Union Minister wants TN government to declare prohibition

Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan today said the Tamil Nadu Government should take steps to declare total prohibition in the state as a mark of respect to Gandhian Sasi Perumal, who fought for the cause for the past 30 years and died during one of his protests.
Referring to incidents such as toddler being forced to drink liquor and teenage girls going high publicly, he said taking into account the "sacrifice" of Sasi Perumal, the government should come forward to implement prohibition.
Though it would not be possible to impose prohibition in one go, government can immediately fix a date, say after six months, and implement it, the Minister told reporters at the airport here.

The senior BJP leader was on his way to Sasi Perumal's native village in neighbouring Salem district to console bereaved family members of the anti-liquor activist, who died yesterday in Kanyakumari District during a protest seeking closure of a liquor shop near an educational institution.
Stating that almost all political parties in the state were in favour of prohibition, he said banning liquor would make lakhs of women very happy.
To a question on criticism over hanging of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon, Radhakrishnan, the Minister of State for Road Transport, said the death sentence was prevalent since Jawaharlal Nehru's times.

Even several Gandhians had accepted the capital punishment, he said.