The death of a Gandhian actively advocating for prohibition today saw opposition parties unitedly mounting pressure on the ruling AIADMK to implement the ban on liquor in the Tamil Nadu as a mark of recognising his 'sacrifice.'
Besides opposition PMK and MDMK, both strong votaries of the dry regime, BJP and other parties upped the ante against the government on this issue after 59-year old Sasi Perumal died of suspected heart failure in Kanyakumari district while staging a protest atop a mobile tower.
Sasi Perumal had staged a series of peaceful protests, including a 33-day long fast, in the past few years pressing for implementing prohibition in the state.
PMK founder S Ramadoss, by far the most vocal political leader calling for prohibition, expressed anguish over Sasi Perumal's death.
"He climbed atop a cell phone tower at Unnamalai to protest non-implementation of a Court order that liquor shops near educational institutions should be removed. Had his demand be heeded and even one such shop removed, he could have been saved," Ramadoss said in a statement.
"The true tributes to be paid to Sasiperumal will be the implementation of prohibition," he said.
BJP state President Tamilisai Soundararajan claimed that there were over 6,000 liquor shops in the state and around 1,000 of them located near educational institutions or temples and the Gandhian was opposing this.
"Tamil Nadu government should immediately take note (of this incident) and implement prohibition which would be a recognition of such a sacrifice," she said.
She also asked why police had not taken any preventive action despite him giving prior notice about today's protest.
CPI State Secretary R Mutharasan recalled that Sasi Perumal was steadfast in his demand for prohibition and that he had even fought by-elections making it his main plank.
"We request the Tamil Nadu government to honour his sacrifice by implementing prohibition which was his ambition," he said.
MDMK founder Vaiko, DK leader K Veeramani and TMMK President J S Ribbayee also condoled Sasi Perumal's death and demanded that the state government implement prohibition.
The chorus for prohibition in Tamil Nadu, which realises about Rs 25,000 crore revenue from liquor sales from mainly through state-run outlets, has been growing recently.
In fact, DMK, which had not altered the decision of the AIADMK government in 2003 to nationalise liquor sales in its subsequent 2006-11 regime, had proposed to take steps to implement prohibition in the state if voted to power in the Assembly elections next year.
AIADMK on its part, had assured that the Jayalalithaa government was striving for a 'liquor-free' Tamil Nadu.
