chennai l saturday l december 20, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 22 l late city EDITION donald Trump suspends green card lottery programme VISA The the US President blamed the green card lottery programme for allowing the Brown University shootings suspect to enter the US move is certain to invite legal challenge The diversity visa programme makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year to people from countries with little representation in the US. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move will invite legal challenges. The decision comes after it was found that the shooting suspect, had used the visa to enter the US. He hailed from Portugal ■ 20 mn in keeping with anti-immigrant stance ■ Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. While pursuing deportation, Trump had sought to limit avenues to legal immigration Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Friday she is asking the US Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the programme. “This heinous individual should never have been allowed in US” | P15 people applied for the 2025 GREEN CARD visa lottery CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI 97,37,831 electorate dips from 6.41 cr to 5.43 cr, missing voters can approach BLOs, EROs Yunus admin shaken Media offices torched in Dhaka; Hindu youth lynched in Mymensingh; Indian mission in Chattogram attacked J AYAN T H J ACO B @ New Delhi Bangladesh has slipped into one of its most volatile moments since the 2024 students-led uprising, with political violence, attacks on the press, and the brutal lynching of a Hindu minority man pushing the country closer to the brink ahead of the national elections set for February 12, 2026. Tensions soared on Thursday night after news broke about the death of Sharif Osman Hadi, a prominent leader of the July uprising and a candidate in the upcoming elections. Hadi died in a Singapore hospital, six days after he was shot in the head by masked assailants in Dhaka. In protest, hundreds of mostly young protesters poured into the streets, setting fire to the offices of Prothom Alo, the country’s largest daily, and The Daily Star. Both dailies missed their print editions for the first time in their history Sources . said the papers may have been targeted for being seen as pro-Sheikh Hasina and pro-India, accusations they deny . In another incident on Thursday night, a Hindu man was lynched in Mymensingh city over alleged blasphemy . The victim, identified as 25-year-old Dipu Chandra Das, a factory worker, was beaten to death by a mob, hanged from a tree and later set on fire. Videos of the gruesome killing circulated HC stays order to light deepam in Dindigul dist E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Madurai The Madurai Bench of the Madras HC on Friday stayed an order passed by Justice GR Swaminathan on December 2, directing district authorities to permit Karthigai deepam celebrations on Mandu Karuppasamy temple in Dindigul, which had been closed a year ago due to disputes between Hindus and Christians in the locality . A division bench of Justices G Jayachandran and KK Ramakrishnan passed the interim order on two separate appeals filed against the order by the district authorities and R Savarimuthu, a member of the local Christian community The aforesaid temple, which is lo. cated on 12.5 cent poramboke land near a Kaliamman temple, was closed last year due to communal disputes. Nearly 21 FIRs, including a murder case, were pending in connection with the issue. However, following a petition filed by V Sithan Balraj seeking to reopen the temple and permit Karthigai deepam celebrations, Justice GR Swaminathan had observed that mere registration of criminal cases alone cannot come in the way of courts from granting reliefs when rights are involved.  P7 widely on social media, fuelling fear. The spiralling violence has further shaken the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, which has already been under fire for failing to restore order since taking office in August 2024. The Yunus administration dismissed the attacks as the work of “a few fringe elements” and warned against mob violence. “We strongly and unequivocally condemn all acts of violence, intimidation, arson, and destruction of properties,” it said in a statement, adding: “At this critical hour, we call upon every citizen to honour Hadi by rejecting and resisting violence, incitement and hatred.” The interim government also condemned the attacks on the media, calling them “tantamount to an attack on free media” and a major obstacle to democratic progress. As for the lynching of the Hindu youth, it said “the perpetrators of this heinous crime will not be spared.” The unrest has not been confined to Dhaka. Protesters vandalised the already demolished structure of 32 Dhanmondi, the former home of Bangladesh’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and hurled bricks and stones at the residence of the Assistant Indian High Commissioner in Chattogram. Police responded with tear gas and baton charges, detaining 12 protesters.  