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Liquor remarks: War of words erupt between Omar, Iltija
Omar on Sunday had said that people consume alcohol by their own will and government was not forcing anyone to visit liquor shops.
A political war of words has erupted in Jammu and Kashmir over chief minister (CM) Omar Abdullah’s Sunday statement saying that people consume alcohol by their own will and government was not forcing anyone to visit liquor shops.
Criticising the chief minister’s remark, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti accused the government of taking u-turns on every issue and sought a ban on alcohol in the UT. “His statement on alcohol is completely illogical. He said we are not telling anybody to consume alcohol. Please tell me won’t the drug peddlers use your logic when Nasha Mukt abhiyaan is going on in J&K,” she said.
The CM had made the remarks while responding to some questions on Sunday.
Mufti said that no religion promotes any narcotics or alcohol- whether Islam, Sikhism or Hinduism.
“In dry states like Gujarat and Bihar, where the majority is Hindus, if governments there can ban alcohol why won’t you ban it here. It is unfortunate that you don’t respect the culture and sensibility of the majority Muslims in J&K even though you are the CM of a Muslim-majority region,” she said.
Not only from the opposition, the statement invited criticism from senior National Conference (NC) leader Aga Ruhullah Mehdi.
Mehdi, who is also Srinagar member of Parliament and a strong critic of the CM, said that he wants the shops closed. “Among the lakhs of people, some youth get involved in alcohol consumption by looking at others, we want that route to be closed as well. There should be no shop whether anybody wishes to have alcohol or not,” he said at a public function.
No govt banned alcohol shops in region: Omar
Defending his remark, Omar said that no government has banned alcohol shops in the region till date.
Omar, while talking to the media here, said that his government was not promoting alcohol but only allowing it for those whose ideology doesn’t stop them from its consumption. “These shops are for those people whose religion allows them to have alcohol. No government so far has banned these shops in J&K,” Omar said.
“The opposition is using my statement to hide their own mistakes. If what I said was wrong then what did they do in their own government? Because what I said in Ganderbal, the same thing was said on record by People’s Democratic Party (PDP)’s then finance minister in the assembly,” he said.
Omar said that his government did a few things to keep alcohol consumption under check. “One we did not open any new shops and secondly we tried not to allow any shop at any such place where our youth take the wrong path,” he said.
Meanwhile, Iltija, defended her party not banning alcohol when they were in power. “No non-NC government here, even if that was of PDP, did get the sweeping mandate which your government received in 2024. Omar has 50 MLAs and he can bring an order or a bill in the assembly to ban alcohol,” she said.
