Jaya’s ‘promise on prohibition is a sham’

He said, in a statement on Sunday, that though she had the chance to declare prohibition in the state on several occasions she had not taken a bold step. In 1991 when she put her first signature on a file to abolish sale of cheap arrack sachets she could have declared prohibition, but did not. 

She should have announced phased prohibition and implemented it in two years or before the end of that term. In 2001, she again had an opportunity to implement the dry law in the state but she encouraged her friend Sasikala to flourish with her Midas Golden Distilleries venture, which was a vendor for TASMAC. She also brought the shops under the state’s control to favour her coterie. 

Ramadoss said Jayalalithaa was cheating the people by reeling out statistics on present liquor consumption as compared to 2010-11 which could not be verified. If she had seriously thought about having prohibition after 2011 she could have done it on Gandhi Jayanthi, Oct.2, that year and implemented it in phases. 

Instead she opened more than 300 new wine shops and elite shops. He and many PMK office-bearers were arrested in July and December 2011 for an agitation to demand prohibition, Ramadoss said. PMK filed a petition in the Madras High Court calling for closure of liquor shops on the highways because they caused accidents. 

Though it got a favourable verdict, she refused to close the shops. She closed down those on the national highways only after the Supreme Court intervened.  The ones on the state highways awaited verdict in the apex court. He was critical of Jayalalithaa’s claim over reduction in the consumption level of liquor in the state. 

Citing official figures, he squarely blamed both the Dravidian parties for the people’s current addiction to alcohol in the state. He claimed victory for his party which was in the fore front of a crusade for prohibition for nearly 27 years ever since it was formed. 

He was working for prohibition in Tamil Nadu for nearly 35 years. He categorically stated that as the state made revenue through TASMAC shops to the tune of about Rs 1.2 lakh crores, both the major parties’ liquor barons earned around Rs 70,000 crores “which they cannot afford to lose.” Therefore, it was certain that neither of them was going to implement total prohibition in the state.