NC government buckles after BJP protest, promises liquor ban in J&K

BJP leaders and workers outside the police station during a protest demanding liquor ban in Srinagar

SRINAGAR: A day after the BJP staged a protest outside Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s residence demanding total prohibition in the Kashmir Valley, the ruling National Conference (NC) has softened its stand on the issue and promised to ban the sale and consumption of liquor in Jammu and Kashmir.Omar and NC president Farooq Abdullah had earlier rejected calls to ban liquor in UT.On Saturday, however, NC chief spokesperson and MLA Tanveer Sadiq said “alcohol will be banned in Jammu and Kashmir and the NC government will”. “Irrespective of the BJP’s drama on the issue”, the NC government will take a decision soon, he said to reporters’ questions about the BJP’s threat to start a hunger strike for its demands.The party now seems to be on the backfoot, though spokespersons and senior officials maintained that it was not the NC government that came up with the current excise policy that allows liquor shops to be set up all over Jammu and Kashmir.“I think in the next assembly session, the matter will be debated, discussed and finalised,” NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said. “Already many private members have brought bills to ban liquor in the previous session of the Assembly. These bills are likely to come up in the next session and they will be decided,” he added, hinting that the NC may support a private member’s bill on alcohol prohibition.The change in position came after the BJP’s protest on Friday. The party said it would launch protests from Qazigund town in South Kashmir to Karnah area on the North Line of Control if the NC government fails to act.The CM had earlier created a row as liquor shops were allowed to serve liquor by their religion and no one was forced to drink against their will. Rejecting the PDP’s criticism, he said allowing the sale of liquor is not the same as encouraging consumption of liquor.Farooq also spoke, even as his father Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah rejected then Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s call to ban liquor in 1977, as it generated substantial revenue. The NC president said the implementation of the ban in Jammu and Kashmir will not stop tippers from being trafficked from outside.Controversy over liquor ban erupted after LG Manoj Sinha launched a 100-day drive against drugs on April 11, prompting the PDP and BJP to demand that it be extended to the sale of liquor as well.