A week before the Congress government was scheduled to table a much-debated Bill to allow the consumption and sale of liquor in Mizrom, India, in an attempt to end the 18-year-old alcohol ban in the state, Excise Minister R Lalzirliana stopped by at an evening Church service in Armed Veng. Near the end of the mass prayer for the continuation of total prohibition in Mizoram, Lalzirliana stood up saying, “Lord, I am the one who is to table this new Bill this week. If it is against your will, then make it impossible for me to do so by sending a calamity on me or my family.” Lalzirliana, who happens to be the second-in-command in Mizoram’s state government, was speaking in all seriousness.
Kerala, a state in southern India, has been heading towards total prohibition while Mizoram, in the far east, has been hiccupping its way out of it. Unlike in Kerala, the state and the Church in Mizoram find themselves on opposite ends of the spectrum. In July, Lalzirliana introduced the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition and Control) Bill at the state assembly and it turned out to be the longest debate in recent history, where 19 MLAs pointed out ban-induced manufacturing of unauthentic alcohol had led to the deaths of numerous youths, and six opposition lawmakers warned that the new change would lead to social discord and mass drunkenness.
Cabinet Minister Zodintluanga, whose flourishing family business was once dependent on liquor trade, recalled a speech made by Laldenga, founder of the leading opposition party, Mizo National Front, which is opposing the change currently.
He said, “Laldenga had pointed out, ‘Alcohol is neither wrong nor right. It is just a thing. We will not consult any religion because that is not what a secular government does.’”
Finance Minister Lalsawta echoed similar ideas saying, “In the early 1990s, I was against condoms, but I was wrong. Abstinence does not always work. And I also believe that we as a party should be ready to lose an election if we are to do something we feel is correct. I strongly disapprove of those who hide behind the Church.”
Close to two months since the debate took place at the assembly, Christian youth groups continue to put up anti-alcohol posters across city walls, and Church groups continue to conduct mass prayers with hopes that the new law will be overturned. Local administrations in more than a dozen neighbourhoods have said that they will not allow the sale of alcohol or allow it to be warehoused, consumed and transported in their respective areas. About half a dozen units of Young Mizo Association, the state’s largest voluntary organization that has campaigned against alcohol and drug consumption, have urged residents to abstain from selling or buying alcohol. In fact, some YMA units have been conducting vigils at night to ensure no liquor shops are open and no youth is found drinking in public. During the prohibition years, YMA had built a reputation for its strong-arm tactics against liquor shops.
The Congress government is of the opinion that YMA has been opposing the new law at the behest of the opposition. Towards the end of the opposition’s rule in 2007 however, the then government had conveniently distorted the prohibition law to allow farmers in the colder regions of the state to build wineries and use locally produced grapes to make wine.
Today, that industry is worth more than Rs 4 crore and supports hundreds of families through its sale of local brands of wine known as Zowine and Zawlaidi.
Over the last one month, the Excise Department has been working on rules that will accompany the new law so that liquor shops and bars can be opened in Mizoram before Christmas this year. While allowing the sale, retail, consumption, storage, manufacture and transport of a variety of alcohol, including country-produces, the new Bill also highlights the need for permits and fines.
Photo Credits: Mizoram Directorate of Information & Public Relations