P15 Known for anti-India stand Sharif Osman Hadi (pic) was a key figure in the July uprising. Known for his anti-India stand, he circulated some maps showing Indian areas as part of ‘Greater Bangladesh’ Salem 12% Tirupattur 11.7% Namakkal 13.2% Dharmapuri 6.3% Erode 16.3% Vellore 16.5% Krishnagiri 10.4% No one can stop the democratic progress through threat, terrorist activities or bloodshed —Muhammad Yunus We cannot help but take note of the govt’s relaxed attitude towards the security of news outlets — The Daily Star Following the September 27 Karur stampede, a draft SOP was framed by the state government with the consultation of recognised parties on holding political rallies and public meetings | P2 Chennai 35.6% Kallakurichi 7.3% Kancheepuram 19.6% Nilgiris 9.5% Chengalpattu 25.2% Coimbatore 20.2% Tiruvannamalai 11.9% Villupuram 10.6% Cuddalore 11.3% Tiruppur 23.1% Dindigul 16.8% Theni 11.1% Mayiladuthurai 9.6% Thanjavur 9.8% Virudhunagar 11.7% Karur Tenkasi 11% Tiruchy 14% 8.9% Perambalur 8.4% Nagapattinam 10.1% Ariyalur 4.6% Tirunelveli 15.1% Ramanathapuram 9.7% Thiruvarur 12% Kanniyakumari 9.6% Thoothukkudi 10.9% Madurai 13.9% <10%(Low) 10-12%(Moderate) 12-16% (High) Sivaganga 12.3% 16-20% (Very High) >20% (Extremely High) 15L names deleted in Chennai; 40% drop in 5 seats Chennai: Name of every third voter in Chennai is off, as the city saw a record deletion of nearly 15 lakh of 40 lakh voters (35.6%) in the draft electoral roll released after SIR. While five of 16 constituencies recorded over 40% drop, Anna Nagar saw highest deletions at 42.2%. Villivakkam (40.7%), Thousand Lights (40.7%), T Nagar (40.8%) and Velachery (40.2%), too, showed over 40% drop in voters’ count | P5 Learning Malayalam, Priyanka tells Modi at Speaker’s ‘chai pe charcha’ A light-hearted exchange over ‘Wayanad turmeric’ and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent Ethiopia visit figured in the friendly conversation between Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the PM at the customary tea hosted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday af, ter the conclusion of the Winter Session of Parliament. Priyanka, the Congress MP from Kerala’s Wayanad, is understood to have told Modi that she is learning Malayalam so that it helps while conversing with her constituents. She also asked the PM about his recent three-nation trip to Africa and the Middle East. Modi is learnt to have said that the impression many people have in India about Ethiopia is quite different from the actual position of that country which , is progressing very well socially and economically . The tea party is a customary meeting hosted by the Speaker with leaders of different parties after every session. The Opposition had stayed away from the meeting since the 2024 Monsoon Session alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at the tea party | PTI its members were not allowed to speak during debates. Congress sources said the party decided to attend it this time around following a decision by AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge. While the Opposition remains opposed to the bills, they felt the Chair was relatively fair during this session. This, they said, was in contrast to the previous session, when they were not allowed to speak. When SP leader Dharmendra Yadav observed that the Winter Session was one of the shortest, the PM told him in a friendly manner that it was good for his throat as he didn’t have to shout for too many days, inviting laughter from those present, sources said. RSP’s N K Premachandran too complained about the short session, with Speaker Birla reminding him that he had given him ample opportunities to speak on any subject. Priyanka joined in, saying that many MPs like her always look at Premachandran’s conduct in the House and try to learn various aspects of parliamentary proceedings, sources said. Those who attended the tea party included Manickam Tagore, Kumari Selja, Mohd Jawed, Supriya Sule, A Raja, Ram Mohan Naidu, Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Chirag Paswan. polarising juggernaut Dhurandhar past Baahubali, Dangal; eyes `1K cr-club Dhurandhar clings to the popular ideas of patriotism, slyly encouraging autocracy. That explains the brutal ‘pushback’ against the critics who panned it. When a movie is so linked with identity, any critique of the film appears like an attack on identity itself. Should we be so insecure about our identity that we allow a film to define it? Even these lines are blurring. Dhurandhar is just the tip of that iceberg. Tiruvallur 17.3% P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi notify sopTN hc sets jan-5 deadline for Link with identity Ranipet 13.7% 10 Student leader’s death roils B’desh voters is 2.77 crore, the male voter count is 2.66 crore. The A total of 97.37 lakh names total number of third-gender have been officially removed voters stands at 7,191, and the from the electoral rolls