Feature
Know when Atal Bihari Vajpayee offered his chair to L K Advani’s wife
Pune: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had displayed humility by offering his chair on a stage to the wife of his colleague L K Advani at the latter’s birthday at a hotel here in 1995, a hotelier recalled today.
The hotelier, Dattatreya Chitale, also recalled Vajpayee’s fondness for “Kanda Pohe”, the traditional Marathi breakfast, whenever he used to visit the hotel located on Apte Road in the city.
Chitale, the owner of hotel “Shreyas” which serves vegetarian ‘Puneri’ cuisine, said Vajpayee must have stayed at his hotel at least 15 to 16 times between 1980 and 1995.
He recalled that a three-day national executive meet of the BJP was organised at Arora Tower in Pune in November 1995.
BJP leaders, including Advani and Vajpayee, had come to Pune to attend that meet.
“Since the BJP had earlier organised their national executive meet at our hotel in 1984, I insisted that all the BJP functionaries should at least have one meal at our hotel.
Since Vajpayee always had penchant for our food, he readily consented and it was decided to have dinner on November 7, 1995, on the event of Advaniji’s birthday,” he recalled.
Chitale said after dinner, BJP leaders decided to celebrate Advani’s birthday at midnight when Vajpayee, who was declared as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP, was supposed to felicitate Advani.
“Two chairs were arranged on a small stage at the hotel as a makeshift arrangement, for Advani and Vajpayee.
Once former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee offered his chair to Kamla Advani:
“All BJP leaders gathered inside the hall and were expecting Advani and Vajpayee to occupy the chairs, Vajpayee did unthinkable,” Chitale said.
Vajpayee said he was not going to sit beside Advani and invited the latter’s wife Kamala Advani from the front row to come and sit beside her husband, according to Chitale.
Quoting Vajapyee, he said, “Today this chair belongs to Kamalaji”.
Recalling Vajpayee’s love for ‘Kande Pohe’, Chitale said the BJP patriarch had come to attend a programme in 1996 in a five-star hotel in Pune.
“Since he was a former prime minister (after NDA’s first stint ended in 13 days) he was accorded a high-level security. I went to the hotel with ‘Kande Pohe’ but was stopped by security personnel at the door of his room.
“While I was asking the security personnel to let Vajpayeeji know that Chitale has come with ‘Kande Pohe’, he yelled from inside and instructed the security personnel to allow me inside the room,” he recalled.
He said Vajpayee was also fond of Marathi theatre.
“Once after concluding a programme in Pune, we were returning to the hotel. While our car reached near famous Balgandharva auditorium, Vajpayee hurriedly enquired about the play being staged there and said lets go and watch it.
However, that could not happen as it was 11 pm,” Chitale recalled.
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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