Some of those who voted yes had this to say:
• Who are they kidding? High time they come to their senses and do something about the prohibition. The Act is a total farce. If it was going to work, it would have, long long time ago. No amount of banning it would ever result to any good given the scenario, time and place in Nagaland.
• How many more "sons and daughters" do we need to sacrifice before we let this Act go?
• No point of deceiving ourselves that prohibition exist when liquor if freely available everywhere in Nagaland. At least the government will benefit from the taxes if it is made legal.
• High time to lift.. Find me 10 people who don’t drink and I will find 100 people that drinks daily. I wonder prohibition act is there?? govt. has no moral rights to its citizen by enforcing such prohibition. Will the govt. ban drinking coffee cos it has nicotine?
• Yes, it should be lifted. We have enough Al Capones.
• Yes, government must lift prohibition act? Why: 1) To control black economy. 2) It gives a chance to drain our economy into the hands of the armed forces and its agencies leading to unwanted and unwarranted socio-political predicament. 3). To check nexus between anti-social unscrupulous politicians and bureaucrats. 4) To minimize the rate of mortality rate of drunkens due to adulterated liquor.
• Yep its time to act now. Prohibition has turned out to be a very serious environmental and health hazard issue. Its time to walk the talk. It’s a win-lose situation, we Nagas being the losers here. No more debates now. Lift prohibition, act immediately. Just do it.
• There is no point raising this issue anymore. As much as your newspaper is trying to start some much needed public debate on this issue, no one is listening anymore. So let prohibition continue in a superficial way, and let alcohol reign free in Nagaland at the same time. Whether prohibition is lifted or not, alcohol will continue to flow freely because the act does not have the total support of the public. Even those who are supposed to implement prohibition are drinkers, so how will they implement it sincerely.
• The time to lift the Prohibition has come long time back, but the ones who are advocating the continuation of prohibition keep doing so in the name of God and so when God's name is invoked who will oppose or question it. No one. This is the point. The situation on the ground says that prohibition should be lifted, but no one is willing to speak the truth because God's name is being used to legitimize prohibition. Is this not the reason why the Government introduced the prohibition act in the first place?
• Prohibition? What prohibition? There never was one!
Some of those who voted no had this to say:
• Over 50 percent of all domestic and street violence are committed after imbibing alcohol.
• We cannot let the interest of the government and some few - wine baron - hold the Naga as hostage to their whims.
• No, because there is no reason to such a outrages rationale given by the state government if they have any at all. But I rather want to pose a question. Why is the government so keen to worryingly impose on the Nagas commodities like liquor- which we can live without. But find it extremely hard to lift even their index finger to provide the very crucial need for survival- like water supply, food and health services?
• To lift the Prohibition Act is not an issue of morality, religiosity or even the sermonic Sunday preaching. In a Naga context the implication and policy of Indian Government to annihilate the Naga political movement through Liquor and Money should be accounted. Therefore the stance of the Naga people upon the Nagaland state government to implement the Prohibition Act is not only against the vices of alcoholism in Naga society. But to strongly set a position that Liquor as GoI have transpire will not let Nagas be assimilated or annihilated.
• It seems to me, the Morung Foundation is determined to push for lifting prohibition of alcohol!! Otherwise, why should this issue come up again and again? How can we know, next time, you wouldn't be advocating prostitution or homosexuality??
• No, because the Nagas can survive without the Government lifting the Prohibition Act. In other words Nagas don’t need it. What Nagas need is for the Government in consultation with the Nagas to resolve the Naga factional and political violence. The urgency cannot be emphasized enough
• If people are so desperate to drink make their own bodo, rice beer etc. There are no legalistic enforcement. It can be tolerated so long as social decorum are maintained. But please lets not entertain the thought of legalizing it to buy over the counters as if it is as simple as selling mineral water from a shopkeeper. The ramifications are deeper and more seriously than what the Government are justifying to lift the Prohibition Act.
• Why are the politicians so worried about the Prohibition Act. Focus first on the structures of the governance of the state. They can not even control the law and order of the state let alone the political issue. Why use Alcoholism and the lost of revenue through Alcohol as the scapegoat.
• Two great movements defined the Naga people movement like no other in Modern Naga history. Firstly the unprecedented Naga political movement for external self-determination. Secondly the Naga prohibition movement (at a narrower scale) during the late 80s and the early 90s. Little research has being done so far on the Prohibition movement but it was unprecedented in any case in terms of mobilization. Why is Nagaland state government so keen to lift an Act that was initiated, proposed and legislated as an Act by the Naga People. The whole point of the Government is to implement the will of the people not to manipulate and coerce their interest upon the people at their whims. Then, Now, and Later is not the time for the Government to lift the Prohibition Act unless a unanimous Naga movement mandate against it. GoI or the state Government here is a daunting message to you - WE the NAGA PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF YOUR MANIPULATIVE CONSPIRACIES. PUT AN END TO IT. FULL STOP.
• Naga peoples' solution does no depend on the lifting up of prohibition act. This issue has become a negative campaign done by the media against the moral and ethical stance of the Naga Christian church. In the name of liberal media, it should not try to manipulate the common people's religious modesty by fuming western secular religion.
