“History is witness to the fact that liquor ban bill has been introduced in the assembly during the reign of successive popular Governments and even during the lifetime of late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah but could not be passed even once due to lack of consensus between the Government and the opposition.”
The euphoria generated over the proposed legislation for ban on liquor by National Conference MLA Ahsan Pardesi and PDP MLA Mir Mohammad Fayaz is obviously more about politics and less about ban on liquor as history about liquor ban bill in itself shows that previous regimes also brought liquor ban bills in the assembly but in the end did not show the political will to get them passed. History is witness to the fact that liquor ban bill has been introduced in the assembly during the reign of successive popular Governments and even during the lifetime of late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah but could not be passed even once due to lack of consensus between the Government and the opposition. This time a bill moved by National Conference (NC) and a counter bill moved by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will again trigger a debate for days together but ultimately the bill won’t be obviously passed due to lack of consensus between the Government and the Opposition. Though seriousness about passing the bill demands broader consensus between the Government and the Opposition much before moving it in the assembly but two bills by two rival political parties National Conference and PDP obviously won’t obviously lead to its smooth passage after a debate of political acrimonies and animosities in view of the past experiences. Wasting the precious time of the assembly in a debate that won’t lead to any consensus on liquor ban bill shows that political parties are yet to draw lessons from the politics of acrimonies and animosities propagated by them for decades together.
“While consumption of liquor is more dangerous for youth of a region like Jammu & Kashmir which is already grappling with the challenges of drug addiction for than a decade now, the consensus over the proposed liquor ban bill has to be a matter of political consciousness but not a practice of political appeasement of one or other community on religious lines. A consensus over liquor ban bill can lead to smooth passage of the bill and ultimately liquor consumption being a cause of unprecedented rise in drug addiction can ease the battle against drug addiction and secure the lives of thousands of youth dying due to excessive consumption of alcohol year after year.”
While the fact remains that since liquor ban bills are already in force even in some of the BJP ruled states including Gujrat the home state of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Minister Amit Shah, there is apparently no point of disagreement on liquor ban bill amongst the national and regional parties in Jammu & Kashmir but after all politics of disagreement heads to no consensus on such legislations more so in Jammu & Kashmir than in any other State Or Union Territory of the country. While consumption of liquor is more dangerous for youth of a region like Jammu & Kashmir which is already grappling with the challenges of drug addiction for than a decade now, the consensus over the proposed liquor ban bill has to be a matter of political consciousness but not a practice of political appeasement of one or other community on religious lines. A consensus over liquor ban bill can lead to smooth passage of the bill and ultimately liquor consumption being a cause of unprecedented rise in drug addiction can ease the battle against drug addiction and secure the lives of thousands of youth dying due to excessive consumption of alcohol year after year. .
