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Feb. 19, 2007: Today, the three of us - myself (Dinesh), Abhishek Shah and Kanan Dhru paid a visit to Gujarat Vidyapeeth on the invitation of a few post-grad students. Gujarat Vidyapeeth, under the leadership of its Vice Chancellor Sudarshan Iyenger, is organizing a massive rally on Feb 21st against any thing and everything to do with the likelihood of relaxation of the prohibition policy in Gujarat. Some concerned students wanted to hear the rationale behind our anti-prohibition motivation.

Six dacades after independence, Gujarat state Laws still bans liqour in the state.

Apart from being illogical and out of sync with norms nationwide and also worldwide, this prohibition impedes the right to choose. I personally think that in india, laws of democracy have no place for such absurd legislation.

If you read the Gujarat newspapers you would feel that politicians in Gujarat are very ethical people championing the cause of prohibition.

Far from it.

We in India have a tradition of Public posturing while our actions privately are diametrically opposite. This applies more to our politicians who posture as paragons of good virtues. For the citizens of Gujarat its imperative to have leaders who apply their personal principles to politics. I am hoping to see a leader who publicly acknowledges that he is fond of the good stuff. Political hypocrisy should be exposed & people can make up their own mind about prohibition. Some laws made in the late 1800s actually ban kite flying. Every mature society should review its social order & laws every few years.

I have a very simple question to ask the pro-prohibitionists.  If they ever do consume alcohol, will they follow it up by beating up their spouse?  Well, all the people I know who drink certainly don't. 

On Feb 13, AMA held a lecture cum debate on "Prohibition: Pros and Cons". Mr. Rajiv Vastupal, president of AMA, later told me that he had no intention to have all four speakers to be anti-prohibition and had selected the speakers based on some of them having taken a pro-prohibition stand earlier, but that person changed over to anti-prohibition later after studying all the issues and data available. All the four speakers:

Hi everyone, I'm currently studying at CEPT University and the most frustrating thing we've found so far is you just can't go out for a sociable drink with friends or enjoy a glass of wine with dinner here - instead we are forced to get expensive permits and hide away in our home if we want to enjoy a quiet beer.

Taxes collected from sales of liquor in other states of India, makes up, on an average, around 12% of the state's income. Topping the list is Karnataka, which makes 18% of its income through taxes collected on Alcohol, amounting to Rs. 4,060 Crores.  Gujarat, on the other end, makes a paltry Rs. 58 Crores!! 
Everyone knows alcohol is available in Gujarat, and the estimates of the amount that the Government loses because of Prohibition is Rs. 2,500 crores!  Around 50% of the price of a liquor bottle sold is comprised of a combination of taxes - except in Gujarat where the taxes are not paid at all since, technically, no booze is sold.  Pro-Prohibitionists argue that Gujarat doesn't need this income, we are doing fine without it.  But does such a short sighted answer consider the fact that Rs. 2,500 crores are going into fuelling corruption, underworld crime and everything that pro-prohibitionists consider unwanted at any cost?  So, please wake up and realize that prohibition is a failed experiment.  It is a self defeating system, as other countries around the world have also learnt time and time again. cont.... 

It is a well known fact that prohibition has given rise to a very dangerous parallel industru "SPURIOUS LIQUOR". Most of the liquor one buys in Gujarat, including those labelled for the armed forces are likely to be spurious. Many a guys, to keep up social appearances, keep on buying this spurious stuff, which is otherwise undrinkable. We all know that this spurious stuff could lead to a lot of damage to the drinker.

Maltmarchers went to the "52 hour fast at the Gandhi Ashram" held by Shankersinh Vaghela, who is trying hard to associate himself as the next "bapu", and asked him to take an oath on the Bhadvad Gita that he has never had a drink in Gujarat ever since prohibition has been in effect. Amid thousands of his supporters, he exercised his right not to take the oath, but for a man who also
admitted that he has had "all kinds of liquors" during his travel out of state, isn't it unintelligent to compare drinking to rape, murder, etc.?  By his logic, would it mean that if he can drink outside of Gujarat, he'd also go to a brothel where its legal or kill or rape someone where there is no law? No, because he himself, like everyone else, knows that drinking is not a moral violation whereas murder, rape, etc. are. because there is a clear and identifiable victim (domestic violence, which is morally unacceptable, is a matter of governance and not prohibition. Any person in Gujarat can still get hooch and tharra, drinks that are not legal in any state and will remain illegal even if prohibition is lifted). In case of prostitution, there is no victim since both parties are consenting but its morally wrong if you are being unfaithful to your spouse, present or future.