nagapattinam l sunday l december 21, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION Slain Bangladesh youth leader laid to rest amid tight security mohd Yunus, army chief attend funeral The funeral of Bangladesh youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi (pic) was held in Dhaka on Saturday, drawing large crowds amid extra-tight security 24-hour ultimatum to govt to arrest killers Bangladesh’s interim government head Muhammad Yunus and army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman attended the funeral of the leader of the radical right-wing cultural group ‘Inqilab Mancha’. A candidate in the February 12 general elections, Hadi was shot in the head by masked gunmen on December 12 and died while being treated in Singapore | p9 ■ ■ Tens of thousands attended the funeral procession. Hadi was buried at Dhaka University’s central mosque. Later, Inqilab Mancha issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the Yunus-led government to arrest his killers He was waging a campaign demanding Hasina’s return to Bangladesh to face death penalty after a special tribunal sentenced her to death 32-year-old Hadi was an outspoken critic of India 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 new balance as gill ‘Maha jungle raj’ in dropped, kishan in Bengal, says Modi t20 World cup team firoz mirza/gomesh s @ Chennai It was a story of two players. Ishan Kishan until Thursday was playing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy scoring runs for Jharkhand including a hundred in the final. Closer to the India team, Shubman Gill, who has had a forgettable T20I season, was the vice captain. Little did the two know that their fortunes would take different course on Saturday when the India team for the all-important T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka was announced. Kishan, who was out of favour for two years found his way back into the team. Of course, it was all because of his tremendous form in recent months. On the other hand, contrary to belief, newly-appointed captain of the Test and One-day teams, did not find a place in the 15 despite he being with the India set-up during the South Africa T20I series until Friday . If Kishan was a natural selection, there were murmurs about Gill’s exclusion. There were multiple indications that suggested Gill was not informed of the decision until Saturday. With pressure piling on Gill and captain Suryakumar Yadav for their lack of runs, team management seem to have decided to take the harsh decision for the World Cup. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that the call was taken to accommodate keeper-batter at the toporder. “At the end of the day , you are looking to see what are the best combinations or different options that you can get as a squad to give you the best chance of doing well in the World Cup. Whether it is decided today, yesterday, one week earlier, it doesn’t really matter. Hopefully, we get it right come the World Cup,” Agarkar said in Mumbai. For Kishan, even he could be back up for Sanju, call-up comes as a timely boost. After being dropped rather unceremoniously in late 2023 when he asked for a break due to mental fatigue, Kishan lost the central contract before going back to domestic cricket. He learnt to remain patient and calm. “Before every match in the SMAT, we used to have a video chat. It was more about mental things. Before the tournament started, I told him that this is his chance to impress the selectors. He not only did that but forced them to include him in the team,” Kish a n’s c o a c h U t t a m Mazumdar said.  P11 He’s a terrific player. It’s just that the situation is such that we need a keeper to back up the order — Captain Suryakumar Yadav on Gill Fire at BSNL building in Chennai affects call services in TN and AP E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai A major fire broke out on the second floor of the seven-storey BSNL telephone exchange building on Anna Salai on Saturday, disrupting telecommunication services and affecting emergency helplines. While no casualties were reported, the incident hit communication and online services to the police control room (100), ambulance service (108) and Tangedco’s online payment portals, within a 2-km radius. A BSNL spokesperson said that the fire incident impacted mobile voice and data services in Chennai, the rest of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and affected calls to other operators and emergency services. Voice and data services in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and the rest of Tamil Nadu have been restored, while services in Chennai have been partially restored and further work is under way the spokes, person added. Services to the DGP’s office, the Greater Chennai Police commissioner’s office and the Tangedco head office were also impacted, sources said. How- While the fire was contained to the second floor, smoke spread to the third, fourth and fifth floors | Martin Louis ever, emergency services were immediately restored while work is on to fix other affected services, said BSNL officials. According to official sources, the building houses key divisions, including the landline and SIM card distribution headquarters, marketing, account and billing sections. The incident came to light around 9.30 am when employees arriving for work noticed thick black smoke billowing from the building and alerted the fire and rescue services.  