When asked about police actions against soda shop owners, police commissioner said he did not know what prompted it.
Is Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy only for politicians? It seems so seeing how the police had forced more than 30 soda shop owners to remove the image of the Father of the Nation from signboards of their shops in September 2009. Instead of taking up cudgels against the decision and seeking legal recourse, the soda shop owners surrendered. They removed the Mahatma’s image from the signboard as they did not wish to be in the middle of any controversy.
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In 2009, there were around 30 soda shops in the city that were using Gandhiji’s image on the signboard of their shops. One fine morning, a team of police from their area knocked their shutters and asked them to remove the image terming it as violation of law.
“The police asked us to remove the image of Mahatma Gandhiji from the banner with immediate effect or face the consequences,” said Ashwin Joshi, a soda shop owner in Ghatlodia area. Joshi and his brother-in-law Pradeep Chalewada had introduced the concept of flavoured soda under the banner of Gandhi Soda Shop and had around 30 franchises in the city in 2009 which have doubled to more than 75 at present.
Talking about using Gandhiji’s image, Joshi said that he belongs to Porbandar and has a special attachment to the Father of Nation. “The images were placed to pay tribute to Gandhiji for freeing India from slavery of the British,” said Joshi. He said that it was a prudent decision to remove the image instead of wasting time in a legal battle.
The soda shop owners alleged that it was nothing but another tool to harass small shop keepers. “Gandhi’s image is printed on currency notes, which are used in many illegal business transactions. Will the police stop printing Gandhi’s image on currency as it is used in illegal business as well,” asked a soda shop owner from Vadaj area.
Jitendrasinh Bodal, a customer, said that soda is not an alcoholic drink, so nothing was wrong in using the Mahatma’s image. “The customers come to the soda shop because of quality and not because of Gandhiji’s image on the signboard,” said Bodal. Even though it is not a cognisable offence, the police department swung into action and removed images of Gandhiji and other national leaders from the signboards of soda shops.
“To have an image of national leader on the signboard of any shop is not a cognisable offence. If it is found fit under Shops and Establishment Act of the municipal corporation, the police is in no way involved in it,” said Sudhir Sinha, city police commissioner.
When asked about the police actions in September 2009 against soda shop owners, he said that he did not know what might have led the police officers of that time to take such an action.
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