Mahatma Gandhi is considered a national hero in India but actually he is responsible for the death of thousands of Indians.
When we are discussing inspiring people of the 20th century we usually hear names like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. That last one can be erased from the list as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned. Sure, his nonviolent fight for the civil rights of Indians was impressive, but how many died after that because of his ideas on alcohol? Inspired by Gandhi’s ideology several states in India cling on to prohibition till this very day. And the situation is a lot more horrifying than the glory days of Al Capone in the United States. By now the peaceful Mahatma Gandhi has the blood of thousands of people on his hands.
Let’s start with a quote from Gandhi in his own magazine Young India: “You will not be deceived by the specious arguments that India must not be made sober by compulsion, and that those who wish to drink must have facilities provided for them. The state does not cater for the vices of its people. We do not regulate or license houses of ill-frame. We do not provide facilities for thieves to indulge their propensity for thieving. I hold drink to be more damnable than thieving and perhaps even prostitution. Is it not often the parent of both?”
Let’s look beside the fact that the ridiculous statement that people who drink become whores and thieves and see the stupidity of the rest of the message. The state should not allow facilities for drinking? Brilliant, the states Gujarat, Nagaland and Mizoram nowadays have complete prohibition. As well as parts of Manipur and Lakshadweep. And whenever there’s a national holiday ironically there’s a nationwide ban on alcohol sales. The result is that the people in those areas rely on illegal moonshine. Some of that liquor is just poison and that’s why we see headers like ‘More than 100 people dead in India because of alcohol‘. All because the national hero of India thought it was best that the state gave full control over the market to quacks and crooks.
Man is hospitalized after drinking moonshine in Ahmedabad in 2009. At this occasion in the province Gujarat, that prohibits alcohol, 136 people got killed.
Crooks? Yes, by prohibiting booze these dry provinces created a huge black market. Besides some hobbyists, idealists and poor fortune seekers the liquor market is owned by hardcore criminals. Basically the government created a new way to make money for the mafia. And by making the bad guys rich it keeps itself poor, since India is missing out on quite some tax money. Just like the prohibition in America contributed to a major financial crisis in the 1930’s.
Now we get to the moral aspect and we kick off with another quote from Gandhi as published in his weekly journal Harijan: “Having identified myself with labour, I know what ruin drink has bought to the homes of labourers given to drink. I know that they will not touch liquor if it was not within easy reach. We have contemporaneous evidence that drinkers themselves are in many cases asking for prohibition.”
Without a doubt there are a few people who think like this and they are already in too far. These are the kind of people that in other countries would visit AA-meetings. But is this really the group we should focus on to ban a good thing for everyone? In fact prohibition is more likely to have the ‘cookie jar effect’. Meaning people are more likely to drink when they;re not supposed to. Again we can point at the dry spell in the States which actually caused more people to drink than ever before.
Let’s see another quote by Gandhi in Young India: “I would rather have India reduced to a state of pauperism than have thousands of drunkards in our midst. I would rather have India without education if that is the price to be paid for making it dry.” How idiotic and ignorant can one be? As long as people were sober he’d settle for a world without doctors, architects, inventors and justice system. Back to the cavemen days.
On a world stage Gandhi operated like a magician. As he seemed to give people freedom with his right hand, he took liberties away with his left. Instead of simply banning alcohol, he could try to change the Indian drinking culture through education. Or preach moderation. But by simply forbidding alcohol he became no better than any other oppressor in the world.
Micky Bumbar
Getting “smashed after a long working week” should be compulsory. There should be an international law compelling Friday-and/or -Saturday smashedness.
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Hahaha I will never force anyone to drink but I’m a master in building up the group pressure! 😉
Cheers,
Micky
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I SHARED YOUR POST ON THIS GROUP …WE ARE FIGHTING AGAINST PROHIBITION ASSIST IF YOU CAN
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I would love to help you in your fight for justice. What about a guest post in which you explain your case?
Cheers,
Micky
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I’ve a mind to make my own moonshine here due to the duty on our booze.
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Yeah… It is my dream to make my own spirit too. Unfortunately my Dutch city Tilburg is known for it’s drug labs and weed plants so the cops are always looking for suspicious things. A still may catch their eye and I’d hate for my booze to be confiscated.
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Whilst I would never deride another culture or any lifestyle choices of individuals, this is stupid in the extreme. Never once have I had to resort to stealing or prostitution to fulfil my need to have a little drink. I can respect Ghandi’s choice to shun alcohol, but to say that education and progression should be abandoned in favour of prohibition is crazy talk. That chap needs a good stiff whiskey to calm his nerves.
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I was also shocked when I saw these quotes. It’s so extreme for someone who is considered to be one of the great ones in world history.
Cheers,
Micky
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Not only do I [obviously] disagree with prohibition of alcohol… I don’t agree that whores or prostitution should be illegal either. It seems I’m at odds with Gandhi.
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Absolutely… Prostitutes also reduce the number of rapes. Never been to one myself but I respect them a lot.
Cheers,
Micky
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Reblogged this on FreedomTrapped.
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Reblogged this on .
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Odd to say MKG is to blame. Do we blame parents if the children turn out to be murderers? What about Rapes? Or what of simple violence on the street. Now you might say they are 2 different cases but you bring murder into the picture. No doubt it a false premise that prohibition works but Gandhi is talking on his level. His minions don’t need to listen to him. Frankly none of the country did except his home state. NE states have their inspiration from Church. Drinks over there mean violence due to extreme unemployment. If 100 youth drink in Delhi they work the next day. In NE those youth drink again. My point is drinking in Main land and NE creates different scenarios.
Secondly if something is banned, most citizens would abide by it, not go in search of breaking the law. Its the same with murderers and rapists. They will break the law anyways, it just happened to be by drinking spurious liquor.
Indian culture has developed differently from the rest. If we want to join the Rest of the world, you cannot choose one habit and keep the rest out.
Try to look at MKG not as a political leader but as an ascetic that he is; They don’t need to be followed but then his words makes more sense.
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Well someone who rather sees his people live the life standards of cavemen rather than granting them alcohol is a seriously confused soul I would say.
Cheers,
Micky
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i AGREE
at the same time THE POLITICIANS we have today are using his name to keep the ISSUE burning so that we remain distracted from real issues
pollution of air – pollution of rivers – pollution of water —-
TOBACCO CONSUMPTION 30% gujaratis are addicted to tobacco
MALE 1000 – 848 FEMALES the worst its gone down from 920 to 848 IN JUST 16 YEARS SOMETHING
the policy of prohibition is kept alive so as to distract and victimize anyone
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this is the wikipedia on prohibition of alcohol in gujarat
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