P5 Slams Congress in Guwahati for ‘defending infiltrators’ Sonia Gandhi vowed to fight against the ‘black law’ | PTI Hundreds of nurses working in government hospitals across Tamil Nadu continued their protest for the third day on Saturday in different districts, demanding the regularisation of jobs of around 8,000, who have been recruited on a contract basis by the Medical Services Recruitment Board (MRB) since 2015. The protests continued even as Health Minister Ma Subramanian claimed that the nurses had withdrawn their protests after talks. He reiterated that the government would regularise the employment of these nurses when vacancies The nurses continued their stir for the third day at the Kilambakkam bus terminus, to which they had been shifted, and later moved to Urapakkam | express arise, but there were no vacant positions at the moment. The nurses, who started their protest in Chennai on Thursday, continued their pro- test at the Kilambakkam bus terminus to which they had been shifted, and later moved to Urapakkam. On Saturday, nurses in various districts Infiltrators are blessed by the TMC. The ruling party is opposing SIR to save the infiltrators. You (TMC) give go back slogans against the infiltrators not against me People listening to Narendra Modi speaking virtually in Nadia district | PTI S U B HENDU MAITI & P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Kolkata/ Guwahati Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, likening it to Bihar’s past lawlessness and calling it a “maha jungle raj”. Virtually addressing a gathering at Taherpur in Nadia district, one of the Matua-dominated belts in the state, over phone from the Kolkata airport as his helicopter could not land there due to dense fog, Modi hit out at the alleged corruption, nepotism and politics of appeasement by the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state. “Because of the state government’s cut-money and commission culture, people of Bengal are being deprived of development schemes worth thousands of crores,” he alleged. Positive development in the state can happen if the BJP gets to form a double-engine government. “Give us chance to do so,” he urged the gathering. Citing the recent elections in Bihar, he said the massive win of the BJP-led NDA in the state will open the road for victory of the BJP in Bengal in the coming assembly polls, adding, “Maha jungle raj will come to an end with formation of BJP government in the state.” Modi was scheduled to inaugurate the 66.7-km four-laning of the Barajaguli–Krishnanagar section of NH-34 in Nadia district and lay the foundation stone for a 17.6-km four-laning of the Barasat–Barajaguli section in North 24 Parganas. In Guwahati, Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress for speaking up in defence of the “infiltrators” (illegal migrants) by criticising the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of poll rolls. Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the new terminal building of Lokpriya Gopinath Bardoloi International Airport in Guwahati, he said the government was working to stop infiltration and identify the infiltrators but the Congress and INDIA bloc openly adopt “anti-national agendas”. “The Supreme Court also spoke about removing the infiltrators but they (Opposition) are giving statements in defence of the infiltrators,” he alleged. “Such people will not protect Assamese interests. They will allow others to occupy your land and forests,” Modi warned. Narendra Modi Will serve Matuas, says PM “I assure every Matua and Namasudra family that we will always serve them. They are not here at the mercy of TMC,” Modi said. A section of the Matuas are upset as their names do not figure in West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls after SIR Govt bulldozed MGNREGA, says Sonia Gandhi P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi ACCUSING the Modi Government of bulldozing the MGNREGA, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday asserted that the party will fight against the “black law” that seeks to repeal the job scheme. Both Houses of Parliament passed the VB–G Ram G Bill on Thursday that seeks to replace the two-decades-old MGNREGA. The Opposition has urged the government to send the new bill to a standing committee saying that it’s a “conditional, centrally controlled scheme stacked against states and workers”. In a video message, Sonia Gandhi said the Centre has altered the structure of MGNREGA without any consultation, discussion or taking the Opposition into confidence, and