Indian Politicians Argue over Casino Resorts in Goa

Goa’s government should decide whether casinos are part of Indian culture, AAP members think.

Tension is rising in India, as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Goa confronted their political rivals from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on several pressing matters, including Indian gambling laws and the development of the state’s casino industry.

While BJP is organizing a rally for its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on January 12, representatives of the AAP say the party should be focusing on Goa’s key issues, instead of its political campaign. Among them are the state’s casino industry, illegal mining and recent real estate scandals.

Casinos, part of Indian culture?

In a statement published in local gambling news, opponents of the government coalition asked: “When the Goa government proposes to prohibit entry for Goans into casinos on the grounds that gambling is a vice, is it not anti-national for the BJP to encourage the rest of Indians to be addicted to casinos?”

Modi and his political party have been asked to take a good look at the gambling industry and decide whether they consider casinos to be a part of “Indian culture”. Earlier this month, AAP member Oscar Rebello said: “We will be against casinos. The way in which Goa is projected as a Las Vegas is something sad and distressing.”

Currently, gambling is forbidden in most part of the country, but casinos are still allowed in Goa and Sikkim.