Dimapur, Oct. 31 (EMN): An organisation from Chümoukedima has urged the Nagaland Baptist Churches Council (NBCC) to ‘revisit the reality’ of the Prohibition Act of 1989—while pointing out that the dry law is a ‘brainchild’ of the NBCC.
The Naga Tribal Union Chümoukedima Town, in a letter addressed to the general secretary of NBCC, stated that the then state government had yielded to the ‘persistent demand of the Naga people for total prohibition of sale of liquor—the mass movement headed by none other than the NBCC way back during the 1980s’.
“The active participation of the church members everywhere in the state during those days by picketing, destroying the stockpiles of liquor, but most importantly holding counselling, visiting the families of bootleggers for counselling and praying for them by the church leaders and various church members were very effective which one could still vividly recollect. The face value, credit, and compliment all goes to the NBCC leaders of yesteryears.
“However, it is disheartening to observe that random and unabated flow of liquor by illegal bootleggers had not stopped. One could easily procure any brand and quantity of liquor anywhere,” it read.
The union listed the ‘important factors’ leading to ineffective implementation of the dry law as: shortage of Excise personnel; luring of officers with cash; syndicate business in collaboration with the national workers; and “mute silence” on the part of the NBCC for too long.
It stated that the union, too, had been trying various means (to the extent of imposing heavy fines and expulsion) to eradicate ‘the menace’ within its own jurisdiction. “To sum up in short, the exercise was a total failure and fighting a losing battle.”
The union wanted to know from the NBCC: if the council thought that passing the Prohibition Act was the end in itself; and why the current church leaders were ‘reluctant and refraining themselves’ from coming to the forefront, unlike during the 80s.
“May we therefore once again urge upon the NBCC to please revisit the Prohibition Act of 1989 as it has become a blessing in disguise for many gullible officers and personnel of the implementing agencies, simply making bootleggers rich in an overnight by ruining many lives and families. The end result of the Act was, however, the government revenue nil and illegal liquor flows uninterrupted,” read the statement.
The union added that it would be happy to share its experiences in any platform if invited to.