even removed Mahatma Gandhi’s name, undermining the spirit and intent of the landmark legislation. “Twenty years ago, I fought to secure the right to employment for the poor. Today too, I am fully committed to this struggle,” she said. She alleged that decisions on who will get employment, where and how, will now be taken centrally from Delhi, ignoring ground realities and weakening the role of the gram panchayats. By weakening MGNREGA, the Modi government had attacked the interests of millions of farmers, labourers, and landless people, she said. “It is a matter of great regret that just recently, the government ran a bulldozer over MGNREGA,” the Congress leader said. Asserting that MGNREGA was never a party-centric initiative but a programme rooted in national and public interest, she said diluting the law amounts to an assault on crores of farmers, workers and landless rural poor. Speeding Rajdhani mows down herd of seven elephants in Assam district P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati THE Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express rammed into a herd of wild elephants in Assam in the early hours of Saturday, killing seven and injuring a calf in Assam’s Hojai district early Saturday . Five coaches of the train got derailed, but there were no human casualties. The accident occurred near a paddy field in the JamunamukhKampur section under Lumding Division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), about 126 km east of Guwahati. The train connects Mizoram’s Min says no vacancies, TN nurses continue stir S i n d u j a J a n e @ Chennai struggle to continue continued the protest. Subramanian said that while efforts were already under way to fill the 169 vacancies now, the jobs of other nurses will be regularised only when vacancies arise. However, the nurses said that the government has been creating infrastructure without a proportionate increase in posts, instead managing with temporary workers. G Sasikala, state president of the Tamil Nadu Nurses Development Association, said the government is exploiting the nurses without creating new posts but constructing new buildings and medical colleges.  P5 A dead jumbo at the accident site in Hojai district of Assam | PTI Sairang (near Aizawl) to the Anand Vihar Terminal in Delhi. NFR said passengers from affected coaches were shifted to vacant berths in other coaches. After detaching the affected coaches, the train proceeded to Guwahati. “The incident was outside an elephant corridor. The loco pilot applied emergency brakes, but the elephants collided with the train,” NFR said. Helpline numbers (03612731621/2731622/2731623) were activated as senior officials rushed to the site. Restoration work was underway, with several trains cancelled or shortterminated. Locals said one dead elephant was pregnant. Dulu Borah of Hati Bondhu, an NGO, said an early warning system could have averted the tragedy . e x p r ess r e a d CM inaugurates Porunai museum in Tirunelveli Weightage to citizens in Swachh survey Tirunelveli: CM M K Stalin on Saturday inaugurated the Porunai museum in Tirunelveli, showcasing artefacts unearthed from Adichanallur, Sivakalai and Korkai, during his two-day visit to the district. In a message, he said the museum was the next step in documenting Tamil civilisation | P4 NEW DELHI: The ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) has decided to give greater weightage to opinions of citizens in Swachh Survekshan. Starting this year, citizens will be able to share feedback round the year Vote For My City App and Portal, MyGov App, Swachhata App, and through QR codes WITH THIS ISSUE The dark underbelly of the sunshine state Go Goa Gone PLUS 12 P AGES in chennai 6 med students suspended for ragging juniors E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai Six final-year MBBS students of the Madras Medical College (MMC) were suspended on Saturday for allegedly ragging their juniors inside the men’s hostel. As per sources, a complaint was received from one of the junior students (from the 2022 batch) claiming he had suffered physical and mental abuse. A preliminary inquiry was conducted by a committee comprising Dr K Shantaraman, dean, MMC; Dr J Sreevidya, vice principal and Dr Senthilkumar, warden (men’s hostel) on December 15. Based on this, the six students were suspended until further orders. In the suspension order, the management said that it was evident from the preliminary inquiry that prima facie there was evidence that the six finalyear students called for a meeting of kabaddi players of the 2022-23 batch in a hostel room without the authorisation of the sports committee or warden between 9 pm on December 14 and 3 am the next day . As per the statement of the six seniors, about 20 juniors were asked to come to the room to discuss a kabaddi match. The order said the seniors did not have locus standi to call such a meeting at that time of the night. Allegedly a quarrel broke out between the two groups during the meeting.  P5