Manipur women waging a war on the ubiquitous brew

The campaign is not new to the harassed housewives who have to keep their hearth burning

IMPHAL: Housewives in Manipur have again launched a campaign against the sale and consumption of the ubiquitous country liquor. Hundreds of pouches are confiscated from bootleggers for being burnt in the presence of mediapersons.

The campaign comes on the heels of the gunning down of six drug traffickers including a woman by the outlawed outfit, Kanglei Yawol Kunna Lup. In a statement it said drug traffickers would be killed without warning and addicts kneecapped.

The campaign is not new to the harassed housewives who have to keep their hearth burning while their husbands are vegetating. There are more joints than hotels in urban and rural areas.

In the late 1970s the women formed vigilante groups to check the sale and consumption of liquor. But they could not enter tribal villages for fear of a communal flare-up. Among the tribals it is a custom to offer liquor to their forefathers. However, many started brewing liquor on a commercial scale and became rich.

As insurgency worsened, Manipur was declared a disturbed area and the Army deployed at the fag end of 1980. The women vigilantes turned their attention to alleged excesses committed by the Central forces. The Government allowed the opening of 65 foreign liquor shops, three bonded warehouses and numerous roadside kiosks selling Indian-Made Foreign Liquor for a population less than 18 lakhs. Besides, shady joints and hotels selling country liquor were found everywhere.

The Revolutionary People’s Front, a proscribed underground organisation, imposed a ban on sale and consumption of liquor from January 1, 1991. Offenders were tortured. Though foreign liquor shops closed down, canteen on the Manipur Rifles campus continued to do thrive, it is alleged.

The IMFL prices went up abnormally.

Though other insurgent groups joined the anti-liquor campaign, total prohibition could not be implemented. It is said a tacit understanding was reached among the insurgent groups to allow the sale and consumption of country liquor, but IMFL business would not be permitted.