MESSAGE IN THE BOTTLE

Unlike previous elections, prohibition has emerged as a big issue in Gujarat this time, especially after the ongoing war of words between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In July this year, spurious liquor (‘chemical consumption’, as the government calls it) led to the death of 42 people in Botad district.

-  Jumana Shah

This gave AAP a handle to attack the ruling BJP over the lax implementation of prohibition in the state. But as the Delhi liquor policy ‘scam’ unravelled, the state BJP launched a counter-offensive questioning the moral grounds on which AAP raised the issue. Gujarat has been a dry state since it came into being in 1960 and BJP leaders have been trying to create an alarm about AAP lifting prohibition if it comes to power.

However, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal quelled that rumour saying the party will demonstrate how the law can be effective with zero corruption. The Congress perforce has had to be pro-prohibition as this is the land of Mahatma Gandhi.

AAP has nothing to lose here; it is the BJP that is walking a tightrope as Gujarat is split wide open over the issue. The urban middle class and industry want prohibition gone, but the tribal and OBC communities—which form 18 and 52 per cent of the electorate, respectively— want it to continue. Urban areas make up 55 seats in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot; the BJP won 44 of these in 2017.