CHENNAI: Lok Sabha MPs of the DMK and Congress staged a walkout from Parliament on Thursday after the speaker of the house denied them permission to raise the issue of the Tamil Nadu governor’s delay in assenting to the Bill banning online gambling.
During the zero hour of the Parliament session, DMK parliamentary party leader TR Baalu renewed his party’s demand for the recall of Governor RN Ravi since the latter has delayed granting his assent to many Bills passed by the Assembly, including the one to ban online gambling.
He added that more than 30 people have ended their lives due to gambling, and despite many requests, the governor has been delaying his assent to the Bill. However, Speaker Om Birla denied permission to raise the issue, and the DMK MPs staged a walkout. Later, Congress MPs staged a walkout over the same demand.
Speaking to reporters later in New Delhi, Baalu said the governor has not assented to 23 Bills passed in the Assembly. As for banning online gambling, the governor approved an ordinance but not the Bill. Baalu charged that this is tantamount to the governor encouraging online gambling, and alleged that Ravi had described online gambling as ‘games of skill’.
The DMK parliamentary party leader further highlighted that even the United States has a law named ‘Federal Wire Act-1961’, prohibiting certain types of betting. Baalu asserted that the union government should appoint people with basic knowledge of the Constitution as Governors. Their duty should only be to monitor whether the state government’s activities are in line with the Constitution, he said, adding that the governor should be recalled for disrupting the functioning of the state government.