GUWAHATI: Brahmon Sabha, an organization of Bengali Brahmins of the state has urged Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for a carpet ban on liquor during the upcoming Durga Puja Festival.
In a memorandum to the Chief Minister through Kamrup metro district commissioner Pallab Gopal Jha on Tuesday, Brahmon Sabha president Shyamalendu Bhattacharjee and general secretary Sudip Sarma Choudhury said: “Consumption of liquor is not in our Sanatani culture and civilization. If we think about our past we have seen we are never fond of such drinks. The effect of globalisation or any other matter we need to re-think our health index and human resources with at most care. Otherwise, the government should take drastic steps to carpet ban liquor sales throughout the state on the religious occasion of any community Druga puja, Kali Puja, Eid, Christmas, Damodor Dev tithi etc.”
“There is a heavy practice of sale and consumption of liquor. The selling of liquor under government license turns out to be a major source of income for the government as well.
But we are very sorry to say that at the same time, such revenue generation means we lose our peaceful co-existence with our surroundings. Not only that, we suffer the loss of many young, productive lives every day due to road accidents which usually spurt up during these festivals where drunken driving is a major cause,” the memorandum stated.
“You have already taken the matter very seriously and constantly charging up the machinery so that there are no further fatalities on the roads. We therefore urge upon you to impose a total ban on the sale and consumption of any kind of liquor in the state during the time of religious festivals,” they said.
“We know how much you care for our younger generations and that’s why in Assam Assembly you once mentioned regarding ban of every ‘gutkha’ and other non-smoke tobacco products in Assam. We the Hindu people have nothing to do with the consumption of liquor in the holy occasion of Durga Puja and other religious festivals which in contrary reduce our strength and spread a bad message for the other communities,” the memorandum also stated.
“Drunken people of a society can’t go for a spiritual journey on the holy occasion of every religion. It cannot be tolerated any more in our society. Our strength reduces every time. Now we can see our girls are in the streets after consumption of alcohol. We need to think for the wellbeing of our community,” the memorandum added.
