During a demonstration on Wednesday, All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) members threatened to lay siege to Raj Bhavan if their petitions asking the Governor to sign the bill outlawing online gambling were not received by the Governor’s office.

Members of the CPM women’s wing assembled near Saidapet court on Wednesday with the intention of marching towards Raj Bhavan to deliver the petition, which included more than a lakh signatures, to the Governor. However, they were stopped by the police who asked them to hand it over to the revenue division officer instead.

The group argued, “Will the Governor who did not give respect to the chief minister and State Assembly will respect the government official. If we want to give the petition to the RDO, shouldn’t we given it in the districts?”

R Radhika, the state general secretary of AIDWA, requested that the police make arrangements for delivering the petition to the Governor or his officials. Speaking to the reporters, Radhika said, as quoted by DT Next, “We have sent emails and registered posts seeking appointments to hand over the petition reflecting the sentiment of the state people over the online game issue. But we did not get any response.”

She also argued that youngsters are becoming addicted to online gambling which is leading to deaths but the Governor is unfazed by such news. She added, “If the Governor or his officials did not receive the petition in a specified time period, we will lay siege to Raj Bhavan.”

The petition was filed in view of the Governor’s delay in granting assent to the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Bill, 2022. Several members belonging to different political parties have also raised questions asking about the reasoning for not giving the assent yet.

As part of the aforementioned bill, poker and rummy are listed as games of chance and hence categorised as gambling. However, a ruling from the Supreme Court has classified rummy as a game of skill.