In UP, they do it with roses and Gandhigiri

LUCKNOW: ‘Gandhigiri’ as professed in ‘Lagey Raho Munna Bhai’ seems to be gaining rapid popularity beyond cinema halls. A group of people employed non-violence to press for the removal of two liquor shops near a temple here on Wednesday.

About 50 residents of Rana Pratap Marg area wearing Gandhi caps assembled before the High Court here with roses in their hands and a memorandum seeking the removal of the liquor shops opposite a Shiva temple.

The group distributed the roses and letters of complaint to bystanders. Passers-by were pleasantly surprised by a demonstration sans a leader, no slogan-shouting and no nuisance.

“We are trying to generate opinion against liquor shops near places of worship, be it a temple, mosque, gurudwara or church,” said Virendra Singh, one of the residents. A case for removal of such liquor shops is pending before the High Court bench here.

The group later marched to the office of the District Magistrate and the District Excise Officer and handed their memorandum along with flowers. Police, however, played spoilsport after the liquor shop owner complained that the protesters might damage his shop. The group was detained at the local police station for about an hour.