T Meren Paul
OF late, two pertinent issues emanating from Church perspective has hit the local dailies. One is regarding the public discourses on Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1989 and the other is controversy on missing bible verses from NIV Bible. Unlike the controversy of NIV Bible that confines interests to believers and more so to theologians, the liquor prohibition issue is interested to believers and more so to the drunkards and non believers. The State Govt. is understood to have consented for further debate for lifting or continuance of the NLTP Act, 1989, and has opened a fair playing field giving opportunity to public to put forward their good counsel so that the Govt. of the day dispense justice in the larger interest of the public. Having placed the issue in open public domain we are coming across differing discourses with churches reaffirming the stand for prohibition after all church cannot say yes to alcohol. Let us also expect, in addition to what has already been presented in the paper so far, the expertise view and opinion and candid experience from concerned citizen of the state without prejudice or jeopardy to anyone. Understandably NBCC has already issued statement on 2nd August 2014 reiterating its stand on the liquor prohibition followed by brief treatise on 4th August 2014.
I remember vividly how Assam and even New Delhi were under partial prohibition, sale of liquor being permitted once in a week when Nagaland was wet state. But when Nagaland became a dry state the other two states went wet considering the need of the people. Thus requirement of partial or total prohibition policy depends upon the felt of necessity. The hue and cry for and against prohibition became so acute today due to emotional approach to the issue at the threshold by the Church. Factually, the concern expressed by our Churches was very relevant as at that point of time there were more liquor available in the state than safe drinking water as those days the bottle waters industries in India has not set in. Something has to be done to halt the unlimited and disproportionate flow of liquor to our tiny state. To my obtuse mind, the move taken by the Church was pertinent but approach was hell bend emotional. If I recollect correctly, the Church leaders called for two member volunteers from each church in the state and launched a “Fast unto Death” hunger strike at the then Phoolbari, Kohima. I hosted two of the volunteers representing my village Baptist church. To my simple reading of the text of the bible the very slogan “fast unto death” was against the teaching of the bible as the bible says “Do not kill”. Insinuating believers to “Fast unto Death” was asking the believers to suicide by fasting. Among the hundreds of volunteers fasting onto death, few were hospitalized in serious condition presenting an alarming and grave situation. Govt. of the day immediately conceded to enactment of the “Total Prohibition Act” and saved the situation. This is why I call it emotional approach. We should have tried the method of weaning, withdrawal from alcoholism through the process of attrition instead of banning the alcohol substance. Application of partial prohibition should have been the first attempt as a process of attrition and during the course of this partial prohibition the churches, NGO and the believers should have won over the youngsters and our children through inculcation of morale value to desist and despise alcohol and educate them the evil effect of alcohol both biblically and socially. Then by now (25 years) we could have produced a brand new generation of alcohol free society leaving microscopic minority population of old alcohol addicts. But sadly we are firing full salvo on the substance alcohol instead of addressing the habit/character of alcoholism. When alcoholism is eradicated from our society the need and want for the substance alcohol shall frizzle out by itself. Human tendency either by default or wickedness raises curiosity for restricted and prohibited things, the forbidden fruit was sweet in the Garden of Eden too. (The original sin)
To speak pure chemistry, (my chemistry is limited to 41 years old at graduate level only) Liquor means distilled beverages called Alcohol having chemical formula of C₂H₅OH (Ethanol or Ethyl Alcohol) which includes Whisky, Brandy, Rum, Gin, Vodka etc. Fermented beverages such as Beer, Wine, Cider do not come within the meaning of Liquor as they are not distilled. Although the content of alcohol in these fermented beverages may be very low but they falls empirically within the Alcohol family and could be intoxicating when taken in excess drinking. In the western country the permissible consumption limit of alcohol to drive a motor vehicle is two pint of beer that does not caused disruption of mental coordination that triggers physical impairment. The presence of alcohol below 30 milligram per 100 milliliter of blood is the prescribed limit of alcohol to drive a motor vehicle under the Motor Vehicles Acts, 1988.
We are now in the 25th year of Total Prohibition of liquor in Nagaland and we all know it has not produced the desired effect as anticipated but pride goes before prejudice therefore it is the emotional pride of the Christian predominated state that we are a dry state. I would not go into facts what previous writers have already highlighted about bootlegging and elicit spurious local liquor that is openly available in would be black market. No wonder we often notice truck load of empty liquor bottles going down to Dimapur from Kohima etc. These empty liquor bottles are going down to Dimapur and Khatkhati for refilling with elicit spurious locally made liquor (could be with methyl alcohol) to be again transported back to our towns bootlegger for further merry go rounds. All these liquor are consumed by our people in our midst but none of us raises even an eyebrow where, how and why liquor are found in our dry state. We are focused more unto propagating moral ethics than spiritual value, should be searching the perishing soul rather than the substance (alcohol). Every Naga is a believer, a member of a particular local church but none of us tries winning the drunkard, the substance abuser, the bootleggers, drug peddler for Christ because it is an unpleasant and herculean task and may even cost our life. Should we not have compunction on those perishing souls who shies away from church and teach them as Jesus commissioned us to do? Or, do we just keep singing, we shall overcome through Govt. Legislation, come whatever may, let it be the bounden duty of the Govt. to stop the public from drinking, take away the alcohol temptation from our society but nay, not by us complacent churches and believers. Over the years I have travelled a lot in around Nagaland. An odd spectacle along the road is motorist picnicking liquor on the roadside lay bay or under the shade of trees. You look for a suitable site to relieve yourself of nature call or stopping at any water holes, there will be no dearth of strewn empty liquor bottles. Surely yearning for alcoholic drinks is very high on the ride in our society. The daring million dollar question is, should we let our people continue drinking the highly poisoned bootlegged elicit spurious liquor?
