FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | Wednesday, 31 December 2025 SPORTS WORLD EDITORIAL Saudi Arabia bombs Yemen port over weapons shipment NATION Alliance trouble: Athawale snub sparks rift in Mahayuti Editing the Future Page 6 Page 9 Page 4 Khaleda Zia dies, leaving behind a polarising legacy PM Modi pays tribute to former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia: New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed sorrow over the passing of Begum Khaleda Zia, the first woman Prime Minister of Bangladesh. In a post on X, PM Modi said: “Deeply saddened to learn about the passing away of former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in Dhaka. Our sincerest condolences to her family and all the people of Bangladesh. May the Almighty grant her family the fortitude to bear this tragic loss.” External affairs minister S Jaishankar will represent New Delhi at Zia’s funeral, scheduled for Wednesday. UNITED NEWS OF INDIA Dhaka, 30 December B egum Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s former prime minister and a controversial figure in the country’s turbulent political life for more than three decades, died on Tuesday after a prolonged illness. She was 80. Her son Tareque Rahman, who had gone into self-imposed exile to the UK, had returned on Christmas to contest elections and be at her bedside. Zia, who was chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), passed away at 6 a.m. at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka, where she had been undergoing treatment for the past five weeks. Begum Zia had been admitted to the hospital on 23 November with serious infections affecting her heart and lungs, party officials said. She was also suffering from pneumonia, and her condition had deteriorated steadily in recent days. Her funeral will be held at Dhaka’s Manik Mia Avenue on Wednesday. Her death marks the end of an era and is likely to aid her party in its electoral efforts as voter sympathy for the dead leader, whose husband, Gen Zia Ur Rahman, was a freedom fighter and former military ruler of the country, is expected to surge. Zia served thrice as prime minister, first from 1991 to 1996, along with a short-lived second stint in February 1996, and again from 2001 to 2006, becoming the country’s first woman to hold the office through a democratic election. Alongside her long-time rival, Sheikh Hasina, she dominated Bangladesh’s political landscape, their feud shaping the nation’s governance and street politics for decades. She left behind a country whose political contours she helped define, first as an unlikely symbol of resistance against military rule and later as a central actor in a fiercely adversarial, often unforgiving political arena. For much of her early life, she lived in the shadows of her army officer-turned-president husband who was assassinated in a failed coup in 1981. It was precisely that violent rupture, his death and the sudden leaderless drift of the party he had founded, that propelled Zia into the public arena. • Battle of Begums ends: Page 9 Indian sport’s 2025: Defining moments & a bigger dream Page 12 We will continue pursuing reform agenda in coming years: PM Modi STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 30 December Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday underscored the transformative reforms undertaken in 2025 that have set India firmly on the path of accelerated growth and development. The Prime Minister in a post on social media platform X said: “India has boarded the Reform Express!" "2025 witnessed pathbreaking reforms across various sectors which have added momentum to our growth journey. They will also enhance our efforts to build a Viksit Bharat," he said. The Prime Minister shared his thoughts through an article titled ‘2025 - The Year of Reforms’ which he posted on LinkedIn. “2025 will be remembered as a year for India when it focused on reforms as a continuous national mission, building on the ground covered over the past 11 years. We modernised institutions, simplified governance, and strengthened the foundations for long-term, inclusive growth," PM Modi said in his article. Highlighting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform, the Prime Minister said a clean two-slab structure of 5 per cent and 18 per cent has been implemented. He said the burden has been eased on households, MSMEs, farmers and labour-intensive sectors. "The purpose is to ensure dispute reduction and better compliance. This reform has boosted consumer sentiment and demand. Sales have grown in the festive season," PM Modi said. Describing labour reforms as ''historic'', the Prime Minister said Labour laws have been reshaped, merging 29 fragmented laws into four modern codes. He said India has created a labour framework that secures the interests of workers while boosting the business ecosystem. "The reforms focus on fair wages, timely payment of wages, smoother industrial relations, social security and safer workplaces. They ensure greater female participation in the workforce. Unorganised workers including contract workers are brought under the ESIC and EPFO expanding the coverage of the formal workforce," the Prime Minister said.