KOCHI l wednesday l January 21, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE city EDITION SC slams Maneka Gandhi’s critique of stray dogs order The Supreme Court on Tuesday lambasted former Union minister Maneka Gandhi for calling the order on stray dogs ‘impractical’ not initiating contempt proceedings: sc sc flags disregard of its norms on strays A bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N V Anjaria said Maneka made “all kinds of comments” without thinking, but added it is not initiating contempt proceedings because of the court’s magnanimity. Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, for Menaka, said his client’s words are not contempt as politicians do make statements ■ The Supreme Court was hearing several petitions seeking modification of its Nov 7, 2025 order directing the authorities to remove stray animals from the institutional areas and roads ■ The bench also flagged concerns over the non-implementation of norms on stray animals for the last five years Jan 28 is when the supreme court will hear the matter next 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 India’s Bangladesh mission now a non-family posting Party rein in Nabin hands Markets in red over Greenland Terrible Tuesday: Sensex dives to lowest in 3 months, wipes off C10L cr of investor wealth J aya nth J a c o b @ New Delhi Arsh a d K h a n @ New Delhi India has designated its diplomatic mission in Bangladesh as a non-family posting for the time being, citing security concerns. As a precautionary measure, dependents of the Indian Mission and Post officials have been advised to return to India, while all diplomatic missions and posts in Bangladesh remain open and fully operational, sources said. The decision reflects New Delhi’s assessment of the prevailing security environment following months of political instability and rising tensions over the treatment of minority communities. Sources described the move as precautionary taken in view of evolving ground , conditions. Bangladesh is preparing to hold its first national election since the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government was ousted in a violent, student-led protest in August 2024. Election campaigning is scheduled to begin on January 22, with authorities promising strict security arrangements. However, the period leading up to the polls has been marked by sporadic violence, contributing to concerns among foreign governments and diplomatic missions. The safety of minority communities has emerged as a key issue in India’s engagement with Dhaka.India’s decision to shift its mission to a non-family posting signals that it views the current situation as sufficient enough to warrant added caution. THE fortune of Indian equity market, it appears, is firmly tied to the vagaries of US president Donald Trump. He seems to be the biggest ‘cue’ the domestic equity market is paying heed to as `10 lakh crore worth of investors’ wealth was wiped out on Tuesday amid US’ deepening standoff with Europe over Greenland. The stock market fell sharply on Tuesday, with benchmark NSE Nifty nosediving to its lowest level in three months and experiencing its biggest singleday fall since April 2025. The NSE Nifty settled 353 points or 1.38% lower at 25,232.50 while the BSE Sensex tumbled 1,066 points or 1.28% to close at 18 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the newly elected BJP president Nitin Nabin at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday. A five-time MLA from Bihar, Nabin, 45, was declared elected unopposed, becoming the youngest ever in BJP to occupy the top post. “BJP is the only party where it is not necessary to belong to any particular family to hold major positions,” Nabin said. Soon after taking over from J P Nadda, he sought to set the tone for the upcoming state polls targeting opposition parties on a range of issues including the “changing demographics” | Sayantan Ghosh | p9 CM Pinarayi Vijayan receives Governor Rajendra Arlekar when he arrived at the assembly for policy address | Vincent Pulickal K S S R E E J I T H @ T’Puram Apparently sensing trouble amid rumours doing the rounds that it would be holding the reins, though tacitly if the UDF , is voted to power, the IUML — a key constituent of the front — has decided not to seek more seats than last time in the up- Governor R N Ravi walks out of Tamil Nadu assembly on Tuesday without delivering customary address | Express Pinarayi flags omissions In TN, guv Ravi refuses to by guv in policy address deliver customary speech E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ T’Puram T M u r u g a n a n d h a m @ Chennai Governor Rajendra Arlekar on Tuesday omitted and amended certain portions of his policy address approved by the cabinet, triggering another round of confrontation with the state government. Soon after seeing off Arlekar from the House, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in an unusual move, raised objections over the omissions and alterations made by the governor in the policy address, which marked the commencement of the final session of the 15th Legislative Assembly . Reading out the portions omitted and modified by the governor, the CM drew attention to the mismatch between the cabinet-approved text and what was actually delivered. He also urged the Speaker to rule that the policy address approved by the cabinet, in accordance with constitutional principles, would prevail. However, sources close to the governor said Arlekar had read out an amended version of the address to which the government had earlier given its concurrence but backtracked later. The CM was provoked by the governor’s decision to omit a passage critical of the Union government. The missing line stated: “Despite these social and institutional achievements, Kerala continues to face severe fiscal stress arising from a series of adverse Union government actions that undermine the constitution● More on P7 al principles of fiscal federalism.”  