Against the backdrop of the demand by Dimapur based civil society organizations to lift the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act, the Chakhesang Mothers’ Association (CMA) has strongly opposed any such move and pointed out that the CSOs of Dimapur do not represent the whole of Nagaland.
In a press note, CMA maintained that though it was the prerogative of the state government to strengthen or lift the Act, the government should not be coerced by a section of people without the consensus opinion of the people.
“The fishy lobbying of a section of people in the knowledge of the government itself is a pure conspiracy against a vast majority who are against the lifting of the NLTP Act,” CMA stated.
While admitting the fact that the state government has not done enough in implementing the Act, CMA said the government of the day had passed the Act according to the dire need of the day.
However, today, the need to contain the evil of alcohol consumption is even greater, CMA said.
Reminding that the government of the past had acted to protect its people, CMA said it would not be wise for the current government to lift the Act to ruin its own people.
Revenue being one primary reason to lift the existing Act, CMA said even though revenue was important, in a Christian dominated state such as Nagaland, holding on to Christian principle was more vital than economic stability.
On the issue of spurious liquor and branded one, CMA said they were only vying for a lesser evil, and asked why the government cannot fight against both the evils instead of choosing the seemingly lesser evil?
By lifting the Act, CMA said it was only going to open the floodgate of the inflow of liquor to the State. “If there is so much of bootleggers in the State in spite of the Prohibition Act, lifting the Act is not going to be a better alternative,” the mothers’ body stated.
Noting the debate on good liquor and bad liquor, CMA, however, said liquor was liquor and no kind of liquor promotes human health. Rather, CMA said the strategy for containing social evils was the key, not paving the way for the so called “better evil” (good liquor) to flow in. “Yes, drinkers will drink but nobody can drink what is not available,” it added.
Even though some were of the view that NLTP Act has brought about drug addiction, CMA said it was just a parallel evil, both of which must be contained. An evil cannot do away with another evil; instead, they only complement each other, it added.
Therefore, CMA fervently appealed the concerned authorities and the state government to seriously initiate measures to strengthen the NLTP Act instead of lifting the same. The association hooped that good sense prevail among the leaders of the State and the masses in general.