Alcohol in Gujarat: Has Prohibition Gone On Too Long ?

As soon as the word Prohibition is uttered, the first word that comes to mind is Gujarat. The prohibtion on sale of alcohol or alcoholic products in Gujarat is the reason why.

Ever since I was a child I found it funny that my parents would always lament about not getting alcohol in Gujarat. Whenever we went for family vacations to Navsari (mom’s ancestral home) or our farm in Anklaach, off Valsad, or even to Udvada the Vatican of us Parsis, alcohol or rather the lack of it was the topic of discussion. It didnt help matters that we Parsis are known for enjoying the “spirits” and a Parsi “peg” will give any patiala peg a run for its money.

The TOI brings up the issue of Prohibition and an underlying need for a debate in this article.

When as a child I enquired as to why the sale of alcohol was banned in Gujarat, I was told that it was because it was the state of Mahatma Gandhi. The G word was the solution to all the ills of society it seemed at that time. In later years I did realize that the Mahatma was not to be blamed for this entirely.

Gandhiji advocated prohibition as a public policy first time in a long missive to viceroy before setting out on the Dandi march on March 12, 1930. His idea was that this would deny the government a huge revenue. Thus, Gandhiji mainly saw prohibition as a weapon to fight the British rule. There was no mention of wrecked lives, ruined homes, etc. He did not then raise social or moral issues .[link]

60 years later, Prohibition is in reality a failure. One can sit at the Globe Hotel in Udvada and get all kinds of beer and whisky without a hassle and with only a slight premium. At our farm in Anklaach, it is not uncommon for villagers to brew their own “mahuro”….a country liquor made from distilling certain flowers.

The last time I was in Ahmedabad was during a ZONASA Convention in 1996. Our hosts, the students at CEPT gave us easy pointers to where we could get our “khumba” as Old Monk Rum is referred to.

So then how is the prohibition actually working? Isn’t not allowing the official sale of liquor, actually forcing people into illegal trade and consumption? And who really benifits from this illegal trade ?

Allegations are flying freely that prohibition has spawned corruption in the police force. The initial fault, however, lay largely with the political leadership. Prohibition is essentially a social legislation and police comes in as a backup. Instead, men in uniform are the only one left holding it. Some in the force make the most of minding what is nobody’s baby..[link]

How farcial the situation is, can be seen as one drives from Udvada to Devka. Devka is in Daman, a Union Territory abutting Udvada. An official hoarding announces “Welcome to Daman, Union Territory” (or something similar). And within 50 meters of that hoarding on the Daman side are liquour shacks. And there are dozens as one drives into Devka. These shacks are no more than sheets of tin metal with a roof and plastic chairs and tables. The shacks contain cold storage for beer and other soft drinks to be accompanied with alcohol. And people drive in just to drink and drive back.

Daman has a glorious history that spans millennia. It saw empires and invaders come and go, leaving little marks on its otherwise vibrant culture, art and tradition. It is, however, not the rich cultural heritage that attracts tourists to the Union Territory. The main attraction of this place with 10 distilleries remains liquor [link]

It would be really interesting to see if Narendra Modi has the political courage to re-evaluate prohibition as a concept and move ahead on this issue.

In a way, prohibition is only illustrative of what Gujarat has come against as times change and the booming business in the state goes global. It is a defining moment and the task to examine the issue of prohibition should go to a proper commission of inquiry to be helped in its work with studies by experts in all that it involves. Not just how traditions and values dear to Gujarat would be sacrificed if a few people get to drink as they like.

With the current political scenario, it seems highly doubtful.

Mafia Wants Prohibition in Gujarat to Stay

• Ahmedabad: Speaking of the profound need to stick to Gandhian principles at any cost, especially prohibition, singularly the most important prerequisite to run a highly successful bootlegging business while simultaneously keeping up the façade of spiritual commitment, occasional lip-service and hypocritical one-upmanship of the birth-State of the Mahatma, Harishankar Kahar, bootlegging mafia kingpin of Gujarat, dared the government to try to dabble with the dry law.
  
  "If anyone at anytime says there is anything more important than sticking to Gandhian principles, especially the law ensuring that legal liquor business must never come to the State of Gujarat, which will wreck the last link between common people and the ideals of the Mahatma, besides almost overnight destroying his business empire… then, for the sake of the Mahatma, his ideals and my billions, I will oppose it," he said, gesturing threateningly, after being nabbed by the Crime Branch and sent to police custody.
  
