Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) workers staged a protest against Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi after he sent back the Bill to prohibit online gambling games in the state on Thursday.
According to ANI, “Chennai, Tamil Nadu | Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) workers protest against Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi after he sent back the bill to prohibit online gambling and online games in the State.”
TPDK chief Anoor Jagadeeshan said, “So far 42 people have died by suicide because of online rummy. The Governor is responsible, as a mark of tokenism we have collected sample ashes of 4 people who died and will send this via post to Raj Bhavan.”
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi returned Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill on March 8. The Governor returned the Bill passed by the Assembly on October 19 reportedly by citing 'no legislative competence' as the reason.
The Bill was passed based on the recommendation of a committee headed by Justice K. Chandru (retd.). However, the Bill was pending with the Governor since October 2022. In November 2022, Governor wrote to the state Legal Affairs Department seeking clarification on the bill. A delegation of DMK leaders met the Governor to provide clarification and also sought his assent for the Bill. However, the Bill was returned by RN Ravi.
After the move of the Governor, TN Speaker as per IANS said, "I don't know what Law Governor is using to say that the Assembly doesn't have the power to ban online Rummy. The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly has the power to enact the Online Rummy Prohibition Act. I think he should have used the right words."