Even as the toll in the Gujarat hooch tragedy has crossed 42, the opposition parties, including Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on Friday came down heavily on the BJP Government for dismissing the deaths as those caused by “chemical poisoning” and not illicit liquor.
Simultaneously, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi took to Twitter to condemn the hooch tragedy and asked who was giving patronage to the liquor mafia in the "State of Gandhi and Sardar Patel."
“Several homes have been destroyed due to consumption of spurious liquor in ‘dry’ Gujarat. This is a matter of grave concern. Who are the ones openly carrying on this business of intoxication in the land of Gandhi and Patel? Who among those in power are giving patronage to such mafia?” Rahul Gandhi tweeted.
Demanding immediate ex-gratia relief to the families of the hooch victims, Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi ridiculed the State Government for maintaining that these were “chemical poisoning” deaths and asked if this was so why then had the police lodged FIRs under the Prohibition Act.
Hours after a team of Gujarat Congress leaders visited the Rojid village in Saurashtra region’s Botad district where the tragedy struck, Doshi asserted, “The cold-blooded and shameless BJP government calls the laththakand (hooch tragedy) as chemical poisoning deaths to cover up their failures in the past 27 years of its continuous rule."
Doshi pointed out at a press conference on Friday that after 148 persons were killed in the 2009 Ahmedabad hooch tragedy, the Justice Mehta Commission had appointed to probe the deaths, it had also criticized the BJP government for its failure in implementing the prohibition policy.
“Yet another similar tragedy has happened. If the state government is so hell-bent on calling it a ‘methanol chemical’ tragedy, why hasn’t it taken any action against the excise officials concerned with methanol chemical?” asked Doshi.
He demanded to know if the government had maintained a database of history-sheeters and bootleggers in the state. “Whenever such a tragedy occurs, the BJP government comes up with some new notification order. Why is it not maintaining a database of bootleggers, history sheeters, hooch manufacturers and other anti-social elements present in each taluka in Gujarat? The BJP must answer if the police maintained such a database and what is the overall number in the state,” he said.
Meanwhile, AAP Gujarat chief Gopal Italia also demanded ex- gratia relief to the families of the 42 persons who died in the tragedy.
“The widows and fatherless children of this hooch tragedy must be given immediate financial assistance. So many died in the hooch tragedy and it is almost a week now but the Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi has found no time to go and see the families of the victims. The families must be provided compensation at the earliest,” Italia demanded in a video message.
