Protest against spirit shop… in the true spirit of Gandhi
Rajat Rai
Lucknow, September 20: âGandhigiriâ, the term coined in the film Lage Raho Munna Bhai may have angered certain intellectuals and social organisations, but the spirit has definitely touched a few chords across the country.
The term is used by the filmâs protagonists to hammer in the Mahatmaâs philosophy of non-violence among the youth of today. To keep the spirit alive, dozens of youths in the city took out a procession today in protest against the location of a wine shop. Instead of indulging in noisy sloganeering and ransack, the crowd walked the streets distributing flowers.
The Model Wine Shop, which also has a pub inside, is located on the Rana Pratap Marg near the Jagran crossing. It has been courting controversy ever since it was established about five years ago. The root of the row lay in a temple located barely 15 meters from the shop.
According to the residents of the surrounding areas, the wine shop has become a joint for anti-social elements and street fights are common at night.
Several requests have also been made to the shop owner Daljit Singh, but he has dug in his heels, claiming, ââI have a stay from the court, no one can close the shopââ. Result, dozens of local youths proceeded towards the court this morning donning white Gandhi caps.
Enroute, they distributed flowers to everyone and also requested people to come to the Bhagwati Jagran, a daylong prayer function to be held on September 24.
After handing over flowers to advocates and judges, the crowd proceeded towards the Central Excise Departmentâs office in Qaiserbagh. There too, they offered flowers to excise officals and along with that made a request for the wine shop to be shut down.
While returning, they also made it a point to go to the wine shop and present flowers to people present there.
The move, however, did not go down well with the owner who immediately called the police accusing the youths of ransacking the shop. The result – a dozen youths were taken to Hazratganj police station within minutes.
Inspector, Hazratganj, PK Singh, said, ââThey have been told not the enter the shop like this. We have written their names and if they repeat the offence again, they will be arrested.ââ Milan Verma, one of the youths picked by the police, was, however, undetered.
ââWe will distribute flowers again as soon as we are released. We have not done anything wrong,ââ he said, adding that Singh did not want the Jagran to take place as he would be forced to keep the shop closed for the day.
Amid everything, the spirit of âGandhigiriâ seemed pretty much alive. As the youths walked out of the police station, some of them shouted, ââGandhigiri chalti rahegi jabtak dadagiri band nahi hogi.ââ