There is nothing furtive about the operation at all. In fact, two brands of the Rs 2-crore Adiwasi Distilleries Pvt Ltd – Damoranee (a nickname for Damor's wife) whisky and Damorum XXX Rum – boast the photographs of Damor and his wife in full tribal regalia, along with the Indian Tricolour. There's more: He got no less a VIP than Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh to inaugurate the unit a couple of months ago.

While Damor himself has no official link– bar the portrait – with the distillery, his sons Kilraj and Vanraj are chairman and managing director,respectively, while wife Kusumben and daughters Indiraben and Pravinaben are directors.

If that wasn't a potent enough thumbing-of-the-nose at the moral guardians of prohibition, Damor has gone on record in defence of the hereditary right of tribals to distill – and presumably drink – alcohol.

``The world should know tribals invented liquor centuries ago. No one should question their involvement in manufacturing liquor'', he told The Indian Express.

That `involvement' took concrete shape on April 26, 1998, in the sleepy village of Amrapura in Jhabua district, less than 30 km from Damor's stronghold in Gujarat. Since then, the MP's presence has evoked strong resentment among local tribals, including their leader Dilipsinh Bhuria, local police officials say. But, as a senior officer points out, ``The (Madhya Pradesh) Chief Minister is with him. So it's unlikely there'll be any problems.''

The police officer could have been speaking for his colleagues across the border as well. If the Dahodadministration maintains there is nothing illegal about it, Range Special Inspector-General D D Tuteja says that though his special bandobast has netted liquor of several companies, Damor's is not among them.

That indicates there must be several gaps in Tuteja's net, since The Indian Express managed to lay its hands on as many as five bottles of Damoranee whisky. ``Jetli ichha, etli mulse (We'll get you as much as you want)'', assure local sources and bootleggers.