Good morning, In today’s edition: The legacy of Mulayam Singh Yadav; the history behind Uddhav’s Sena’s new flaming torch symbol; bridge gets hybrid makeover; and more. The Big Story
🔴 Samajwadi Party founder and three-time Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Mulayam Singh Yadav passed away on Monday. One of the most prominent leaders of his generation, he set new rules and benchmarks for political action in UP. His passing marks the end of an era. 🔴 When his sons brought his body back to his village Saifai in UP’s Etawah, hundreds of his followers had formed a queue nearly 5-km long to catch a glimpse of their “Netaji”. Saifai was where Mulayam did his primary schooling and learnt wrestling — long before it became a “VIP village” and a celebrity destination with the Saifai Mahotsav when the SP was in power, and Mulayam the Chief Minister. 🔴 When kar sevaks gathered in Ayodhya in October 1990 and tried to climb onto the disputed Babri Masjid, Yadav directed his police to open fire. He appealed to Muslims to keep faith in the government. Mulayam’s government collapsed soon after. But for the Muslim community that found itself pushed to the sidelines, the Samajwadi Party became their go-to party. 
His supporters in Saifai, where the cremation will be held on Tuesday. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav) Only in the Express
In our opinion section today, Badri Narayan writes on Mulayam Singh Yadav’s legacy: “Mulayam had the great human quality of loyalty and his compassion influenced his politics as well as the national political scene.” From the Front Page
With differences persisting in the Supreme Court Collegium over the method of finalising four names for elevation to the top court and the Centre in the meanwhile asking Chief Justice of India U U Lalit to name his successor, the Collegium has decided to “close” further steps in regard to the “unfinished” elevation move. India Monday said that it was “deeply concerned” at the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. The remarks came within hours of Russia firing cruise missiles which hit Ukrainian cities, killing at least 11 people. This is one of the most prompt and sharp statements made by New Delhi, after Prime Minister Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “today’s era is not an era of war”. In new videos from the ‘Virat Hindu Sabha’ organised by various Hindu organisations, BJP Loni MLA Nand Kishor Gurjar appears to acknowledge that he was involved in the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots. When contacted, however, he claimed he was speaking about the violence in Loni, Ghaziabad. Several VHP and BJP leaders attended the event, where speeches were allegedly made against the Muslim community. Must Read
The ECI Monday decided to allot the ‘flaming torch’ symbol to the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena. While the flaming torch symbols opens a new chapter in the history of the party, the Sena already has a history with the newly-allotted symbol, having won an election on the flaming torch logo way back in 1985 when the party did not have a dedicated election symbol. Only two Indian banks – Uco Bank and Yes Bank – have opened special Vostro accounts so far, though it has been nearly three months since the RBI put in place a mechanism to settle international trade in rupees. Other Indian banks, including the SBI, are yet to initiate the process amid fears that any financial transaction with Russia may attract sanctions from the US. And Finally...
Bengaluru, Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Coonoor would have been teeming with competitive examination centres all these years. But in a pilot tournament, in which more than 80 pairs participated, a multi-city online centre meet was conducted as ‘Hybrid Bridge’, to a fairly successful level. The Indian Express takes a look at how Indian bridge is tackling cheating concerns with ‘hybrid’ meets. Delhi Confidential: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has posted a video on Twitter, in which the 50-year-old MP is seen perfectly executing a ‘rainbow flick’, a move where a football player steps to the side of the ball and flicks it up overhead. Rijiju went on to nominate badminton star PV Sindhu and actor Akshay Kumar to join the campaign. Going by his show of skills, it won’t be an easy act to follow. In today’s episode of the ‘3 things’ podcast, we discuss about the AAP being targeted by the BJP over a religious conversion event in Delhi, an Uttar Pradesh gangrape case, and the demise of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Until tomorrow,
Anandu Suresh and Rahel Philipose 
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