Gujarati Hypocrisy

“In No Man’s Land At Gandhi’s Dham”

In the Mid-Day, Bombay, 8th October 2003, page 25.

By Ehtesham Hasan [email protected]

AHMEDABAD: Stephen Fleming has just got a taste of the famous Indian double standards. The New Zealand Cricket team captain received some stick at Rajkot for shooting for a liquor brand advertisement before the three-day match in the Saurashtra city.

One local newspaper carried a report suggesting that it was an insult to the state as Gujarat is a “dry” state and that Fleming had offended sentiments of the local population, which is following the path shown by Mahatma Gandhi. The Kiwi skipper was forced to tender an unconditional apology.

But the southpaw was quoted as saying in the New Zealand press that a rival firm had paid a local journalist to do the story.

Interestingly, in both Rajkot and Ahmedabad, one has come across many who are prepared to deliver any branded liquor for a few bucks extra.

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