Even as the ruling BJP and opposition Congress are all set to battle it out in the Gujarat assembly elections scheduled by the end of the year, the electorate will have a fourth option, apart from the Aam Aadmi Party, in the form of 'Smart Party'.
Retired IPS officer Rahul Sharma [Photo: Janak Patel]
Floated by retired IPS officer Rahul Sharma and his three like-minded friends, the party plans to contest all 182 assembly seats. But what is interesting about the new outfit is its willingness to discuss a topic that none of the political parties would dare touch, at least ahead of the elections—prohibition.
Prohibition has always been a sensitive issue in Gujarat and is always linked to the state being Mahatma Gandhi's homeland. Though the state has been packaging itself, over the years, as an investment destination, prohibition is relaxed only in special economic zones.
Sharma told THE WEEK that they were thinking of floating a party for three years, but it was sometime in April this year that the issue of prohibition came up.
The party's plank of relaxing prohibition could be a game changer, according to him. "We are not talking of lifting prohibition, we are only talking about relaxing it. In fact, the law should come down hard on crime cases involving alchohol misuse," he says.
Prohibition, according to him, is just for namesake and the state was losing crores of rupees as revenue. The money was instead going to bootleggers, police and politicians, he alleged, pointing out that people like Dawood Ibrahim and Abdul Latif started off as bootleggers.
Sharma, who stood against the then Narendra Modi Government during 2002 riots and his CDs of call data records created a stir of sorts, felt that the government was not looking for the right solution. Sharma said that around Rs 20,000 crore, that can be collected by relaxing prohibition, could be awarded a stipend for students who have passed class XII. This will be regardless of economic strata.
Relaxing prohibition could also boost tourism, which would in turn would benefit various sectors.
The party, they say, is class-neutral, religion-neutral and gender -eutral. Asked if winning an election was a far-fetched dream, especially in Gujarat where normally two parties have prevailed, he cited examples of other states where third parties have gained foothold over the last several years.
He categorically ruled out the argument that their presence would divide the secular vote and damage the opposition Congress. Sharma has his own reservations about the Congress and the AAP.
According to him, his party was open to joining hands with others (read those heading Patidar and Dalit agitations). If they take one step, we would take three steps, he said.
Their initial campaign will primarily be through the social media and they would raise funds for contesting elections. Sharma said that they have already started zeroing in on candidates of standing. It wasn't necessary that the candidates be educated, he said, pointing that he could have studied up to class III, but could be a good environmentalist.
