"IN SUPPORT OF TODDY TO TOTAL PROHIBITION NOW" - PROHIBITION IN TAMIL NADU

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We were watching Madurai Law College students protest for total prohibition in Tamil Nadu. As usual few lessons in history I got from my father.
He says Rajaji imposed prohibition soon after taking over as the Chief Minister of Madras in 1937 saying it was Congress policy and they believed in it. That was the first Congress Government.
Prohibition continued till the first non-Congress government came to power in Tamil Nadu in 1967. Annadurai was not in favour of lifting prohibition though there was an intention to do so by the party at that time.
Periyar who as the Congress party president in his early days of activism had cut down 100 coconut trees in his orchard to prevent toddy tapping, obviously in support of prohibition. But, the same Periyar apparently made fun of Anna when he refused to lift prohibition.
Periyar is also supposed to have supported at around this period a movement called “kal venduvor sangam” meaning those who were in favour of toddy. Reasons cited for support of toddy was that it was beneficial to health.
It continued till Karunanidhi took over as the Chief Minister. Dad recalls as to how Rajaji rushed to MuKa’s house in 1971 when he heard about lifting of prohibition and begged him not to do so. Pleaded with MuKa a generation had forgotten liquor and he shouldn’t reintroduce it.
MuKa is supposed to have argued that the state was losing money to neighbouring states – people were going to Pondicherry to drink, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
As a lawyer he says prohibition law was bad and he himself had handled several cases where instead of slapping IPC provisions people would be booked under Prohibition Act as the burden of proof was on the accused. This was during those years in between when various governments went from imposing prohibition and lifting it again.
Right now, the state earns around Rs.22,000 cr, record revenue collection from sale of liquor and pays for multiple welfare scheme the state runs. If JJ today has the money to buy up NLC stake and rollover Amma Unavagam allover for affordable food, it is obviously this buoyant excise revenue.

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