  "Our country is a state of moral flux," said his deputy, who also looks after the Don’s allied businesses associated with the core bootlegging, including extortion, kidnapping, bribing and intimidating officials and eliminating rivals, "today is one day, when we have to reinvigorate our affirmation and will to continue to walk on the Mahatma’s path… of state-enforced prohibition, with an understanding of modern needs and bringing in a highly organised bootlegging mafia."
  
  Continuing to showcase their devotion to the path of the Mahatma, the Mafioso duo took full responsibility of the death of people, Gujarat’s worst moonshine tragedy which killed 136 till reporting time, since the 1989 tragedy when 132 people died in Vadodara, saying the accident was unfortunate.
  
  "This industrial accident would not happen if the government backed its policy of prohibition with a full-fledged recognition of the bootlegging industry, by providing us with bank loans, licenses to build better illegal breweries, and a license system, by which the wrong kind of players cannot become bootlegger and bring shame on us all."
  
  In line with the ideals of the Mahatma, they have promised fullest cooperation with the government investigations, "the moment we heard that the government felt embarrassed with the tragedy, we have helped the police stage manage our own arrests, allowing them to destroy some of our outdated facilities in front of media glare, and generally giving the people the impression that the police is effective."
  
  Asking for introspection, the don asked, "on a single day, Gujarat police closed down 1,200 liquor dens and arrested over 800 brewers of illegal liquor, not to mention the crackdown on over 50 medium-sized bootlegging entrepreneurs. Do you think it is possible they investigated and found all this out in like, what, six hours?"
  
  On an introspective note, speaking about the need for quality in bootlegging industry, the don said, "We need the government’s help in ensuring liquor quality, so that people don’t die. Going blind or getting paralysed or some such thing is fine, but we condemn death. But the government must put a limit on police extortion to enable us to give quality stuff and survive as an equal opportunity industry."
  
  Seeking a total ban on the country’s legal liquor businesses, handing them over in a phased manner to the bootlegging mafia, a total national-level prohibition, coordination between government, ministers, MPs and MLAs, politicians, police, criminals and mafia, they said, "together, we are all responsible for hypocritically implementing everything that Gandhiji stood for on the one hand, and run an effective
  alternate, shady economy on the other. Let not Gujarat, or any other state or Center, dilute the commitment to Gandhian ideals, or finding pragmatic alternatives on the sidelines."
  
  Asked if the mafia was ready to take charge of practical sides of things if other bans were imposed in India in line with Gandhian ideals, including ban on beef consumption, weapons, guns, tobacco, gutkha, or condoms, they said, "we thrive on bans. Each time the government bans a legitimate business not in line with Gandhian thought, we can and will rise to the challenge. And yes, committed to views of Gandhiji, what we said just now is truth. Simple, absolute truth."

Malt marchers’ vow to take Gandhi’s path

President A P J Abdul Kalam and soldiers salute at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat in New Delhi on Gandhi’s death anniversary yesterday. Gandhi was assassinated in 1948. India observes his death anniversary as Martyrs’ Day

AHMEDABAD: Call it the malt march – or alcoholic disobedience.

Inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s 1930 “salt march” that encouraged millions of Indians to battle British colonial rule, some inhabitants in the “dry” western state of Gujarat plan a similar protest to call for the legalisation of alcoholic drinks.

“I believe in freedom of choice. Please explain why is it a crime to drink in Gujarat?” asks Dinesh Hinduja, spearheading what protesters have called “Malt march”, a pro-liquor movement, in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s main city.

Gujarat, which prides itself as the birthplace of freedom movement leader and teetotaller Gandhi, has banned alcoholic drinks since independence in 1947.

Supporters, mainly urban professionals, are using Internet blogs to promote the legal sale of liquor and are collecting data to show how the unworkable ban encourages smuggling and bootleggers.

The anti-prohibition protesters have already created a controversy and made headlines across India with their plan to march outside the state government headquarters and break the law by raising a toast in full public view.

“I could be arrested and even beaten up but I refuse to buy liquor clandestinely. It makes me a criminal in Gujarat,” says 33-year-old Hinduja.

No date has been set for the protest but a website “maltmarch.org” has already been set up to appeal for supporters and funds.

The protest will echo an act by Gandhi in 1930 when he marched about 390km to defy the law – and British rulers – by making salt in a public act of civil disobedience.

Gujarat is one of the last places in India that imposes a ban on the manufacture, transportation, import, export and sale of alcoholic beverages except under special circumstances – like being a foreigner or a member of the military.

Many other local people just drink secretly in their houses.

