In Chhattisgarh, alcohol has always been a potent election mix

Despite a pre-poll promise to ban liquor, CM Bhupesh Baghel recently remarked that the move is simply not feasible. Here’s why his hands are tied.

The demand to ban the sale of liquor in Chhattisgarh gained momentum yet again after chief minister Bhupesh Baghel stated categorically recently that it was not feasible to impose such a ban in the state, though his party had made a pre-poll promise to do so before the 2018 assembly elections.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said that a campaign against addiction was a better way out than banning sale of liquor

After taking over the reins following a big Congress victory, Baghel even formed a committee to explore the feasibility of alcohol prohibition that is already in place in states like Gujarat and Bihar. However, Baghel said that a campaign against addiction was a better way out than banning sale of liquor.

In his recent interview with Hindustan Times, CM Baghel said during the Covid-19 induced lockdown, liquor was banned, but the government noticed that liquor was supplied from Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and other states.

“The current excise policy was made by the Raman Singh government in 2017-18. We did not change it, nor did we change the distillers or suppliers because we wanted to implement a liquor ban because it was in our manifesto. But during the lockdown, we saw that it kept coming in from Haryana or Madhya Pradesh and other states. Many people took to consuming sanitisers or harmful chemicals when they did not find liquor, and died. So we realised it was not feasible to do it in a landlocked state like ours which shares borders with seven states,” he said.

Former Chhattisgarh CM and ex-Bharatiya Janata Party Union minister, Raman Singh said that the saffron party was considering including the promise of liquor ban in their manifesto for the upcoming assembly polls in November.

“Earlier, we had said that an incremental ban will take place and now we are thinking of including this in our manifesto. The issue will be discussed before the manifesto is declared as it is one of the biggest election issues in the upcoming elections,” said Singh.

While the political intent is clear, it may not be as simple as it sounds. There are two reasons why.

One, liquor sales add to the state's coffers.

In response to a question raised in the state assembly by BJP MLA Saurabh Singh on March 3 on the state’s revenue from taxes and duties on liquor sale, minister of commerce and industries Kawasi Lakhma said, “In 2019-2020 the state received ₹4952.79 crore revenue from liquor sale. In 2020-2021, the revenue stood at ₹4636.90 crore.”

A marked increase has been noted in successive years, with ₹5110.15 crore collected in revenue in 2021-2022, while it stood at ₹5525.99 crore in 2022-2023 (from April 2022 to February 6, 2023), Lakhma said.

Second, the voters are split in the middle over it.

Experts believe that liquor ban in the state is a core electoral issue primarily because in most communities of the northern plains, such as Kurmis and Sahus, consumption of liquor is prohibited and the communities would put their weight behind parties that promise a ban on sale.

But another section believes that since liquor is always central to election funding as the state has much more per capita consumption than many states.

As per the National Family Health Survey-5, the level of alcohol consumption among men is 30-40 percent in parts of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, and a few districts of Odisha. It is below 30 percent in the remaining parts of India, and the lowest in Lakshadweep at 0.4 percent.

“The aim of political parties is to attract voters in Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities as well as women by announcing liquor ban. Basically, alcohol is not acceptable in many communities in the state, particularly in OBC communities that account for over 50 percent of the state’s population. Women also often raise their voices against liquor and highlight its ill-effects. Many rulebooks of the communities have penalties in place against those found drunk during social and family functions. Hence, it is politically expedient for parties to announce their support for a liquor ban,” an OBC leader said, requesting anonymity.

“There is a trend in Mahanadi Basin (central Chhattisgarh), that people, mostly women and elderly people, vote for the party which talks of liquor ban. Liquor is always central to election funding here as the state has much more per capita consumption than many other states. Since OBC is the dominant group in Chhattisgarh, it becomes binding for the party to address the liquor ban issue,” Sudiep Shrivastava, a political commentator based in Chhattisgarh, said.

But that's quite literally, one half of the story.

According to Shrivastava, "it is impossible to ban liquor" in the state, as in at least 40 assembly seats with a high tribal population (and fall under the fifth schedule of the Constitution) liquor consumption is socially and communally accepted.

"Most of the election funding comes from liquor business and a huge chunk of voters are against the liquor ban. Parties are in a catch-22 situation,” said Shrivastava.

"Usually, the evenings in the villages of a predominantly peace-loving Chhattisgarh have started being marinated with the stench of alcohol, they seem drunk amidst the increased fights in the locality and family disputes. This is a major reason why a large section of Chhattisgarh wants to get rid of the problem of alcohol," Nischay Bajpayee, a social activist running an anti-liquor campaign.