Ao Baptist Arogo Mungdang (ABAM) has declared that it would continue its relentless fight for reinforcement of the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act, 1989 and hold firm to the ways the Christian foreparents of Nagaland who had fasted with tears and sacrificed their lives for the “noble cause”.
ABAM president Rev Temshi Longkümer and executive secretary Rev Dr Prof Mar Pongener contended that the ongoing threat of alcoholism was a sad reality for Naga society as it distressed the various dimensions of human lives. Hence, ABAM said one could not ignore the detrimental effects it had, beginning with annihilation of human lives, that needed to be tackled with profound gravity by every sensible citizen and corporate sections of the society.
ABAM recalled that the state government passed the liquor prohibition Act in 1989 that prohibited transport, import or possession, sell or purchase, consumption and manufacture of liquor, and use of any material for its manufacture.
The movement was spearheaded by various organisations such as the church, women and youth organisations.
They mentioned that one of the visions of the churches in Nagaland was to extinguish the vice of liquor and its use. After relentless efforts by the leaders of the Baptist churches, the long-awaited Bill was introduced in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly on November 9, 1989. And, after 28 years of endless fighting, the NLTP Act was passed by the Assembly on March 29, 1990. With this, Nagaland was finally declared a dry state.
The ABAM leaders cautioned that the removal of NLTP Act would heighten the issue of physio-psycho-social deterioration, moral decay, spiritual tarnish, and social paralysis of the Nagas on a large-scale basis.
There could be lucrative revenue for few hands, but they questioned who would be responsible for the victims of this menace — the innocent lives being killed under the high influence of alcohol, the financial loss, the increase of immorality, increased broken homes and endless domestic violence, the rise of death tolls due to the use of alcohol, the negligence of work or responsibility etc.
They asked could anyone guarantee that the value of human life was heightened because of the free access to sell and promote liquor. They questioned, “What would you opt for – the integration of human values or the increased economy? Who can guarantee the morality, spirituality and modesty of the Naga society will reach its peak because we remove the NLTP Act?”