• PROHIBITION FAILED, IMAGINE WHEN IT IS LIFTED, NAGAS WILL FLOODED WITH LIQUOR AND FACE MAXIMUM PRE-MATURE DEATH.
• Are the brains of the Naga legislative assembly so small that all they can make sound and whimper is on the Prohibition Act? The state is stinking with corruption and corpse and all they are obsess is with liquor. Its a disgrace.
• The Naga peoples, the Civil society, and the Church will tell the Nagaland Government to revoke the Prohibition Act when we are ready. Until then the Government can focus they energy on the good governance and deliberation of the Naga people who vote that into the government (excuse me, vote themselves at the barrel of guns). For once show your integrity and work for alleviation of the large scale poverty, power struggle and delivering justice. We will be happy with that. Thank you.
• The time is not right. The time will be right when the Government becomes accountable to the budget; at least partially recall and distribute the peoples monetary resources that has been used by the government – mafia – for personal interest, luxury and indulgence; after imploring and exploring employment through various industrial infrastructure; and committed to the welfare of the majority Naga villagers. After such an action the Government can talk with the people. Until then it is a No, No, No.
• Because the people still don’t know why the Government want to lift the Prohibition Act? The argument that Surplus in revenue will develop and make Nagaland prosperous is a cheap shot which insults the intelligence of the Naga people.
• No, it will greatly disrupt educational institution
• No, legalized drinking will bring Naga’s downfall
• No, it will multiply drunkards and wife beaters
• No, Prohibition Act should never be lifted by the Nagaland government. Nagaland is a Christian state and should remain so. After all what is so good about drinking wine?
• NO. Our children are immersed and suffering enough loss and damaged- psychological, mentally and emotionally by our current Naga bloodshed, gunshot, violence and justification of factional killing. We must protect any further exposure and torture to our children by allowing them to witness we the elders, the grown up, the adults, the parents fighting, stoned and plastered with vomits stumbling out of the liquor shops by mid-day. My dear Naga brothers and sisters, we can not allow such a situation. Lets stand together against the vices of Naga social and political life.
• Because an anti-Naga National stance is not when Naga critique the position of various political factions within Nagaland. It is when Nagas, or any institution as in the case of the state government now, revokes the Peoples will and reinforces an India policy of liquor introduction and help in fragmenting Naga society. Case point here is the current excitement creating by the current government in Nagaland state, which is but another federal unit of the Indian Union to allow free liquor, so money flows into the pocket of their puppets.
• No. Because I think we the Nagas have enough sources to kill, fight and hold position to levy taxes by all the four factions with unpredictable fluctuation. Liquor as the Government puts is highly profitable and source of unprecedented revenue to the coffer of the state budget. Well fine. But the truth is the state government is willingly helpless to these forms of tax (extortion to be precise). If Liquor Act is revoke, to hold a solid position on the liquor import or production to and for the state will be most attractive and lucrative bussiness in town. In other words fighting becomes more determined, killing much sweeter and easier. Dhansiri, Dikhu and Doyang river will be running red. Saramati when it snows, will be scarlet red. Believe me Nagaland will not be beautiful to behold.
• Its a no, because distillery or liquor shops is not the answer to the Naga problems. An objective construction and re-articulation of the Naga social, cultural, ethical, economic, and political history rather must be the priority. These are issues the government should be worried and be discussing in their so call legislative Assembly sessions in Kohima if they are concern for the people.
Some of those who voted Others had this to say:
• Does it matter anymore? Whether there is prohibition or not it does not seems to matter because Nagaland is as wet as it can be. Starting right from the top of the government, leaders drink and booze is openly available in most of the official gatherings and it flows endlessly. Prohibition is no longer a fuss. There is prohibition but the booze flows like water in Nagaland and the bootleggers are happy to make some dough, and our Church leaders are happy that Nagaland is a dry state. Everyone is a winner under the present situation. The bootleggers and the Church are probably on the same side when it comes to prohibition, because both want prohibition to continue as both benefits from it. And that is okay, as long as they are both getting what they want, people will have no shortage of booze.
• The debate of prohibition now is quite pointless. The Naga public and even visitors that come to Nagaland know that this is a big white lie and a good joke, because liquor is flowing everywhere. The prohibition shows the contradiction in Naga society and like most things, the official line is something but the truth is quite the opposite. Who profits from the prohibition? It is those who want prohibition and the bootleggers who sell liquor. The supporters of prohibition and the bootleggers are the partners in crime because it is only these two groups that want prohibition to continue. In the meantime the common man still has access to either very cheap and adulterated liquor or they pay more for good branded liquor. Prohibition in Nagaland is not about availability of alcohol, its about how can we cope with alcohol and its affects on society. Its clear that alcohol will be there, prohibition has not worked anywhere in the world, so the government should rather focus on dealing with the effect on society caused by the abuse of alcohol.
• With or without prohibition the alcohol will be there for the taking. The issue is not about the availability or the sale of liquor. It raises broader issues and I think it is high time at least a body is constituted to see if the prohibition should be lifted.
