared by BCCI.tv, they lived a dream. The Andhra all-rounder (from Vizag), with his unbeaten 105, saved the day for India. It was MSK Prasad, former India selector, who spotted him in the early 2010s. He used to be a toporder batter bowling seamup for Andhra age-group cricket. If Prasad played his part, Hanuma Vihari, (2021 Border Gavaskar Trophy team- member), too had a hand in helping Nitish make his state debut as a teenager. “Vihari always came forward and groomed him. I feel that Vihari has got the knack of supporting the right talent,” Prasad tells this daily . Vihari credits the youngster and his family for what he has done. “I always thought he would be playing at this level. But coming so soon and being able to perform in Australia is unbelievable. I felt really emoP11 tional today Vihari said. ,” over the weekend, with the IMD forecasting a maximum temperature of 16 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 12 degrees Celsius in Delhi. However, the rainfall contributed to a slight improvement in air q u a l i t y, wh i c h r e mained in the “moderate” category with an AQI of 142 at 11 am. The minimum temperature recorded early Saturday morning at the Safdarjung weather station was 12.7 degrees Celsius. Putin says sorry for Azerbaijani plane crash AGENCIES VLADIMIR Putin obliquely admitted on Saturday that Russian air defence had by mistake shot down an Azerbaijani Airlines plane that tried to land in Grozny before crashing, breaking the Kremlin’s silence as speculation mounted over Russian culpability . The Russian leader called his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev, apologising for the shocking error of judgement in Russian airspace, while stopping short of saying Russian air defence had shot it down. The phone call between the allies came three days after the plane flying from Baku to Grozny crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people of 67 onboard. President Putin told Aliyev the plane had tried to land in Grozny “several times.” “During this time, Grozny, (the town of) Mozdok and Vladikavkaz were being attacked by Ukrainian combat drones and Russian air defence was repelling these attacks,” Putin said. The European Union called for a swift, independent interP9 national investigation.