Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, has told his supporters in a 17-minute YouTube speech that the people of Goa do not want casinos on their lands or their offshore vessels and only his Aam Aaadmi Party (AAP) have the kahunas to do anything about it.
Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal is not a fan of casinos.
During a 17-minute message recorded for ears of Goan voters, the 48-year old politician said that ‘everyone’ in Goa ‘wants to be rid of casinos’. Kejriwal then went on to say that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress failed to bring down the axe because of their ties to the casino industry.
“Only the AAP can stop casinos. It can stop the ruin of Goan culture,” Kejriwal said in a veiled fist pump for the party he launched in 2012.
Kejriwal’s attack on casinos in Goa comes a month after the AAP revealed plans to conduct a public survey on Goa’s casino industry. We will learn of the results sometime in the next few weeks.
Gambling is illegal in India except for lotteries and some horse racing. The only legal casinos exist in Goa, Sikkim and Daman and Diu. Law enforcement recently busted two illegal casinos in Delhi. Organisers built the makeshift casinos inside farmhouses. Officials arrested 46 people in the two raids.
The Indian Express carried out an investigation into the farmhouse casinos and revealed that one of them was opened by Vinit Dua, a 32-year old businessman who used to run a casino in Goa. The investigation identified Gulshan Arora as the second casino owner. It’s believed Arora did his coconuts playing casino games in Goa and created his illegal one in Delhi to recover his losses. The investigation also revealed that the pair drafted in female casino workers from Goa.
Goan Casinos can be legally established in five-star hotels and offshore vessels after going through a suitability process. There are currently five floating casinos in Goa. Only last month, reports suggested that Golden Globe Hotels Pvt Ltd could be handed a sixth license which has no doubt prompted the 17-minute diatribe from the chief of all things ministerial.
