Away With Central Excise

Responding to my post of yesterday, titled “Fuck Off, Judge,” on a Supreme Court verdict that denied Indians the right to sell liquor freely, an anonymous reader commented that the chief minister of Delhi, Shiela Dixit, intended to privatize the retail trade in alcohol (a state monopoly for some 20 years now) but could not do so because of vested interests and protesting women.

Nonsense!

The tyranny against alcohol in Delhi is conducted directly by the excise department, which functions under the central government’s ministry of finance. It is they who have made life in Delhi unbearable for anyone who enjoys a drink. There are precious few (government) shops selling the stuff; and there are even fewer restaurants and bars where one can sit and sip a drink. Further, because of the high license fees, buying a beer in a restaurant or bar is unaffordable to most people.

Not only that, if a Delhiite wants to throw a big party, for which lots of booze is required, a special license is to be obtained from this excise department.

In Delhi, people drink in their cars, in hiding. Poor people quaff their quarters in dark street corners. Delhi, in this context, is an uncivilized city.

Goa is civilized; Mangalore is civilized. Delhi is barbaric.

Further, Shiela Dixit is just small fry. Ultimately, it is the central Chacha State that runs Delhi. They appoint the Lieutenant-Governor. They appoint the Commissioner of Police. They control the Delhi Development Authority. Dixit is almost powerless.

Let us return to the Supreme Court, an apex court meant to decide on constitutional issues alone. These should be decided on matters of legal principle. The primary principle should be the inviolability of Private Property. If the shop belongs to me, I have the right to stock it with what I choose. If this right is taken away from me, I cannot satisfy customers – and, therefore, I cannot survive. So this essential Liberty is part of everyone’s Right to Life.

Of course, our illiterate Supreme Court judges have never upheld the principle of the inviolability of Private Property. Libertarians must unite in telling such judges to fuck off.

However, as far as the immediate moment is concerned, the people’s war in Delhi must be waged against the tyrannical excise department of the central Chacha State. Delhiites must ask themselves what do they get for all this taxation? They don’t even possess a toll-free road to Gurgaon, 20 kms away. There are stiff tolls on the 4 km “expressway” to Noida. Delhi is a living hell. With good roads, every Delhiite could have two houses – including one in the hills for the unbearable summer, which is fast approaching.

Yes. What do Dilliwallahs they get from the excise department but more and more harassment, more and more tyranny, more and more corruption? Nothing. It is against this department of monsters that all civic activism in Delhi must be directed. This central excise department must be told to fuck off from town.

Let there be Liberty in Delhi. Let the booze flow. Let the government do basic things it is supposed to – like build roads and streets, administer property titles, clear garbage – and nothing more.

Away with central excise!