Alcohol is smuggled into Gujarat from its neighbouring states – Rajasthan to the north and Maharashtra to the south – and is sold by bootleggers at high prices.

Every year, under the prohibition law hundreds of drunk people are thrown behind bars and thousands of alcohol bottles are crushed by the police.

Senior police officials say the government has never been able to stem the demand and supply of alcohol in Gujarat, estimating the illicit trade runs in millions of rupees and involves poor tribal communities to senior politicians.

A slight relaxation of the prohibition laws has, however, provoked protests from Gandhian activists and politicians who began a hunger strike yesterday, the 59th anniversary of Gandhi’s death, to show that his ideals were not dead.

“We will fast for 52 hours. How can the ruling party relax dry laws in a state where Gandhian values and philosophy matters the most,” federal Textiles Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela said.

In December 2006, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi permitted the sale and consumption of alcohol within the boundaries of special economic zones (SEZ) – tax free zones aimed at attracting mainly investments.

Critics said the state was pampering outsiders

Vijay Mallaya on IIMC vs IIMA

Mr Modi, show courage and lift prohibition

Kingshuk Nag,  13 July 2009, 09:50 AM IST
That prohibition should be totally lifted in Gujarat is something that is not difficult to understand and appreciate. What is not easy to fathom is why Narendra Modi is unable to muster the courage to lift this farce of a law that has been part of state policy in Gandhi's land in the last 50 years. Prohibition in Gujarat has not led to cessation of drinking. It has only driven the liquor trade underground and led to disasters of the kind witnessed in the state late last week. Over 130 people died in Ahmedabad after consuming illicit hooch and even as this piece is being written more people continue to die. Most of the people who have died are poor folks and according to reports carried in TOI's Ahmedabad edition over 80% of them are Dalits. Incidentally the epicentre of the tragedy is in chief minister Modi's very own Maninagar area of Ahmedabad.  
Having stayed in Gujarat for five years I know that prohibition in the state is nothing short of a joke. In other parts of the country, if you want to imbibe spirit then you have to go to a shop to buy it. But not so in Gujarat. You get the stuff sitting in your home. The supply chain is well organised and your friendly neighbourhood bootlegger delivers the stuff at your doorstep. The only thing is that nobody drinks publicly; parties are organized behind closed doors. Everybody knows this, including Narendrabhai Damodardass Modi. The policemen look the other way because a large part of their income is from this business. On the weekend there is massive traffic on the roads to neighbouring Mount Abu, Diu and Daman. Being out of Gujarat, revellers can drink openly strewing the roads with empty bottles and generally making a nuisance. By keeping up the farce of prohibition, Gujarat loses in annual revenues an estimated Rs 2,500 crore or more that could have been charged by way of excise duty, but the Modi administration cannot gather courage to do away totally with prohibition. 
Of course, prohibition is in force in Gujarat as a legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. The Father of the Nation believed that free flow of liquor encourages the poor and others to drink excessively resulting in sapping of their health, making them incapable of working; they end up neglecting their families. But the point to note is that it is the poor who are affected the most by prohibition as evidenced by the present tragedy. So even if we believe that what Gandhiji said was correct, it is obviously better to not enact such laws that are observed only in breach. Moreover the Mahatma's views were possibly influenced by the fact of his son Harilal being addicted to the bottle. I wonder whether idiosyncracies should be allowed to dictate state policies - that too for 50 years.
The Gandhians in Gujarat however oppose lifting of prohibition tooth and nail. Many others think that there are no "other crimes" in Gujarat because the police is happy from the income generated from prohibition. Moreover criminals can also earn enough from this business: so there is no need for them to indulge in other, deadlier crimes. There are some who think that the streets of Gujarat are immune from the sort of crime seen in other places because of prohibition. Lifting prohibition will be akin to opening the gates of a dam, they argue. But this is faulty thinking. Before GOI did away with industrial licensing in 1991 and opened the economy to foreign investment, there was a view that delicensing would lead to flooding of the Indian markets by foreign goods. And the Indian manufacturer - under the burden of sudden competition - would go out of business. But in the event this has not happened and local manufacturers are more robust than what they were ever before. So lifting of prohibition may not result in spurring other crimes. 
Narendra Modi knows all this. He does not lift prohibition not because he is in awe of the Gandhian thinking. His reluctance stems from the fact that he lacks boldness and vision. This is contrary to his general image. But all this talk of his being a great administrator is stuff dished out by the well-oiled PR machinery that is overseen by the chief minister himself.