BJP stages protest outside Omar’s residence for liquor prohibition in Kashmir
SRINAGAR: The BJP on Friday staged a protest outside J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s residence demanding a ban on liquor in the Kashmir Valley.The party said that if the National Conference government fails to act, the second phase of the protest will begin in the near future from Qazigund town in South Kashmir to Karnah area of the Line of Control in North Kashmir.“The BJP is against all forms of drug and alcohol consumption. The NC government wants to push the youth of Jammu and Kashmir to consume alcohol,” BJP’s Altaf Thakur told reporters outside the chief minister’s residence. “The way NC workers are making statements in support of sale and consumption of liquor is not acceptable. Kashmir is the land of sages and we will not allow liquor shops in this land,” he said.BJP general secretary Anwar Khan, who participated in the protest, said that if Chief Minister and NC president Farooq Abdullah were concerned about income from liquor sales, BJP workers would “sit outside mosques and beg for money for the ruling party”, but would not allow anyone to “play with the future of the youth”.Many BJP activists also questioned LG Manoj Sinha’s 100-day campaign against drugs, wondering why liquor sales were not included in it.The police, however, took swift action against the protesters and chased them away from the Chief Minister’s residence.BJP spokesperson Sajid Yusuf Shah said at least 10 protesters, including himself, were detained by the police but released after an hour.On Sunday, CM Abdullah rejected calls for a ban in J&K, dismissing the opposition People’s Democratic Party’s argument that allowing the sale of liquor amounted to encouraging consumption of liquor.Following him, Farooq said his father, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, refused to impose such a ban in 1977 because it generated enough revenue for UT (which was then a state). “Even today, if the Indian government compensates us (for revenue loss), I am sure the (J&K) government will ban liquor,” he said.Although Farooq claimed that he did not drink, he added that banning liquor in Jammu and Kashmir would not stop tipplers from being smuggled from outside.LG Manoj Sinha launched a 100-day drive against drugs on April 11, leading to demands from various quarters that it should be extended to the sale of liquor.NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar, meanwhile, said it was the PDP-BJP government in 2017 through an excise policy that made liquor shops mandatory in “unsanitary and underdeveloped areas”.
