o cavalcade of cars accompany the rickety open jeep, campaign vehicle of 49-year-old MS Arumugam, an independent candidate at Srirangam Assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu, which is going to poll on February 13. More than the customary face-off between the ruling AIADMK and the Opposition DMK, it is the presence of Arumugam which has enlivened the proceedings at Srirangam.
The seat fell vacant following the conviction and sentencing of J Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK boss in the disproportionate asset case by the Bangalore special court. It is important for the AIADMK to win the contest as Jayalalithaa, their captain and star campaigner is 'incapacitated by the court ruling'.
The Opposition DMK is on a mission to wrest the seat from the AIADMK which was won by Jayalalithaa with a big margin of 41,000 votes in the 2011 elections. Arumugan, fielded by the political liquor Consumers Awareness Association, has brought some refreshing change to the routine rituals.
In a State where, the self-styled Tamil nationalists like S Ramadoss of the Vanniyar dominated PMK and the rabid Tamil chauvinist Vaiko demand total prohibition, Arumugan, a school dropout is fighting for reasonable demands of the tipplers. "Though the Government of Tamil Nadu pockets Rs23,000 crore every year as profit by selling Indian Made Foreign liquor, the people who drink the liquor get a raw deal. Everybody makes fun of us. When we become old and start suffering from various ailments caused by the drinks, there is no one to take care of us," Arumugam told The Pioneer.
He said the intention is to bring the attention of the world to the sufferings of the tipplers. "I know that I may not be able to make it big here. But more and more people have started understanding the sufferings of the drinkers," he said. Arumugam used to gulp down as many as eight or nine "larges" on all evenings. "But not now. He restricts himself to three larges after joining the lCAA," said P Chellapandian, president, lCAA.
Chellapandian, himself a teetotaller, launched the lCAA after seeing the plight of hundreds of habitual drinkers. "The exchequer should give something back to them to take care of their health. It is possible for the Government to offer them a group insurance scheme and a monthly pension. The revenue gathered by the Government by selling liquor is mindboggling. But these poor tipplers are not given quality spirits. What is being sold through liquor outlets are sub-standard stuff. We should show some compassion to them. If they don't drink, from where will the Government mobilise the Rs23,000 crore annually," asked Chellapandian (49), a zoology graduate from Madurai Kamaraj University.
Other than insurance and monthly pension, the tipplers are demanding the setting up of speciality hospitals in all district headquarters. "We have cancer hospitals and speciality centres for treating all other diseases. There are no hospitals exclusively for treating liquor-related ailments," said Arumugam.
Both Chellapandian and Arumugam pointed out that though the demand for closure for liquor shops has become shriller, the number of drinkers has shot up over the years. "There are school and college students who make it a point to visit the watering holes in the cities. let the Government chalk out a strategy to sell quality spirits at subsidised prices so that the health of tipplers do not suffer," said the lCAA candidate and his mentor.