PEEPLI KHERA, India — On my last weekin India, I went to say goodbye to JahiruddinMewati, the chief of a small village where I hadmade a dozen reporting trips.
Jahiruddin and I were not precisely friends,but we had spent many hours talking over theyears, mostly about local politics. I found himentirely without scruples but candid. He sus-pected my motives but found me entertaining,in the way that a talking dog might be enter-taining, without regard for the particulars ofwhat I said.
Jahiruddin, though uneducated, was anadept politician, fresh from winning a hard-fought local election. During our conversa-tions, he would often break into rousing, patri-otic speeches about truth and justice, thump-ing the plastic table in emphasis and making itjump. The effect was somewhat tarnished byhis Tourette’s syndrome, which caused him tointerject the word “penis” at regular intervals.
He was frank about the dirty aspects of hisjob. He occupied a post reserved for womenfrom lower castes, but no one pretended thiswas any more than a sham; his wife’s name ap-peared on the ballot, but the face on the posterwas his.
Nearly everything he did in local govern-ment was transactional, driven by the desire tosecure the votes of minuscule family and castegroups. The funny thing was, it seemed to beworking pretty well.
Among his pet constituencies was a commu-nity of former beggars, some of the poorestpeople I had met in India. I had visited these
people regularly over the past two years, andtheir lives had improved in striking ways — insome cases through Jahiruddin’s intervention.
He had persuaded — and by this I meanbribed — caste leaders to allow their women towork as day laborers, and their rising incomeswere apparent in new brick houses and well-nourished children. A new subsidy had pro-vided women with gas stoves, freeing themfrom the grinding task of scavenging for fire-wood. That shift struck me as quietly revolu-tionary, like the arrival of the contraceptive pill
How to Get Away With MurderIn India, With a Town Watching
By ELLEN BARRY
Jahiruddin Mewati, the elected leader ofthe village of Peepli Khera, who presidedover a particularly Indian form of justice.
A woman named Anjum, whose home near a water pump made her a source for gossipin Peepli Khera, said she saw a man bludgeon his wife in front of a dozen people.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREA BRUCE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page 10
C M Y K Nxxx,2017-08-20,A,001,Bs-4C,E2
He heaped praise on JaredKushner at a private gathering ofbankers and corporate executivesin December, congratulatingPresident Trump’s son-in-law onthe surprise election triumph.
He stood up again in May beforea group of corporate leaders onthe 39th floor of Citigroup’s officesto remind them of all the good theTrump administration could dofor the economy and the country.
And at a meeting on Mondaywith his employees, as Mr.
Trump’s support in corporateAmerica began to crumble overremarks about white nationalists,he condemned the violence inCharlottesville, Va., but not thepresident’s response to it. Byweek’s end, a rebellion among cor-porate leaders led to the disband-ing of business advisory councilsto the president.
Stephen A. Schwarzman, thechief executive of the private equi-ty giant Blackstone and the leaderof one of the councils, has not beenalone on Wall Street in his em-brace of the Trump presidency,
Deal With Saudis Underlines Benefits of Backing President
This article is by Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Ben Protess and Mi-chael Corkery.
Continued on Page 16
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Thebloody white supremacist rally inCharlottesville, Va., has thrustrace and history to the forefront ofthis year’s campaign for governorin Virginia, a tradition-boundstate whose identity has alwaysbeen rooted in a past that is asproud for some residents as it ispainful for others.
The gubernatorial race in thisswing state was already set to bethe next big test of the nation’spolitics, its results inevitably to beread as a harbinger for the 2018midterm elections and PresidentTrump’s fate. But the events lastweekend in one of its historicalcenters ensure that the nation’shighest-profile campaign this fallwill also be fought in part alongthe highly combustible lines of ra-cial politics.
With Mr. Trump defending Con-federate statues and his formertop strategist, Stephen K. Bannon,openly inviting Democrats to con-tinue focusing on the issue of re-moving monuments, the presi-dent will loom large over the com-monwealth in November.
It is a course that leaves bothparties somewhat discomfited,because of both Virginia’s bifur-cated demography and the cau-tious nature of the two candidates.
In the aftermath of last week-end’s violence, Lt. Gov. Ralph S.Northam, the Democratic nomi-nee for governor, has firmed uphis call to take down Confederate
Continued on Page 19
Charlottesville Raises Tension Of Key Election
Reshaping the Race forGovernor of Virginia
By JONATHAN MARTIN
A collection of images taken by WangQiuhang during China’s Cultural Revo-lution features a taboo subject at thattime: the photographer himself. PAGE 6
INTERNATIONAL 4-11
Selfies as an Act of DefianceAlaska will always be different from thelower 48, but its exceptionalism is fad-ing with improvements in communica-tions and transportation. PAGE 12
NATIONAL 12-19
Alaska Is (Less) DifferentAllan Dunlap’s credit was ruined afterWells Fargo made him pay for unneed-ed coverage. He says he’s still waitingfor the bank to make amends. PAGE 1
SUNDAY BUSINESS
Forced to Buy Car InsuranceOn the International Tennis Federa-tion’s Futures Tour, thousands play inrelative obscurity with little hope ofever joining the men’s elite. PAGE 1
SPORTSSUNDAY
Toiling on Tennis’s Lowest Rung Loudon Wainwright III PAGE 8
SUNDAY REVIEW
U(D547FD)v+%!&!/!=!_
For Parson Hicks, a health carefinance executive who supportsPresident Trump, this past weekhas felt a little like déjà vu. Mr.Trump says something. His oppo-nents howl and then predict, withcertainty, a point of no return.
