TN goes 'tipsy' turvy over liquor prohibition call

Demand for total prohibition has taken permanent root in Tamil Nadu with many political parties calling for a State-wide bandh on Tuesday. The anti-liquor agitators got a boost on Monday with both the CPI and the CPI(M) extending support to the bandh call.“We want total prohibition in Tamil Nadu. The State is undergoing a serious crisis with even four-year old children taking to liquor in a big way. We want all liquor outlets in the State to go,” C Mahendran, senior CPI leader told The Pioneer. G Ramakrishnan, the CPI (M) polit bureau member and Tamil Nadu secretary of the party too made it known that his party would throw its weight behind the Tuesday bandh.

As a prelude to events which may unfold in days to come, two liquor outlets  in Tirunelveli and Salem districts were ransacked on Sunday and Monday by those demanding  total prohibition in the State.Monday saw rioters setting fire to a TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) liquor outlet near Salem city resulting in the shop getting partly gutted down. According to the police, miscreants made a hole on the roof of the Government-owned outlet and threw down some igniting material which resulted in the fire. liquor bottles stored in 25 cartons were destroyed in the fire by the time the fire brigade reached the spot and doused the flames.

Sunday saw activists of the MDMK led by Vaiko marching to a liquor outlet in Kalingapetti village in Tirunelveli district and ransacking it. Kalingapetti is the native village of Vaiko. The anti-liquor activists were led by wheelchair bound Mariammal Vayyapuri (94), mother of Vaiko. The MDMK leader alleged that the TASMAC outlet has been functioning at Kalingapetti in spite of a resolution moved by the Panchayat to close it down.

Vaiko, still struggling to get a foothold in Tamil Nadu politics, has taken up the cudgels on behalf of the anti-liquor lobby by calling for the bandh on Tuesday. Thol Thirumavalavan, leader of the Dalit outfit VCK too has come out extending support to Tuesday’s bandh. But PMK, which swears on total prohibition declared that it has nothing to do with the bandh call. “We are against bandhs and closure as it would lead to public inconvenience,” Ramados, the party founder, said in a statement.

Not to be left behind by other political parties, the DMK, declared on Monday that it would organise massive protests all over the State on August 10 demanding  immediate introduction of total prohibition. Party president M Karunanidhi demanded the immediate release of all anti-liquor activists arrested by the police from Tirunelveli on Sunday.