Feature
After 24-years of 1995 Guest House Scandal, Mayawati shares stage with Mulayam
Mainpuri: Once arch rivals former Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati on Friday erased 24 years of bitter hostilities and shared the same platform in Mainpuri where the BSP President took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi while the Samajwdi Party patriarch declared that this will be his last election.
The two leaders sat side by side even as the crowds lustily cheered the alliance. Mulayam Singh Yadav introduced her to Samajwadi Party workers and asked them to touch her feet to show their respect.
In her speech, Mayawati said that Mulayam Singh Yadav was a genuine backward caste leader who had united various caste groups.
“He is not a fake (farzi) OBC leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi who claims to be a OBC leader but has done nothing for OBCs and Dalits,” she said.
Mayawati asked people to recognize the genuine leaders of their caste and ensure their victory.
“Ensure the victory of Mulayam Singh Yadav. His son Akhilesh Yadav is carrying forward his father’s legacy,” she added, referring to the other former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister who too later took on Modi.
In her speech, Mayawati said: “You must ensure a historic win for Mulayam Singh Yadav.”
She said that the ‘natakbazi’ of the Prime Minister on the ‘chowkidar’ issue would not have the desired impact on the voters now. She blasted the Modi government for betraying the people by making false promises, including giving Rs 15 lakh to all Indians.
She stated that if the SP-BSP-RLD alliance came to power, she would ensure financial assistance for the poor.
The BSP leader taunted the Prime Minister for terming the alliance as ‘Sarab’ and said that the BJP was intoxicated with power and had to be voted out.
She said that several questions were being raised about her party’s alliance with Samajwadi Party. “I have already explained that some decisions are taken in larger national interests. We have also done the same.”
Mayawati erased 24 years of bitter hostilities with Mulayam, share stage at Mainpuri:
Mayawati insisted that the Bharatiya Janata Party had fared poorly in the first two rounds of the staggered Lok Sabha elections and vowed to oust the Modi government.
Targeting the Congress too, the BSP leader called its NYAY scheme “a drama”.
“Congress remained in power at the Centre for over 60 years but they did not work and they were thrown out. And now to get votes of the poor they are promising money to them. This will also not get them votes.”
In his brief speech, Mulayam Singh Yadav welcomed the BSP leader and asked party workers to treat Mayawati with respect because she had come to campaign for him.
He also asked the people to ensure his victory with a greater majority than ever before.
“I am not going to speak much because you all have heard me many times,” he said.
He said this will be his last election and so urged the people to help him win with a record margin.
Akhilesh Yadav, speaking for himself and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, accused Modi of fooling the electorate. He said Modi presented himself as a ‘chaiwala’ in the 2014 Lok Sabha battle and was now calling himself a ‘chowkidar’.
The Samajwadi Party and the BSP first entered into an alliance in 1993 and formed a government in Uttar Pradesh.
After the 1995 State Guest House incident in which Mayawati and her supporters were held captive for almost 30 hours by Samajwadi Party leaders, the two parties had severed all ties.
Mayawati, after the Mulayam government was dismissed in Uttar Pradesh and she was ‘rescued’ from the Guest house, had sworn that she would never have any truck with the Samajwadi Party.
Later, she became Chief Minister with BJP support in 1995. The government lasted four months.
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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