Time is the greatest healer that usher changes and much scenario has also been changed in our state during the last 25 years period of the wettest dry state in the world. Today, besides the alcoholism we are beset with more serious social problem of drug addiction, HIV Aids problem and the casualties due to consumption of elicit spurious liquor. Believe me, I am not on liquor but I would advocate for partial prohibition under strict regulation such as sale of alcohol once in a week, sale to above 18 years of age (age proof certificate mandatory) sale restriction of limited quantity to a person, persecution for selling of alcohol on dry day, persecution of drinking on dry day, persecution of drink and drive, persecution of drinking in public, so and so forth.
Today we are witnessing alcoholic casualties of as young as 20 years old that indicates they started drinking at young age of 15-16 years. Who is at fault? Let us not point fingers at anybody but let us introspect and honestly admit that we, means I and you as parent, a believer, a church member, intellectual and as a human being have miserably failed to dissuade/wean away alcoholics from drinking. The church has taken for granted that the Total Prohibition Act, 1989 would control liquor in the state and leave it to the Government machineries to tame even the alcoholism. When Government control the substance alcohol the churches, the society down to the family should try to control the alcohol substance abuse. Perhaps the first and the foremost imparting of life molding teaching to children at home is lacking due to poor parenting. We hardly see people becoming alcohol addict after marriage but 99% alcoholism takes place on young people. I praise the brain behind the “Fathers School” now being conducted in many of the local churches. This new approach of imparting education on biblical and social approach on parenthood and parenting to the fathers will produce sea of changes in our society within a decade or two. The church should bring out a “Vision Road Map” on how to eradicate alcoholism from our society. The reason why I advocate (who am I to advocate?) partial prohibition is to make available branded liquor to those alcohol consumer, the addicts and addict on the making, so that they are given a lease of life and get a live opportunity to change their life and meet Jesus as personal Savior through the church Vision Road Map. A mere single drunkenness does not turn one into alcoholic but regular drunkenness makes one an alcoholic. In drunkenness brain coordination fails and leads to physical impairment, some may shouts and few may brawl but soon the alcohol effect wears out and returns to normalcy. Except in few cases, there is turning point in alcoholics to come back to normal life. How many testimonies do we have in our church in a year? We give baptism to our teenager being born to Christian family and count them as church members. We have many Outreach Mission fields of the churches but back home we are grappling with alcoholism, drug addiction and HIV Aids problem because soul winning at home is neglected. We should be more conscious of drug addiction and HIV Aids problems. I am told a single dose intake of drugs turns one into addiction with hardly few cases of turning back chance. So also, one night stand or single sexual intercourse with HIV positive person is enough to get HIV Aids infected with no cure. Drugs and HIV Aids are silent killer but sadly there are no expressed emotion and advocates from any corner for those poor souls but are rather despised and stymied. Before the constituent Parliament of India two different opinions cropped up. The Hindu majority congress wanted to enact Ban of Cow slaughter but Mahatma Gandhi strongly opposed it saying that even in democracy the majority cannot deny food of the minority (Muslim) whereas; Gandhi wanted total prohibition but the majority opposed it. Delhi bans cow slaughter but not prohibition. In some states like our there is Total Prohibition but no ban on Cow slaughter.
Keeping in mind the Total Prohibition as final frontier of our state, the first phase towards alcohol eradication should come through partial prohibition as corollary with all the required regulation string attached to it. Let every believer endeavor to save the alcoholics during this period and make our society alcohol free. Prohibition or no prohibition, liquor will be always available in our place because the demand shall prompt bootlegger to invent new modus operandi to transport elicit liquor to the state where a culpable vicious circle may be available to give a wink. I am told in one seminar that the impregnable Great Wall of China was breached thrice by enemy not through military might but through bribery. Admit that we neither have Great Wall nor Great Well, one has to simply cross the border to Assam/Manipur/Arunachal and get drunk as much you want. If we expect Govt. machinery to implement the Prohibition in letter and in spirit, it will require a battalion of Excise personnel to police the streets, joints, frisking of all kinds of motor vehicles entering Nagaland at the interstate check gate and further frisking all vehicles coming to Kohima from Dimapur etc. Surely, the Check gate at Pakla Pahar and the Golaghat road Interstate check gate would require widening to create road shoulder to provide frisking lay bay so also at the entry point to every District Headquarter. No exemption of any VIP, Police, Armed Forces and Para military vehicles. Look at the gate crashing red beacon light of VIP vehicles, displaying name/institution plate in the vehicles (nowadays even church uses name plate) with mad rush, inter alia, show of authority and position, imagine what ruckus scenario it will create at the frisking point?, We can expect the unimaginable harangue where there will be test of our nerve and patient as hours ticks by in the vehicle que waiting your turn for frisking. The nerve and temper of our motorist raised to its height every minute, everybody honking and honking the horn, usually don’t have even few seconds tolerance of staggering of vehicles in the road. Implementation of Total Prohibition would be more than a herculean task and irritating to many of us. I may be a poor judge of the matter.
This is purely my personal view whether good or bad taste to churches and believers, I am fully aware that my writing shall invoke criticism and condemnation by many and may be even shocking to many of my good friends why I have written it. But I am not raking up a new issue but participating in the ongoing open debate through the news media basing on my personal experience. Let us all participate in the great effort of removing alcoholism from our society not just parroting and prescribing task to other and discerning only the failure at the end of the day, but bottom line let us propound task to be result oriented where we also participate in actual execution. Let us be progressive Christian and shun any bigoted approach on total prohibition but give a try to new view point in order to give a chance to the perishing soul after all they are also fellow human being. God forgave me if I have erred.