in Tamil number of voters with disabiliNadu after the enumeration ties is 4.19 lakh. phase of the Special Intensive The 70 lakh voters — whose Revision (SIR) under the cate- names have been deleted under gories of absent, shiftshifted, absent and ed, and dead as per the ECI’s roll call multiple entry categodata released on Friries — have another Before SIR: day The total number . chance of enrolling 6,41,14,587 of voters now stands at themselves during the 5,43,76,756, Chief Elecclaims and objections SIR draft roll: toral Officer Archana period, which began 5,43,76,756 Patnaik said. This is a on Friday and will go 15.2% drop from the on till January 18, 2026. previous count of 6.41 Names deleted: The list of shifted, ab97,37,831 crore voters. sent and dead voters Addressing a press will be available in the Absent / shifted: meet at state secretaripolling stations from 66,44,881 at, the CEO said the Saturday. The EROs Deceased: 26,94,672 number of voters who (Electoral Registration Duplicate entries: 3,98,278 have shifted and were Officers) will begin the found absent during process for seeking adthe three visits of Booth Level ditional documents from those Officers (BLOs) to the houses who could not prove their idenstood at 66.44 lakh. While the tity in the past SIRs. number of dead voters stood at The CEO said Shozinganal26.94 lakh, there were 3.98 lakh lur, Pallavaram and Alandur multiple entries, she said. constituencies have the maxiAs per the new draft roll, mum number of deletions (in while the number of female terms of absolute numbers). P7 T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai Percentage of drop in voters in all TN districts after the enumeration phase of the SIR i ta ot kk du Pu % A girl rescues books from a shop near the premises of the Prothom Alo daily newspaper in Dhaka | AP/PTI The fresh violence has shaken the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, which is facing criticism for failing to restore order in the country since taking office in August 2024 TN voters off electoral rolls across 38 districts after SIR voter count drops by 15% B H H a r s h @ Hyderabad At a time when most films struggle to go beyond a week or two in their theatrical run, Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar has done the seemingly impossible. After earning more than `200 crore in its first week, the film outdid those figures in week two. For small films that sometimes pick up gradually, it’s a great accomplishment. For a big money-g rosser like Dhurandhar, it is almost like spotting a shooting star. The film centred on an Indian intelligence operative (Ranveer Singh as Hamza Ali Mazari), who infiltrates Pakistan’s underworld, has been receiving rave reviews from celebs and fans, even if quite a few critics haven’t taken a shine to it. And the juggernaut is showing no signs of slowing down. After breaching the `500 crore mark in 10 days, Dhurand- har has earned over `700 crore globally and is well on track to , enter the `1,000 crore club. In its run so far, the film has comfortably crossed the domestic collections of landmark films like SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali, Rajinikanth’s 2.0, Aamir Khan’s Dangal, and Prabhas’ Salaar. There is a case to be made about the blurring lines between fact and fiction in Dhurandhar, with the disclaimer saying it is a work of fiction, but it includes audio and visuals from real-life incidents. On the surface, Dhurandhar probably works like a conventional gangster drama, and the apolitical audience members are enjoying it superficially . On the other hand, it frequently scrapes on our real wounds made by turbulent ties with Pakistan. This illusion is what has made the film and its responses a major talking point. Environmental responsibility part of CSR, says SC bench 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 Friday held that companies cannot claim to be socially responsible while disregarding the protection of wildlife and fragile ecosystems af fected by their operations. A two-judge bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar while hearing submissions in the long-running case on conservation of critically endangered Great Indian Bustard held that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) cannot be divorced from a company’s environmental responsibility “CSR funds are . not acts of philanthropy but instruments to discharge constitutional and fiduciary duties, particularly where corporate activities threaten endangered species,” the bench said. The case was filed in 2019 by environmentalist M K Ranjitsinh seeking urgent measures to prevent the extinction of the Great Indian Bustard, whose populations have declined due to habitat loss and collisions with overhead power lines in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Disposing of the writ petitions, the court ruled that survival of the Great Indian Bustard is non-negotiable, adding fir ms benefiting from natural landscapes must shoulder responsibility for conserving them.