Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], August 2 (ANI): Senior BJP leader and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has strongly criticised the Congress government's decision to reintroduce the lottery system, calling it a 'step towards ruin' for the people of the state.

'When I became Chief Minister in 1998, we completely shut down the lottery system in Himachal the next year in 1999,' he said, noting that the move was not just a policy decision but a conscious effort to save countless families from financial devastation.

According to a press release, Dhumal recalled that on April 17, 1996, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had imposed a complete ban on the sale of single-digit lotteries in the state. When the BJP came to power in 1998, his government decided the following year to scrap the entire lottery system.

'At that time, employees, pensioners, labourers, and young people were purchasing lottery tickets in large numbers. This had put salaries, savings, pensions, and hard-earned wages at stake. Families were destroyed. We took a stand to prevent the addiction to this curse,' he said.

He also mentioned that many government employees and retired workers had lost their savings and retirement funds in lotteries.

Dhumal pointed out that in 2004, the Congress government briefly reintroduced lotteries but later, then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh imposed a full ban on lottery, recognising the social harm it caused. 'Even he realised that lotteries are nothing short of a curse,' he said, adding that the state earned barely Rs 4-5 crore from the practice at that time.

Targeting the present Congress government, Dhumal said Himachal currently has over 2.3 lakh government employees, including 1.6 lakh permanent staff, and it has nearly 9-10 lakh unemployed youth. 'The lottery system poses a serious threat to their financial security. It is shocking that a government that came to power promising one lakh jobs in its first cabinet and 5 lakh jobs in five years is now presiding over a state that is fast becoming a hub for liquor, drugs, cannabis, and now lotteries,' he said.

Calling it an anti-people decision, Dhumal demanded the immediate withdrawal of the plan to revive the lottery system. 'The BJP strongly condemns this move and urges the government not to implement this regressive policy,' he said. (ANI)