Feature
Shatrughan Sinha missing in BJP’s Bihar campaigning
Patna: One of the BJP’s 40 star campaigners, Bollywood actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha is missing from the hectic campaigning unleashed by his party for the Bihar assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentarian from Patna Saheb – popularly known as ‘Bihari Babu’ and ‘Shotgun’ – has so far not addressed even a single rally in poll-bound Bihar, giving credence to speculations that he is unhappy with the BJP top leadership for sidelining him for over a year.
Sinha’s name was at number 30 in the BJP’s list of star campaigners submitted to the Election Commission and it was expected that he would be canvassing votes for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
“Shatrughan Sinha is not likely to campaign for the BJP during the Bihar assembly polls. He has not visited Bihar ever since campaigning was launched in the state last month,” a BJP leader considered close to the Bollywood star said.
However, he said Sinha was not unhappy for being sidelined or not included in the union cabinet, but was feeling hurt over the fact that he no more got respect in the party.
Interestingly, others who have so far kept away from the BJP’s campaigning are party veterans L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, though their names too figure in the party list of star campaigners.
Theatre activist Jai Prakash recalled that in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections or state assembly polls in 2010, Shatrughan Sinha was a star campaigner for the BJP to woo the youth.
“After all, he is a star in his own right. He also helped the BJP in several elections. But now, Shatrughan Sinha is upset over being ignored and sidelined within the party after Narendra Modi became the prime minister and Amit Shah the party president,” he said.
In fact, the Bollywood star was not even invited to a BJP rally in Patna in April, or for that matter to the Modi rally in Muzaffarpur at which the party campaign was kicked off in July.
Old timers who have kept a close watch on the political developments in Bihar in the past three decades pointed out that Sinha was known for his free and frank talk that sometimes embarrassed his party and sometimes he even went against the official party line.
However, Shatrughan Sinha managed to get out of tricky situations due to his closeness to Advani. After Advani virtually lost his say in the BJP, Shatrughan Sinha’s habit of straight talk cost him politically and he was sidelined. It angered him.
Buzz in political circles here is that the BJP would act against a defiant Shatrughan Sinha once the Bihar assembly polls are over.
BJP sources said Sinha’s repeated statements in support of Janata Dal-United leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his meetings with the latter did not go down well with the party brass. Sinha even described Nitish Kumar as the country’s best chief minister and a guardian of Bihar.
He also praised and met Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad. “The BJP has taken all this seriously as our fight is against Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad ever since they joined hands. How can the party tolerate its own senior leader praising rivals in public,” asked a BJP leader.
Shatughan Sinha also backed the BJP’s Lok Sabha member from Ara, R.K. Singh, who alleged that the party “sold tickets” to tainted and criminal candidates for the Bihar polls.
Sinha has time and again reminded party leaders that he joined the BJP in 1984 at the height of his film career and when the party had only two members in the Lok Sabha.
Although Sinha has been maintaining that he is a loyal BJP worker, sources said he may shift loyalty to Nitish Kumar’s JD-U after the Bihar polls.
The State Scores Extra High on Gaming-Friendly Industry Index
Meghalaya scored 92.85 out of 100 possible points in a Gaming Industry Index and proved to be India’s most gaming-friendly state following its recent profound legislation changes over the field allowing land-based and online gaming, including games of chance, under a licensing regime.
The index by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) uses a scale of 0 to 100 to measure the level of legalisation on gambling and betting achieved by a state based on the scores over a set of seven different games – lottery, horse racing, betting on sports, poker, rummy, casino and fantasy sports
Starting from February last year, Meghalaya became the third state in India’s northeast to legalise gambling and betting after Sikkim and Nagaland. After consultations with the UKIBC, the state proceeded with the adoption of the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Act, 2021 and the nullification of the Meghalaya Prevention of Gambling Act, 1970. Subsequently in December, the Meghalaya Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021 were notified and came into force.
All for the Tourists
The move to legalise and license various forms of offline and online betting and gambling in Meghalaya is aimed at boosting tourism and creating jobs, and altogether raising taxation revenues for the northeastern state. At the same time, the opportunities to bet and gamble legally will be reserved only for tourists and visitors.
“We came out with a Gaming Act and subsequently framed the Regulation of Gaming Rules, 2021. The government will accordingly issue licenses to operate games of skill and chance, both online and offline,” said James P. K. Sangma, Meghalaya State Law and Taxation Minister speaking in the capital city of Shillong. “But the legalized gambling and gaming will only be for tourists and not residents of Meghalaya,” he continued.
To be allowed to play, tourists and people visiting the state for work or business purposes will have to prove their non-resident status by presenting appropriate documents, in a process similar to a bank KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure.
Meghalaya Reaches Out to a Vast Market
With 140 millions of people in India estimated to bet regularly on sports, and a total of 370 million desi bettors around prominent sporting events, as per data from one of the latest reports by Esse N Videri, Meghalaya is set to reach out and take a piece of a vast market.
Estimates on the financial value of India’s sports betting market, combined across all types of offline channels and online sports and cricket predictions and betting platforms, speak about amounts between $130 and $150 billion (roughly between ₹9.7 and ₹11.5 lakh crore).
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi are shown to deliver the highest number of bettors and Meghalaya can count on substantial tourists flow from their betting circles. The sports betting communities of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana are also not to be underestimated.
Among the sports, cricket is most popular, registering 68 percent of the total bet count analyzed by Esse N Videri. Football takes second position with 11 percent of the bets, followed by betting on FIFA at 7 percent and on eCricket at 5 percent. The last position in the Top 5 of popular sports for betting in India is taken by tennis with 3 percent of the bet count.
Local Citizens will Still have Their Teer Betting
Meghalaya residents will still be permitted to participate in teer betting over arrow-shooting results. Teer is a traditional method of gambling, somewhat similar to a lottery draw, and held under the rules of the Meghalaya Regulation of the Game of Arrow Shooting and the Sale of Teer Tickets Act, 2018.
Teer includes bettors wagering on the number of arrows that reach the target which is placed about 50 meters away from a team of 20 archers positioned in a semicircle.
The archers shoot volleys of arrows at the target for ten minutes, and players place their bets choosing a number between 0 and 99 trying to guess the last two digits of the number of arrows that successfully pierce the target.
If, for example, the number of hits is 256, anyone who has bet on 56 wins an amount eight times bigger than their wager.
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