She is Madhuben Ranchhodlal Vaghela. She is a resident of Rojid village. Rojid is a non-descript village in Barwala taluka of Botad district with a population of less than 7000. More than 11 people from this village have died and more than that are in different hospitals. This includes Madhuben’s son Deepak. He is battling for his life in Sonawala hospital in Botad. Rojid is about 31.6 kilometers away from Botad town.
Madhuben is clear on one thing. She is ready to admit that her son is a drunkard. He cannot do without his alcohol. Whether it is Sunday or Monday, day or night, my son could not live without desi daaru. He is an alcoholic, she asserts.
Madhuben is distressed that the Gujarat government is claiming that all the 28 dead and 40-plus men who have become seriously ill just consumed a chemical.”This is wrong and I don’t know why the government is doing that. My son drank desi daaru. I don’t know what chemical is. We all know that daaru is available 24/7 in the village.”
Madhuben who did not know that there is a prohibition in Gujarat says if there is a prohibition why did the police not stop the liquor dens in my village. In my small village, if desi daaru is so easily available, I don’t know how much daaru must be available in the cities”, she asked. When told that the Gujarat government has said that no alcohol was available in the village since a month after a new PSI was appointed who took stern steps, at least four women of Rojid scoffed saying, “This is fake. Sarkaar ne ame bhikh mangiye chhiye. Amara manaso ne bachavi lo. sarkaar kem khtou bole chhe. Amara gaam na purush darudiya j chhe and ane sarkar khotu bole chhe ke mahina thi daaru noto malto etle chemical pidhu. Aa khoti vaat chhe. daru malej chhe amara gaam ma (alcohol is available in our village. Government should not deny it. Please save our family members. Our men are alcoholics. And it is wrong that country-made liquor was not available in our village for a month. It has been available all the time. We are begging the government to strictly implement prohibition)
Another lady who is a daily wager and had to take leave to accompany her drunkard husband to the hospital said that all these men purchased daaru. Every day, they would drink. On Monday also, they purchased daaru of Rs 20. They did not know they are buying poison or death, she said.
Declining that the police tried to stop alcohol in her village, this woman said, “police was okay that daaru, alcohol was sold in our village. Police made no efforts to stop it. Our sarpanch Dungariyani bhai gave written application so many times. We, women, felt distressed seeing our young sons, our husbands, our father in laws wasting away at these liquor dens but no police would come to stop the sale of daaru“, she said.
Rojid village is shocked that the Gujarat government is trying to convert the Gujarat Hooch Tragedy into a chemical consumption tragedy.
Gujarat Congress President Jagdish Thakor told Ajeet Tiwari of Vibes of India:
“Everyone knows that alcohol is easily available in Gujarat. The police and politicians are involved in this. Now, the ruling BJP government wants to hide this fact. To cover their paap, their sins they are now fabricating a story that all these men, the 28 dead and 40 taken sick, consumed chemical with water. This is a lathha kand, a hooch tragedy. It is not a chemical tragedy. The one selling was selling desi daaru, the ones buying were buying desi daaru. The ones crying right now knew their family members were consuming desi daaru. They have all admitted this but the BJP government does not want to admit it and is now trying to protect itself by diverting the facts. The government knows the police know that alcohol is easily available in Gujarat. I am very clear when I say that alcohol is sold in Gujarat and this is possible because of the nexus between BJP Politicians, Police, and bootleggers. Instead of patrolling, Gujarat police give protection to bootleggers. In every alcohol sold in Gujarat, 30% of money belongs to BJP politicians. 30% to police and 40 percent to bootleggers. This is how the alcohol economics is in Gujarat.
In every district, the BJP government has a man appointed to collect haftas and monthly installments. Under their patronage, the alcohol business runs in full steam in Dry Gujarat where prohibition is just a cosmetic value. Gujarat’s chief minister has a home department in his portfolio. I demand immediate resignation of Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghvi.”
Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal who is on his way to Bhavnagar, as reported by Janvi Sonaiya of Vibes of India, said, “Gujarat government should deny that this is not a hooch tragedy. A lot of men have died and several have taken ill following consumption of spurious liquor. To cover this up and dub it a chemical consumption tragedy is not accepting the reality. The BJP government in Gujarat should be earnest in admitting this. Legally there is a prohibition in Gujarat. Why is alcohol so easily available? This is not the first hooch tragedy in Gujarat. Several such incidents have happened in the past also. What is the point in covering up now? I demand strict implementation of prohibition policy in Gujarat and I demand to know who all are involved in this liquor business. This illegal liquor trade in Gujarat is very rampant and has to be stopped”.
Senior Congress leader and Rajyasabha leader Shaktisinh Gohil categorically told Janvi Sonaiya of Vibes of India: The BJP government in Gujarat is trying to cover up the fact that alcohol is easily available in Gujarat. The serious hooch tragedy has claimed 28 people. Over seven people who have lost their kidneys and are on dialysis are battling for their lives in Ahmedabad civil hospital. At least 35 people are in Sir T hospital of Bhavnagar. Every person knows that country-made liquor is spurious and dangerous. This liquor made in local areas on chullahs contains chemicals. This is nothing new. All desi daru in Gujarat now and before having chemicals. You cannot say a person drank a chemical. Chemical, water, and other ingredients are boiled by women behind their poor homes and sold. To say that these men have died consuming chemicals is to cover up the fact that prohibition in Gujarat is not effective. Alcohol and drugs are easily available in Gujarat. The sarpanch of Rojid village , Shri Dungarani had also pleaded for police patrolling. He warned that because of spurious and desi homemade alcohol availability, Rojid village was sitting on a live volcano and there could be a major tragedy. His prophecy has unfortunately turned out to be true. It is not possible to sell alcohol or manufacture or distribute alcohol without support from police and politicians in power. I demand strict action against those involved. The victims of spurious liquor are invariably the poor. They buy their death when they buy this alcohol. Because those who make this are illiterate people, there could be a variation in the quantity of chemicals used but to say that people have died because they consumed methyl is wrong and a cover-up. These people have died drinking spurious liquor which is always made using chemicals. The BJP government should stop its lies. Their Gujarat Model and vain efforts at covering up the hooch tragedy have been exposed. Those in power in Gujarat responsible for this tragedy should focus on helping the family members of the victims rather than fabricating stories. They should also resign and accept moral responsibility”.
Independent MLA spoke Jignesh Mewani spoke to Janvi Sonaiya He says: “Despite Gujarat being the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, this is what we find–illegal liquor business in every nook and corner of Gujarat. The government is trying to reduce this tragedy in a small case of a chemical accident. If the government has formed an SIT then there should be representatives from the opposition party and also from the family of victims, otherwise, it makes no sense to have an SIT that will eventually prove that this is a case of chemicals and not liquor. Politicians, bootleggers, and police are together involved in running the liquor business in these villages. Such organised crime can not run on its own. Gujarat is liquor free only on paper, in reality, liquor flows all over the State. I’m reaching Botad to meet the families and see the situation on the ground.”
Bharatiya Tribal Party leader and MLA Mahesh Vasawa spoke to Deepal Trivedi
Alcohol is indeed easily available in Gujarat. Bootleggers are patronised by police under the direct instructions of BJP politicians. I demand the immediate resignation of Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi. I also demand compensation of Rs 50 lac for the kith and kin of those who have died in the hooch tragedy. Also, those who are on dialysis, all are poor people. Gujarat government should also give them compensation. This is not the first time such an incident has happened. Every time it has happened in the past, compensation of the tune of over Rs 25 lac per person has been given even before 10 years. Because the BJP government itself is keen that spurious liquor dens thrive because that gives them much hafta, bribes in form of corruption, the police are instructed not to do anything. So the cops works on the instructions of those in power. Local politicians and those enjoying ministerial positions all are a part of this.”
