Gurdas Mann's ‘Dil Da Maal' concert at HAU sparks outrage; suspend VC, says INLD
2
3
Hisar: As the nation continued to mourn the death of 26 civilians in the
Pahalgam terror attack
, celebrations at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) here on Saturday sparked outrage.
Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan's '
Dil Da Maal
' programme was scheduled to begin at 7 pm, however by 8 pm, less than half the expected audience arrived, and Maan himself did not take the stage. In contrast, singer Shreya Ghoshal, who had a scheduled concert in Gujarat on Saturday, cancelled her performance in view of the national tragedy.
Criticising the event at HAU, INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala blamed the vice-chancellor for allowing a musical event to proceed at a govt institution during a period of "
national mourning
".
Chautala demanded immediate suspension of the VC.
University officials, though, clarified that the Indira Gandhi Auditorium at the institute was booked months earlier by a private organisation, which paid the requisite fee. They emphasised that the event was not organised by the university itself.
The concert came to public attention after promotional posters for 'Dil Da Maal' appeared across Hisar city, with ticket prices ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 8,000. Social organisations also condemned the event, noting that a naval officer from Haryana was among those killed in the Pahalgam attack. Despite the loss, such celebrations were allowed to proceed, they lamented.
Talking to the mediapersons, Abhay Singh Chautala said: "What could be more shameful than this? When a tragic incident like the Pahalgam terrorist attack has occurred, the govt is busy celebrating instead of acting firmly. The vice-chancellor of HAU must be suspended immediately."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Deccan Herald
3 minutes ago
- Deccan Herald
BJP's R Ashoka says e-Khata could be Rs 10,000 crore scam, accuses Karnataka govt of 'not delivering development'
Ashoka launched a broadside against the Congress government, accusing it of not delivering development despite imposing levies worth Rs 56,422 crore on citizens.
Time of India
3 minutes ago
- Time of India
Gaming industry gears up to challenge Centre's gaming bill in court
As senior executives from the industry huddle together to chart their next move in a fight for survival, legal luminaries see the law being contested in court on standpoints ranging from constitutional protection to the right to trade, and more. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads In the aftermath of the Lok Sabha passing the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025 , senior executives of companies in this space are huddling together and deciding on next steps, which will include approaching the courts against the proposed and lawyers told ET that the legal challenges will look to test the Supreme Court 's stance on skill-based gaming against the proposed per the bill, the definition of online real money gaming looks to lump together skill-based games and chance-based games under a single regulatory net, and this could endanger skill-based operators, which have so far survived legal scrutiny.'The Punjab and Haryana High Court was actually the first to say back in 2017 that fantasy sports should be treated as a game of skill. Since then, the Supreme Court has repeatedly turned down review petitions challenging that view. But the new law has changed the game completely…acting almost like a killswitch for the industry. Plans are being finalised to challenge the bill in court,' a senior executive proposed law, which also seeks to set up a regulator to decide which games can legally operate, risks stripping that protection from fantasy sports, rummy, e-poker, and other skill-led formats offered by companies such as Dream11, Gameskraft, Games 24x7, Pokerbaazi, Rupee, and Winzo Games, people said.'While typically any new statute passed by parliament gets tested on its own merits, in this case, given past protections, especially in the context of games of skill, there could be a degree of overlap that gets tested,' said Mihir Rale, partner, Cyril Amarchand whether real money gaming companies will have constitutional protection, Rale said, 'This appears to be virtually an existential question for the sector. That factor alone demands a degree of care and scrutiny to be applied to its passage and judicial oversight that will likely follow.''The key question is whether this is the only way that public interest can be served and no other measure that preserves businesses or jobs while effectively remedying public harm is possible,' he a letter to home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday, India's leading online gaming industry associations urged his intervention in the government's move to introduce legislation to ban real-money games, warning that it could cripple the sector, cost the exchequer nearly Rs 20,000 crore annually, and drive millions of users to unsafe offshore a joint letter to the home minister, the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF), E-Gaming Federation (EGF), and the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) said the bill, which seeks to prohibit all online games with a monetary component, including those based on skill, would 'strike a death knell' for the industry.'While an Act of Parliament can override earlier Supreme Court rulings by changing the definition of gambling, such a law must still survive constitutional scrutiny, and a blanket prohibition is open to being struck down as disproportionate and arbitrary,' Nazneen Ichhaporia, partner, ANB Legal, online gaming industry employs more than 200,000 people, has attracted Rs 25,000 crore in foreign direct investment (FDI), and contributes over Rs 20,000 crore in annual tax revenues, they bill also seeks to curb online real money gaming by declaring any advertisement or promotion of such games as an offence, while also banning the facilitation of any transaction or authorisation of funds by banks or financial institutions for such a central legislation, the government has moved away from fragmented state regulations on gambling and betting – by looking to ban real money games in one fell swoop.'Gaming is a state subject under the Constitution, and there could be an argument that prohibiting an entire sector that has been in existence for years and contributes revenue is a violation of Article 19(1)(g) (which accords the right to trade). However, the Union government seems to have relied on…its power to regulate the internet and interstate commerce. We will certainly see this being debated in the courts on constitutional grounds,' said Aprajita Rana, partner at corporate law firm AZB & Partners.
NDTV
3 minutes ago
- NDTV
"Would Like India To Be Global Game-Making Hub": IT Minister On Gaming Bill
New Delhi: The online gaming bill will help promote the country as a game manufacturer's destination while also discouraging online gambling, which has destroyed thousands of families, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told NDTV today. It is because of the horrific results of the online money gaming, the bill had overwhelming support, he added. The bill - which proposes complete ban on offering, operating, or facilitating online money games, be it based on skill, chance, or both -- was passed by the Lok Sabha today. Offering or facilitating online money gaming would draw a fine of Rs 1 lakh and a 3-year jail term. There are three segments in the Online gaming sector, Mr Vaishnaw told NDTV in an exclusive interview. "This bill basically promotes two of the three segments which is eSports and online social gaming. It discourages online money gaming and the reasons are very clear for that," he said. The two sectors were encouraged as it is very important that India is becoming a game making hub, said the minister whose department will help devise schemes to Encourage E-Sports and Online Social Gaming. "There are so many employees who are working for start-ups and other companies which make games, which write games and there's a huge creator's economy coming out in the country. We are promoting that through IICT, through Waves, that's a big segment that we are promoting," he said. The harmful effects of online money gaming have been noticed over the past few years and are very significant, the minister said. "There are families which are getting destroyed, there are so many cases where the entire savings of a family goes away in the online money games. WHO has actually identified and declared online money gaming as a 'disorder' and the reasons they have given are psychological changes which happen. It is like you cannot control once you start doing it and because of that so many different harmful effects in the society are visible," he said. Besides, money gaming has sparked multiple economic offences that include money laundering.
