Kamal Ghorui
SRINAGAR: BJP Friday staged a protest outside J&K CM Omar Abdullah’s residence, demanding prohibition of liquor in Kashmir Valley.The party said it would launch protests from Qazigund town in south Kashmir to Karnah area on Line of Control in north Kashmir in the second phase of protests in near future if the National Conference govt failed to act.“BJP is against all kinds of drugs and alcohol consumption. The NC govt wants to push J&K’s youth toward alcohol consumption,” BJP’s Altaf Thakur told reporters outside the CM’s residence. “The way NC functionaries are making statements in support of liquor sale and consumption is not acceptable. Kashmir is the land of sages and we will not allow liquor shops in this land,” he said.BJP’s general secretary Anwar Khan, who also participated in the protest, said if the CM and NC president Farooq Abdullah were concerned about revenue generated through 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 workers also questioned LG Manoj Sinha’s 100-day drive against drugs, wondering why liquor sale is not included in it.The police, however, swiftly acted against protesters and pushed them away from the CM’s residence.BJP spokesperson Sajid Yousuf Shah said at least 10 protesters, including himself, were detained by police but let off after an hour.On Sunday, CM Abdullah had rejected calls for prohibition in J&K, dismissing the opposition People’s Democratic Party’s argument that allowing liquor sales amounted to encouraging alcohol consumption.Following him, Farooq said his father, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, had refused to impose such a ban in 1977 as it generated substantial revenue for the UT (which was then a state). “Even today, if the Govt of India compensates us (for the revenue loss), I am sure (J&K) govt will ban liquor,” he had said.While Farooq claimed he did not drink, he added that banning liquor in J&K won’t stop tipplers from smuggling it from outside.LG Manoj Sinha had launched a 100-day drive against drugs on April 11, which led to demands from various quarters that it should be extended to liquor sales.NC spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar, meanwhile, said it was the PDP-BJP govt that pushed through an excise policy in 2017 mandating liquor shops in “unserved and underserved areas.”
