Dhumal Slams State Government’s Decision to Reintroduce Lottery System in Himachal

Shimla, August 2, 2025 – Senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal has strongly condemned the Himachal Pradesh Congress Government’s decision to reintroduce the lottery system, terming it a step towards economic and social ruin for the state. He recalled that during his tenure in 1999, his government had completely banned the lottery system to protect employees, retirees, labourers, and youth from financial exploitation.

Dhumal highlighted that in the late 1990s, entire families faced devastation as people spent their salaries, pensions, and savings on lotteries. The ban, he said, was a far-sighted decision taken in public interest to prevent addiction to this social curse.

He criticized the current government for reversing a policy that even former Congress CM Virbhadra Singh had acknowledged as harmful. Dhumal warned that with over *2.3 lakh government employees* and *9-10 lakh unemployed youth* in the state, restarting the lottery system poses a severe threat to their livelihoods.

The BJP has demanded immediate withdrawal of this anti-people decision and urged the government to focus on employment generation rather than promoting vices like alcohol, drugs, and lotteries.