However, this did not stop Lord Bilimoria at least to do what the British, during their prime, dared to do. He went on to ‘offer’ beer to the Father of the Nation in the session on Accelerating Industrial Growth in Bihar.

It all started when Prof Nawal Kishore Chaudhary of Department of Economics, Patna University, confronted Lord Bilimoria, who is the founder and chairman of Cobra Beer for promoting liquor consumption in Bihar, the state associated with Mahatma Gandhi’s famous struggle. He also said that alcoholism results in violence against women.

Bilimoria countered it saying that country liquor with 65 per cent alcohol content is worse than his beer which has just five per cent of alcohol content. It is just a refreshing drink, he said. He did not stop there, but went on to add: “Had Mahatma Gandhi been here I would have offered him Cobra non-alcoholic beer as refreshment.”

But the Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen, who was chairing the Session, soon cut in. He closed the Session hurriedly after this remark by saying: “I do not know whether this is the right note to end the Session but let us break for tea.”Lord Bilimoria, it needs to be mentioned, is planning to set up a brewery in Bihta, 45 km from Patna. The Patna High Court has recently stayed the construction work of another beer factory owned by Vijay Mallya also in Bihta in Patna.Here it would be interesting to note that there are in all  35,000 wine shops in the state which has just over 8,000 panchyats. An overwhelming number of them have come up after the New Excise Policy came into force in July 2007.Incidentally, Bilimoria’s comment came just before the Valedictory Session of three-day Clobal Summit, which was attended by none other but the grand son of the Mahatma, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the former Governor of West Bengal.