Dr. Asangba Tzudir
The latest Morung poll question was on whether the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1989 should be reviewed by an independent body. 32% of the respondents responded in the affirmative; 33% do not see the need for a review, while 35% had some other thing to say. Supposing that this question was passed to the audience by the respondent like in the Kaun Banega Crorepati TV Show, the respondent, on the contrary, is sure to lose a lifeline considering the break-up of the responses in terms of percentages.
The NLTP Act has been a hotly debated topic of discussion over the years and even today, just going by the percentages of the response to the poll question tells a lot about the contentious nature of the issue. Though, the percentages are almost the same in all the three options, one can see that in comparison, the call for a review has offered varied reasons which only substantiates the Act being made an object of mockery being toothless.
Having said that, the current situation calls the need for a critical appraisal giving due warrant to the underlying realities, and based on which a review can be done to either strengthen the NLTP Act and enforce it both in letter and in spirit, or do away with this Act once and for all. Either ways it is a serious challenge on the matter of continuation or lifting of the prohibitory act.
NLTP Act has been there in letters but without spirit having failed in its implementation. Yet, at the level of ‘imaging’, the mere existence of the Act portrays Nagaland as a dry state on paper which somehow goes well with the Christian State tag while a whole lot of the dirt flows under the guise of the dry state. This seems to be considered as a redeeming feature at least on the level of imaging for the Church. This ‘politics of imaging’ has been a bone of contention while also exerting pressure on the government, and gets jammed between the Church and the people.
The review however should be free of this tension, free from the bounds of ‘moral imaging’ As such, the NLTP Act needs to be reviewed by a totally independent body which can act on a ‘free will’ that can really address the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ and not simply juggling the usual rivalry between ‘economics’ and ‘morality.’ The question being how ‘independent’ is the independent body.
For now, the Church is ‘accused’ of “helping bootleggers and black marketers, while at the same time making the masses pay for the gains of a few.”
(Dr. Asangba Tzudir contributes a weekly guest editorial to The Morung Express. Comments can be mailed to asangtz@gmail.com)
