Dimapur, July 6 (MExN): The Council of Naga Baptist Churches today said the churches shall “fully cooperate with all positive changes and necessary amendments in the Act to curb liquor in our God-given land.” However, the CNBC further stated “partial lifting will be suicidal... total lifting would be a license to kill in exchange for revenue.” The CNBC statement titled “Life And Liquor” was appended by CNBC president Rev. L. Bizo and general secretary Rev. Dr. V.K. Nuh.
The CNBC stated that “the churches must opt for life in its fullness. For all intent and purposes, we stand by the verdict of the scripture: ‘What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his life?’”
The council said the churches in Nagaland “have committed to pray” for the state and the government since statehood. “Every time a new government is formed, the church leadership represented by NBCC met with the chief minister and his Cabinet ministers to pray and to submit a list of concerns for the welfare of the people and the state in which liquor was a regular item to be addressed and regulated.” But instead of regulating and minimizing it, the CNBC said “liquor licenses multiplied often associated with pornographic videos in many places.”
The CNBC also quoted former Nagaland Chief Minister Dr. SC Jamir: “Many states have gone for Liquor Prohibition and failed, but it does not mean that Nagaland should not go for it and succeed as well.” The statement said “thereafter, the churches intensified the struggle against liquor and launched prayer and fasting program including a week long hunger strike which resulted in the enactment of the Liquor Total Prohibition Act 1989.” It further acknowledged the support and role of the Naga Mothers’ Association and their allies.
However, over the years there have been numerous comments, arguments and strong views against the Prohibition, the CNBC said, quoting revenue losses and “other negative undesirable impacts rendering the Prohibition to become a mockery in a Christian state.” “Has it become beyond repair and repentance? A first amendment was made in 1994. What really stands in the way for an effective implementation and how to overcome them? Lack of sufficient intelligence and collective will-power including political will often appear but we continue to rely on ‘the power that be’”.
The church organization also said “trucks carrying cartoons of liquor were caught by security forces, not by the state police, after passing through several police check -posts.” Vehicles of high officials have involved in liquor business; while government sponsored-programs such as the Hornbill Festivals and Road Shows could be considered innovative and a “brilliant idea” to showcase the best of Naga culture “it is contradictory in terms as the free flow of liquor is allowed openly when the Prohibition Act is in force.
The CNBC said the government should owe up to the integrity of a legislation they instated. “We believe that it is not beyond our ability to overcome all hurdles and inherent problems relating to the implementation of the Prohibition. We have a strong Christian leadership at the state Legislative Assembly. They shall respect their own legislation.”
The government cannot afford to yield and bow to the powers of “adversaries”, the council said, such as rampant imports and sales of liquor or other related offences and crimes. “The legislators have a paid Chaplain for their spiritual worship and fellowship,” the council explained.
