I'm a self proclaimed Hindi cinema junkie. A quintessential Bollywood product will either have a good cop who is generally the hero keeping the city safe or a bad cop which our hero will overpower within a span of two hours. Then there's a cop of the third kind- the angry young man who will enforce his righteous ways even if this means taking the law into his hands, and as cinema-goers we often empathise with him and even justify his ways. Then why is Mr. Vasant Dhoble being slammed as the anti-hero?
As a country, we love to crib. It's in our genes, we'll blame the politicians, the infrastructure, the lack of enforcement of laws, the corrupted system and even the weather. We'll dissect these at our dinner table and we'll watch social czars and czarinas put forth their points of view on prime time television and then we'll tweet about these burning issues.
So when one man wants to enforce the law, no matter how archaic it is and how it may defy any sane and logical albeit 'progressive' person's line of thought, why are we brandishing him?
Are we Mumbaikars perturbed by the fact that our night-life is slowly being taken away from us? A brand in itself, the 'Mumbai nightlife' isn't quite what it used to be a few years back. As if the 1:30 pm deadline for pubs wasn't enough of a killjoy, Mr. Dhoble's diktat to enforce The Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 in Mumbai which basically ensures that you might not be able to enjoy your favourite brand of whisky with friends after a hectic day or even make liquor chocolates in the privacy of your house ( excise raids) unless you have a license to consume alcohol. The rather archaic act lays down that the license can be obtained only when prescribed for medicinal purposes. The jugaad attitude that is inherent in us prompts us to submit medical reasons to obtain the same. After all, how different is this from obtaining a medical certificate to stay at home to avoid appearing for an exam back in school? People argue that the law is outdated, hence there is a need to rebel, a cooler phrase for essentially what is circumventing the law.
I'm no sympathiser of Mr. Dhoble. Infact, I was rather shocked when I landed in the city after a vacation in Amsterdam where intoxicants are sold like candies and came across local newspapers which were splashed with stories of how people were arrested for consuming alcohol. Furthermore, his actions of barging in places with hockey sticks, arresting women on and branding them as prostitutes are downright crazy (for lack of a better word). While officers in the past have exercised discretion in the (non) enforcement of this law, one cannot really empower the authority and then question it when it exercises it. The need of the hour is to pressurise our legislature into repealing or amending the Act as it stands. In my opinion the anger is misdirected to a large extent.
Meanwhile, Big Brother Dhoble is watching you.