For the third consecutive year, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi’s annual customary inaugural address to the assembly became a flashpoint, with the governor once again refusing to read the speech prepared by the state. He left the House abruptly, declining to deliver the speech, alleging insult to national anthem and unsubstantiated claims in the state-prepared text. Minutes after the walkout, the governor’s office released a statement listing out 13 reasons as to why he had declined to read out the prepared speech. The statement from the Lok Bhavan, among other things, alleged that the governor’s microphone was switched off repeatedly and the national anthem was insulted by not being rendered at the beginning of the session (Thamizh Thaai Vaazhthu was rendered first as conventionally done in the TN assembly). The other 11 reasons dealt with various alleged issues of concern in the state. The governor’s office alleged that the prepared speech was marked by unsubstantiated claims, particularly on investment inflows, with many MoUs remaining unrealised, severe stress on MSMEs, and growing discontent among lower-level employees over their unaddressed demands. “It ignored social concerns like rising crimes against women, rising Pocso cases, rampant drug abuse among youth leading to thousands of suicides and escalating atrocities against Dalits,” the Lok Bhavan’s statement said. Sabarimala case: ED to attach assets of accused In a major crackdown linked to large-scale misappropriation of temple assets at Sabarimala, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted simultaneous raids at 21 locations across Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu on Tuesday as part of its probe into the money laundering angle. The searches were connected to the allegations of illegal removal and processing of gold and other temple valuables. An ED officer said the RECORD TUMBLE 25,500 25,400 25,300 NSE Nifty 25,232.50 25,200 9.15 am 11 am BSE SenSEX 1 pm 3 pm 4 pm 82,180.47 83,000 82.500 82.000 9.15 am 11 am 1 pm 3 pm 4 pm era tariffs, with renewed uncertainty over US trade policy prolonging the recent consolidation. He added that continued FII outflows, rising US and Japanese bond yields, and a weakening rupee weighed on investor confidence. In the near term, market sentiment will hinge on the earn- ings season, while geopolitical developments and global trade conditions remain important influences, he said. The rupee ended at 90.98 per dollar, slightly weaker than Monday’s close of 90.91. In the broader market, the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 underperformed the frontline indices, falling by up to 3 per cent each. FIIs sold equities worth `2,192 crore on Tuesday mark, ing the 11th consecutive session of net outflows this month. In the Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index settled lower. Markets in Europe were trading over 1 per cent lower. Muslim League stunner: Not to seek more seats tale of two governors P R a m d a s @ Kochi 82,180. The sell-off was such that 48 stocks in the Nifty50 pack ended in the red and the market capitalisation of BSElisted fir ms came down to `455.76 lakh crore from `465.19 lakh crore. Investor sentiment across the globe has taken a hit over concerns related to US President Donald Trump proposing tariffs on countries opposing his bid to control Greenland and a subsequent pushback from Europe. This has revived fears of renewed global trade disruptions, prompting investors to exit equities. Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments said domestic markets remained cautious ahead of the US Supreme Court’s ruling on Trump- agency would proceed with the provisional attachment of properties belonging to the accused arrested in the case. The bank accounts of the accused would be frozen after the completion of searches. In Kerala, the raids were conducted at the devaswom offices at Sannidhanam, Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, and the houses of Unnikrishnan Potti (Thiruvananthapuram), former TDB presi- dent A Padmakumar (Aranmula), former devaswom board administrative officer Murari Babu (Changanassery), and former TDB chairman and commissioner N Vasu (Thiruvananthapuram). According to ED, documents, and digital records related to the loss of gold at Sabarimala and associated financial transactions were seized during the raids. Information regarding the accused persons’ links, financial dealings has ● More on P6 been collected.  coming Kerala assembly elections. Instead, the League will push for seats with higher winning chances, top party sources told TNIE. The party had contested 25 seats in the 2021 assembly elections and won 15. “We are now focus- ing on winnability. We are reviewing each seat and seeking to swap constituencies we have been losing repeatedly with other UDF partners, including the Congress, where they have better prospects. Conversely, in seats where our partners have been losing consistently and we have a stronger chance, we would like to contest,” a senior leader said. In the first round of deliberations that began on Tuesday, the Congress and the League agreed to to assess the winnability of seats they won and lost in the last election.  ● More on P6