Hic! State’s liquor policy on unsteady feet

Chennai

Prohibition is back on the table in Tamil Nadu, with both the Dravidian parties taking it as their top agenda in the election manifesto to the upcoming Assembly election this year. The only difference is that AIADMK is promising to usher in prohibition in a phased manner, while DMK wants to go the ‘cold turkey’ way and promulgate prohibition immediately.

However, prohibition is not merely a poll mantra. In August last year, the State witnessed ugly protests, after  the death of anti-liquor activist Sasi Perumal who reportedly died of heart attack while staging a protest calling for the closure of a Tasmac shop in Kanyakumari that was near an educational institution. The protest snowballed, with political leaders such as DMK’s M K Stalin, DMDK’s Vijayakant and MDMK’s Vaiko all sounding the bugle call for prohibition. Vaiko’s mother, 90-plus and wheel chair dependent, also participated, and the protests made headlines worldwide. Clearly, liquor had become an issue that  no party could feel cheerful about. The fact that neighbouring liquor state Kerala last year successfully restricted liquor availability to five star hotels, and Bihar chief minister making it a dry state, made it incumbent upon the Dravidian parties to take a cold call on the issue. Jayalalithaa, in her election speech said that an entire generation had got used to drinking and prohibition could only work in a phased manner, which makes sense to those in the service of deaddiction.

However, it is not merely a social issue, but one of economics as well. One-third of the state’s revenue comes from liquor sales, and in a state where elections have been won on freebies (funded from government revenue such as liquor sales tax and from excise duty on liquor) it is a huge elephant in the room. Last year, it earned an estimated Rs 85,772 crore. The fight against the bottle is never an easy one when it’s a heady cocktail of (female) vote bank and income for government.

Tamil Nadu’s withdrawal symptoms from prohibition are legendary and pre-dates Independence. Whenever there has been prohibition, illicit liquor has reared its head in the state, allegedly with support from ‘powerful’ people. Revenue-loss apart, spurious liquor during dry days have taken a toll, resulting in numerous deaths.