With shocking videos of some children in Tamil Nadu consuming liquor going viral, the PMK and MDMK on Wednesday expressed concern over such incidents and stepped up demand for implementing prohibition in the State.
Two videos of children being prodded to drink alcohol by some persons had gone viral on social media. Police in Tiruvannamalai, from where one of the videos had emanated, have nabbed two persons and are searching for another four in connection with the issue.
The PMK said making children drink and recording it amounts to “sadism”, adding it is a criminal to alter the nature of children.
The party’s youth wing president Anbumani Ramadoss dubbed the incidents as the “evolutionary growth” of policies of the Dravidian parties, referring to the government selling liquor through state-run outlets.
Ramadoss, whose party is a vociferous supporter of prohibition, claimed the average drinking age had shrunk from 40 to 13 in Tamil Nadu and said the instances of children consuming alcohol should not be seen as an isolated incident.
“This amounts to affecting the future generation...The government does not seem to be bothered about liquor-related deaths in Tamil Nadu,” he said in a statement, adding that the DMK and AIADMK should apologise to the people for such incidents.
Expressing concern over the viral videos and students taking to liquor, Vaiko-led MDMK said alcohol consumption in the State has affected its very culture and traditions deeply cherished for long.
Liquor sales were nationalised by the AIADMK government in 2003 with the subsequent DMK regime continuing with the policy.
Hooch fear
Political parties such as the PMK and MDMK, besides many social activists, have been pressing for prohibition but the State government insists that such a step could lead to hooch consumption, which has the potential to be lethal.