Days after the hooch tragedy in Ahmedabad, a group of like-minded people — opposed to prohibition — joined hands to create a Facebook group “we do not need prohibition in Gujarat”. Within two-and-a-half months the membership crossed 1,700, and now the group plans to set up an art exhibition on the same theme starting November-end. From Vadodara, the exhibition will travel to Ahmedabad, Rajkot and Mumbai.

Initiated by Rajiv Patel, an art curator in Vadodara, about two per cent of the members of the group are either artists or are related to the field.

“As part of the various activities of our group, we will take the art exhibition to as many cities in Gujarat and outside. This is one of the few times when an art exhibition will be set up for a cause. The very fact that we have probably the highest number of members for a group talking about a Gujarat-based issue highlights that people want a change in this defunct law,” Patel said.

Paintings from artists as well as non-artist members will be put up at the exhibition for expressing the need for a change in the law. “If Gandhiji is the Father of the Nation, then why do we have prohibition only in Gujarat? Isn’t it a way of telling the people of Gujarat that we are not responsible enough to handle our glasses and our state?” said a member of the group.

“In the process, the poor and the middle class suffer the most, consuming something sub-standard which is not good for health. Prohibition is just eyewash and the government is actually shirking off its responsibility by saying that we have no liquor here,” an argument posted by the group says.

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