Ahmedabad

Liquor party in farm houses owned by builders in outskirts of Ahmedabad are very common, and they are hardly raided. But Thursday, 19 February was a rare day when police jumped the gates of a farm house and arrested a top builder with five others.

Ganesh group founded by late Govindbhai Patel is one of the top five construction firm in Ahmedabad. Govindbhai’s son Shekhar who has also headed GIHED in past was held with five others and taken to Bopal police station late in the night. Shekhar is well connected and drinking or possessing liquor is technically not considered a big offense. There’s no chance that he will face longer harassment from police or court. But on Friday morning, he is all over in print. Also some regional channels are repeatedly showing visuals in which he is standing in helpless condition in police station.Primary reason for big coverage of his arrest in media is because he is a well-known builder and one of the richest persons in Ahmedabad. But the other reason is that Shekhar is in same business in which some media groups are also involved, and they are rivals.

According to police sources, Police Sub Inspector Jayrasinh Chavda was on patrolling when he saw many luxurious cars parked near a bungalow in farm house. When police tried to check, it was stopped by security guard. Police detained the guard and raided the house where four people were found making preparations for a liquor party. Police found 90 beer bottles. When asked whether those held were drunk or not, police said that shall be known only after medical tests.

Author’s note:

It’s always a matter of debate that though there’s ban on liquor consumption and selling across Gujarat, should police raid someone who’s having liquor in his private premises? The answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Yes because that drunk person may ride his car on the roads later on and cause accident. No because liquor consumption is common across the world and though it is banned in Gujarat, the state police shouldn’t behave like Saudi Arabia. If someone is having liquor in his private place individually, why to raid that party?

Then there’s other thing that comes to discussion when such incidents happen. Those who get richer in this relatively conservative society of Gujarat, if not are inclined to some association with faith(Swaminarayan, Vaishnav or Jain etc),there’s potential that they may end up spending their money for liquor, gamble, consumarism, show-off and other such activities. There are very reach families of Patels, Thakkars and Shahs etc that don’t consume non-veg and liquor and are not into gambling or Punjab like show-off because they under deep influence of religious belief.

There was something called ‘Mahajan’ status in urban Gujarat in last century. Those wealthy and employing large staff used to enjoy respect due to their character and conduct. Their life and good deeds used to inspire their staff and others in society.They would not just earn money through fair practices but also would spend money in fair manner. They would contribute to public hospitals, educational institutes, charity works without any expectation of return. In recent years, the trend has changed. Sometime it makes us worried that for many rich youths who have earned fortune in recent years, the icon is Vijay Malya and not Kasturbhai Lalbhai or Vikram Sarabhai.

Update: Shekhar Patel was produced at magistrate’s bungalow at around 7.00 am and released on bail.

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