Sale of alcohol from J&K department stores: Hard to stomach, say parties

“While the consumption of alcohol is banned in many states of India, why is it being encouraged here (Jammu and Kashmir),” asked a representative of the Muttahida Majlis Ulema (United Muslim Scholars) a representative alliance of over 30 religious, social and educational organisations in the Valley.

CPI(M) leader M.Y. Tarigami asked if what was being implemented in J&K was the Gujarat Model, why was the sale of liquor being allowed freely. “You are referring to the Gujarat Model across the country, but it (sale of liquor) is not allowed there (Gujarat). Why did you choose J&K for this evil?” he asked.

The decision has come two years after the administration’s push to open a large number of liquor shops across the Valley. In 2020, the UT’s excise department identified 183 locations — 116 in Jammu and 67 in the Valley — for sale of liquor. It was at a time when Kashmir had only four wine shops — all of them in Srinagar.

The decision has also raised eyebrows because being a Muslim-majority state — alcohol and its derivatives are prohibited in Islam — Jammu and Kashmir is one of the states with the least alcohol consumption rates, wherever it is not officially prohibited. According to the National Health Family Survey 2019-21, alcohol consumption in Jammu and Kashmir was less than 5 per cent. The survey reveals that while 8.8 per cent of men consume alcohol in Jammu and Kashmir, only 0.2 per cent women count among consumers — mostly in Jammu. According to the survey, alcohol consumption is more prevalent in rural than urban areas. In rural areas, 9.2 per cent men and 0.2 per cent women consume alcohol, while in urban areas, the figures are 7.7 per cent and 0.1 per cent for men and women, respectively.

While there have always been voices of opposition to sale of liquor in Valley, successive governments have rejected calls for its ban, citing “freedom of choice”, and because Jammu and Kashmir is a tourism-dependant state. In fact, in the past, the J&K unit of the BJP too has called for ban on sale of liqour. In 2018, BJP leader Ravinder Raina, who is now the party’s president for Jammu and Kashmir, had demanded that the area should be declared a ‘dry’ territory and all liquor shops and bars immediately banned.

When militancy erupted in Jammu and Kashmir, militant outfits banned cinema halls and liquor shops in the Valley. A militant outfit called the Allah Tigers and its chief, Air Marshal Noor Khan specifically targeted the liquor shops in the Valley and forced their closure. Over the last three decades, only four liquor shops ran in Valley — all under heavy security guard.

With alcohol having no social sanction both in Kashmir and Jammu, the government’s move to allow liberal sale of beer and ‘ready to drink’ alcoholic beverages from departmental stores is strange, feel many.

“There has been no discussion on the issue. The order has come from the top,” said a senior government official. “Apparently, it seems that the government wants to make beer and other alcoholic products easily accessible for tourists, but there is no official word yet.”

The social, religious and political parties in Valley, however, see it as cultural aggression and part of a bigger plan. “This is part of a cultural assault on Kashmir. It is not that nobody drinks in Kashmir. It’s a fact that tourists are here, and there’s no official curbing policy. But when the discourse in the entire country is about eating meat, about being vegetarian and non-vegetarian, choosing a Muslim-majority state for such a thing looks sinister, looks offensive,” said a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader. “At a time when religious scholars, preachers and everybody out there is behind bars, when the unemployment is at an all-time high, when there is clear economic distress, this was the last thing needed. We think, it would be counterproductive and would boomerang.”