Opinion Prohibition

The local papers have been full of heartrending pictures not just of young male victims but also of small children and grieving widows. The incident has largely been centred around majoor gam a working class neighbourhood on the eastern side of the Sabarmati river where the city’s the erstwhile textile mills once stood. News of the east rarely travels to the prosperous west but in this case the repercussions of the incident are being felt not just in other parts of the city but all the way up to Gandhinagar.

For an accident to occur on this scale,it is clear that the mechanism for manufacturing,distributing and retailing liquor is in place; it is equally clear that the machinery meant to enforce prohibition in the country’s only dry state is not only ineffective but actually supportive of the banned activity. The spokesperson for the Modi Government may express outrage at Vijay Mallya’s statement calling prohibition a farce in Gujarat but the liquor baron’s views would be corroborated by most people who have ever attempted to purchase or consume liquor in the state.

Indeed the experience of Prohibition in India,and the world over has shown that it rarely works. In the old Bombay Presidency for instance,or even in the United States it was clear that suppressing the legal consumption of liquor only managed to drive it underground and gave rise to a web of corruption involving both law enforcers and administrators. The question is what is to be done now?

The people of Ahmedabad are divided. Those consuming IMFL – available at a premium in the city—are likely to recommend the lifting of Prohibition. But those directly affected by the recent hooch tragedy demand a proper implementation of the prohibition policy; the elimination of doorstep bars and police inaction. I would lean towards a combined approach. The purpose of Prohibition in a society that has all but abandoned Gandhi’s ways seems fairly meaningless and even dangerous given how it encourages a climate of criminality and subterfuge. On the other hand a campaign that deglamourizes alcohol consumption,educates habitual drinkers and evolves imaginative ways to counter excessive and irresponsible drinking is a necessity.