Karnataka BJP MLA Suresh Kumar urges Finance Minister to ban marketing of online gaming companies
Bengaluru, (PTI): Deploring that young minds are falling prey to gambling and going astray, former Karnataka minister and senior BJP legislator Suresh Kumar has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman requesting her to take immediate steps to ban advertising, marketing, and texting by online gaming companies.
He pointed out that there are a number of reports from the police across the country highlighting people losing money in online gambling and ruining their lives. Also, there have been reports about indebted people taking the extreme step of ending their lives, unable to survive the trauma and repay debts, Kumar added.
"As a lawmaker representing Rajajinagar Assembly Constituency in Bengaluru, Karnataka, I am in receipt of verbal complaints from several friends and parents of residents from my own constituency as well as from other parts of Bengaluru that they have been getting both text messages on their mobile phones and unsolicited marketing calls trying to entice/force them to play online rummy by betting their money," Kumar said.
In a letter dated December 8, he said, as part of their marketing strategy, the companies offer a 'welcome bonus' of thousands of rupees to lure people and get them to become addicts of the game.
Some people even told him that blocking these numbers has been of no use as these messages and calls come from a new set of numbers, the MLA said, adding that "online gambling, as we know, is like liquor and cigarettes".
"Though the consumption of liquor and cigarettes is allowed under the law, their manufacturers are expressly prohibited from advertising and marketing them, and even our GST regime treats them as demerit goods. The government imposes steep taxation on them to discourage people from consuming them," he added.
Further noting that governments also have separate funds and have been running campaigns to discourage people from smoking cigarettes and drinking liquor, Kumar said the Supreme Court too has laid down tough measures to prevent selling of tobacco or cigarettes near educational institutions.
"I am of the strong view that the same regulations should apply to online games involving money. I am aware courts have upheld the legal validity of online games of skill, but there is no bar on the government from prohibiting advertising/marketing/texting by online gaming companies to lure people into playing these games by betting money," he said.
Once into it, many people tend to become addicts and find it difficult to come out of its web, he said, adding that the pressing need for money may even drive them to commit acts of crime.
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Kejriwal resorting to 'vendetta politics', says BJP after MP Sandeep Pathak booked
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Saturday accused Aam Aadmi Party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal of vendetta politics after Punjab Police booked Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, who recently defected to the BJP.
In an X post, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that Kejriwal is misusing the Punjab Police to settle political scores, and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has become a party to it.
"Two FIRs have been filed against Sandeep Pathak, who until recently was in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary (organisation). What is baffling is the shameless, brazen vendetta politics being pursued by Arvind Kejriwal, with Bhagwant Mann complicit in it," Poonawalla said.
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"It is clear this has been done out of vendetta politics by Kejriwal, who is extremely vengeful and vindictive, and misuses the Punjab Police to pursue such political vendetta," he alleged.
Questioning the timing of the FIRs, Poonawalla said, "If these cases existed from the beginning, why were FIRs not filed earlier? If he was corrupt, why was he kept in the party for so long, especially when he was the general secretary (organisation)? Has any new material surfaced in the last few days, or has the alleged corruption occurred only now?"
He alleged that Kejriwal has an "old habit" of targeting political opponents and dissenters.
"We have seen how he has used the police against rivals, including Congress leaders. This is his old habit," Poonawalla said, referring to the withdrawal of Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh's security.
Poonawalla claimed that several leaders who had left AAP over the years, including Yogendra Yadav, Mayank Gandhi, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh and Alka Lamba, were "hounded".
He accused the party of failing to introspect.
"Instead of introspecting on how they have changed -- from Anna to Lalu, from Lokpal to corruption -- they are indulging in vendetta politics, trying to victimise people using the strong arm of the law. This reflects an Emergency-like mindset and a dictatorial, Hitlerian mindset," he said.
According to sources, two FIRs have been lodged against Pathak under non-bailable sections.
No further details about the FIRs have been disclosed yet.
On April 24, the AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs quit, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal's party has strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
Of the seven MPs -- who were Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- six were from Punjab.
Later, Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan officially accepted their merger with the BJP, reducing AAP's strength in the Upper House to three.
