Prohibition in force since 1991! 'Under consideration' stand
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: August 03, 2022 -

Is this the time to continue to get stuck or toy with words such as 'considerations on', 'under serious considerations', 'seriously thinking over it' or get down to the business of actually acting on the point that is under consideration ?

This poser is important when viewed against the backdrop of the fact that it was none less than the Chief Minister himself who informed the Assembly that the Government is considering the option of lifting prohibition from the State.

This is not something new, for remember the Manipur Liquor Prohibition (second amendment) Bill, was introduced in the House during the first chapter of the BJP led Government in 2018, but as things stand today, the said Bill has lapsed and it would necessitate the introduction of a new Bill towards this end.

And when the focus is on prohibition here, the natural question that follows is whether this has worked in any way or has merely given rise to the emergence of an underground market, a market run and managed by those who have the clout and the influence to make a killing out of bootlegging, a phenomenon known to one and all.

The answer should be obvious to all, but remember prohibition came at that point of time when Manipur reeled under 'drinking' and it was not an uncommon sight to see drunkards loitering around the roads of Imphal.

Drunken fights, domestic violence, unnecessary commotion in the dead of the night, unruly behaviour, drunken driving-name any of the ills associated with drunkenness and Manipur scored high.

It was amid this ugly reality that the Nisha Bandh movement, the precursor of the Meira Paibi movement, gained widespread acceptance and back then the Republic Day parade was incomplete without a tableau depicting the Nisha Bandh movement.

This was way back in the late 1970s and maybe early 1980s and what was once a movement to check drunkenness and ensure the safety of women and children within the confines of one's house, soon metamorphosed into the Meira Paibi movement.

It was against this reality that prohibition was imposed during the MPP led Government under the Chief Ministership of the late RK Ranbir Singh in 1991.

So prohibition has been in force for over 30 years now and many of the youngsters who enjoy a quick peg or two on the sly today would not have been born when this restriction was imposed back in 1991.

Three decades in force and the question is, whether prohibition has worked or not.

The Government obviously thinks not and hence the line, 'Government is mulling over the possibility of lifting prohibition' and regulate the sale of alcohol.

Different people will have different takes on whether prohibition should continue or not but what cannot be refuted is the fact that prohibition has not stopped sale and consumption of alcohol.

Far from stopping or even checking the widespread sale of alcohol, it has only led to the mushrooming of drinking/sale joints at many leikais and leiraks that today, a person who savours his drinks at any time of the day need not go to the khuns to down a peg or two, but know which door to knock in one's own locality.

This is about the locally brewed liquor, locally known as Ashaba in the local parlance.

For the moneyed few, who have the means and the reach to go in for the Indian Made Foreign Liquor, the source could be anywhere, underlining the point that there is an underground market.

Many such drinking joints have emerged in the commercial areas of Imphal and on the highways where one can have one's choice of drinks, from the most delectable single malt to just plain, good old whisky.

At some places the choice could be wide, ranging from the popular whisky to rum and yes beer.

The daily news reports of alcohol being impounded from different parts of the State should underline this point.

This is the reality and it is against this reality that the Government is mulling over the possibility of lifting prohibition.

The BJP did receive the mandate of the people at the hustings and with 32 MLAs, numbers should not be a cause of concern to the Government to take tough decisions.