The last time this happened, shesaid, was in October with the noto-rious “Access Hollywood” record-ing of Mr. Trump talking lewdlyabout women. His opponentswere sure he was finished. Hissupporters knew better.
“Let’s be honest, the people whoare currently outraged are thesame people who have always
been outraged,” said Ms. Hicks,35, a lifelong Republican who livesin Boston. “The media makes itseem like something has changed,when in reality nothing has.”
It was a week of incessant tu-mult, when Mr. Trump tumbledinto open warfare with some in hisown party over his statements onthe violence in Charlottesville,Va.; business executives aban-doned his advisory councils; topmilitary leaders pointedly madestatements denouncing racism ina way he did not; and his embat-tled chief strategist, Stephen K.
Trump’s Tumultuous Week?To Supporters, It Went Well
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Continued on Page 17
WASHINGTON — In his WestWing office, Stephen K. Bannonkept a chart listing trade actions— on China, steel and autos —that the Trump White House
planned to roll out,week by week,through the fall.Now that Mr. Ban-non, the president’s
chief strategist, has been pushedout, the question is whether hisagenda will be erased along withhim.
It is not just trade: Mr. Bannonhas had a strong voice on issuesfrom climate change and Chinato immigration and the war inAfghanistan. He has been anunyielding advocate for a viscer-al brand of nationalism, andthough he lost as often as he wonin policy debates, his departurecould tip the balance on somefiercely contested issues towarda more mainstream approach,even if the core tenets of hisphilosophy survive.
Mr. Bannon’s dormlike officefunctioned as a sort of commandcenter for the administration’snationalist wing. He met therewith a coterie of mostly young,like-minded colleagues, planningstrategy and plotting againstfoes, from Lt. Gen. H. R. McMas-ter, the national security adviser,to Gary D. Cohn, the director ofthe National Economic Council.
Bannon’s Out,But His IdeasMight Not Be
Influential on Tradeand Foreign Policy
By MARK LANDLERand MAGGIE HABERMAN
Continued on Page 19
NEWSANALYSIS
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
Thousands of counterprotesters took to the streets Saturday as the city feared that a planned “free speech” rally would become ahaven for white supremacists. The gatherings, a week after violence erupted in Charlottesville, Va., were largely peaceful. Page 13.
An Overpowering Display in Boston
For more than a decade, Spainseemed immune to the steadyeruptions of Islamist violence thatrocked other European countrieswhere radicalized young men, of-ten from poor immigrant back-grounds, carried out devastatingbomb, gun or vehicular attacks.
Spain’s security forces carvedout a reputation as some of Eu-rope’s most dogged counterter-rorism operators, fighting an in-tense battle beneath a deceptivelyplacid surface in a country whoselong Mediterranean coastline,just across from Morocco, makesit an inviting entry point into Eu-rope for jihadists.
But the illusion of a Spanish ha-ven was shattered Thursdaywhen a van swerved down LasRamblas, Barcelona’s famous pe-destrian boulevard, leaving be-hind a trail of bodies including 13dead and about 100 injured. An-other person was killed in a sec-ond attack at a nearby seaside re-sort that ended when the policeshot dead five suspects.
Now, the authorities are rush-ing to answer how a group that in-cluded teenagers was able tocarry out a well-planned and co-ordinated attack in a country thathas parried danger for so long, de-spite being such a tempting andsymbolic target for Islamists.
“For the jihadis, Spain is stillvery much a front-line country,”said Bruce Hoffman, a George-town University professor whohas advised the American govern-ment on terrorism.
Since 2004, when a series ofbombs ripped through commutertrains in Madrid, killing 192 peo-ple, Spain has foiled a long list ofIslamist plots — not least in thecoastal area around Barcelonawhere Thursday’s attacks tookplace.
Over 700 suspected of extre-mism have been arrested since2004, according to the InteriorMinistry. They include Pakistanisplotting suicide attacks on theBarcelona subway in 2008; a ter-rorist cell in Melilla, Spain’s terri-tory in North Africa; and nine,mostly Moroccan, men arrested in
Spain, Adept In Terror Fight, Still Fell Victim
This article is by Declan Walsh,Raphael Minder, Eric Schmitt andRukmini Callimachi.
Continued on Page 9
TRUMPS TO SKIP TRIBUTE The president and first lady will miss theKennedy Center Honors to prevent “any political distraction.” PAGE 17
Late Edition
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