Chandigarh: Manipur’s BJP-led government opted last week to partially lift prohibition in the northeastern state in order to earn Rs 600 crore in annual revenue from liquor sales. But it faces formidable opposition from the Manipuri women’s Meira Paibis or female torch-bearers temperance movement, largely responsible for bringing about prohibition in the state in 1991.Manipur’s tribal affairs and hills development minister Letpao Haokip told reporters on September 20 that in keeping with the government’s decision, alcohol would shortly become available in all the state’s 16-district headquarter towns, tourist destinations and 20-bed hotels.Alongside, the government also planned on locally brewing country liquor for export to other states, for which a legislators’ committee was dispatched to Goa recently to review its manufacturing and marketing processes. Locals, however, have severely criticised this latter move, claiming it could precipitate a shortage of assorted local paddy varieties and spawn ‘famine-like’ conditions across Manipur, where rice is the staple diet.But it is from the Meira Paibis that the BJP government faces a daunting challenge, as it gradually lifts prohibition after over three decades. In fact, the Paibis were largely responsible for preventing Biren Singh, during his first term as chief minister, from amending the Manipur Liquor Prohibition Act, 1991, to permit statewide liquor sales in 2018. Earlier attempts by a Congress-led state government to lift prohibition in five hill districts in 2002 had similarly been forced into rescinding it following demonstrations, led amongst others, by the fiery Paibis.The Paibi movement began as the All-Manipur Prohibition Association in the late 1970s, after male alcoholism became endemic in the estate, leading to domestic violence, breaking up of homes, spiralling unemployment and extensive social disorder. Thereafter, well-coordinated and determined Paibi brigades, armed with lighted torches, that gave their group its moniker, scoured Imphal and other Manipur Valley towns and villages looking for imbibers.Once corralled, all drinkers were seized, stripped and hog-tied atop donkeys, after which they were paraded through the streets with blackened faces. Under the Paibis’ baleful eyes and the glare of their bright and terrifying torches, these hapless quarries were also made to publicly undertake never to drink again.These mortally terrified boozers were then locked up for the night, said Tonsing Vunglallian, a respected educationist from Churachandpur, some 60 km southeast of the state capital Imphal, but their ordeal was far from over. For, despite having been thrashed, humiliated and incarcerated, the hung-over and somewhat bruised drinkers were then handed over to the police the following morning, who extracted their own ‘special’ and invariably costly toll.Led by the formidable Nupi Lan or Women’s War Association volunteers, some 30,000 Paibis at the height of their temperance campaign, organised themselves on a roster whose schedule lasted from sunset till around midnight across the Manipur Valley, where a majority of the state’s nearly 3 million people reside. Positioning themselves at street corners, they whistled up reinforcements within minutes, if confronted by a clutch of drunken males.Once nabbed, the solitary inebriated man – or even drunken groups – were ‘coerced’ into telling their captors the location of the still or speakeasy which had made and sold them the hooch. These were then destroyed, or wrecked beyond easy repair, by special squads who over years, had developed great proficiency in such demolitions.The ‘donkey treatment’ of the hapless victims then began and most men who had undergone such harrowing experiences, rarely ever wanted a repeat experience, said Vunglallian. Many, he added, either gave up drinking altogether or remained sober for extended periods.Over years, however, this cat-and-mouse game between the Paibis and drinkers generated many humourous tales. In one such account, a terrified boozer, with the Paibis hot on his trail, ducked into a friend’s house and emerged dressed as a woman, temporarily fooling his pursuers. But his drunken gait gave him away. And after being collared, he was given ‘extra special’ treatment by the enraged Paibi squad and reportedly ended up becoming a lifelong teetotaler.Manipuri women have traditionally played an assertive role in their exclusively tribal society, keeping the family together and working harder than their menfolk. Women, for instance, almost exclusively manage the many daily fish, meat and vegetable markets across the state that comprise the bulk of Manipur’s commercial activity. Locals also talk proudly of how their women defied the British in 1939, forcing the colonial administration to rescind a tax imposed on rice production.A photograph of a Nupi Lan in Manipur against British colonial rule c. 1904. Photo: Not Accounted/Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0Five hundred well-armed British troops were needed to quell around 3,000 militant Manipuri women, 20 of whom received bullet wounds during this agitation. Their bravery is celebrated on December 12 which has been an official state holiday after Independence.Meanwhile, the Paibis’ success in enforcing prohibition also encouraged female temperance squads in Andhra Pradesh – where drinking amongst menfolk too was rampant. Armed with brooms, feisty Andhra housewives launched attacks on shops selling packets of moonshine, known locally as arrack.These fiery women also regularly pinned down inebriated men and stuffed their mouths, and all other orifices, with red chilli powder, for which the state is renowned, and which is available in abundance. Almost all those who underwent this petrifying experience gave up drinking forthwith, rather than live through that excruciating ordeal again. It also resulted in many men who had undergone the ‘chili treatment’ walking somewhat gingerly for a long time after.These chilli-wielding temperance groups eventually persuaded Andhra’s state government in imposing prohibition in 1994. But deprived of revenue, the state became insolvent and the authorities were forced into lifting prohibition a short while later, much to the chagrin of Andhra’s womenfolk.Alcoholism and hooch tragediesAlcoholism is a burgeoning malady across India, but the imposition of prohibition in many states had, over decades, been called off by local governments who, like in Manipur, always faced a near-permanent financial resource crunch, that needed alleviating. Presently, prohibition is enforced in just four states: Bihar, Gujarat, Nagaland and Mizoram, of which the first named was the latest to ban liquor sales in 2016, once again, under pressure from women who were hapless victims of drunken men.Gujarat, for its part, has been dry ever since Independence 75 years ago, principally as it was the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, who was opposed to people drinking alcohol. But moonshine, locally known as dharra, is freely available here, resulting in generations of political leaders and officials growing enormously wealthy by patronising bootleggers responsible for its sale and distribution.Officials destroy around 10 lakh litres of liquor in Bihar. Photo: PTI/FilesMoonshine is a health hazard across India, having claimed thousands of lives over decades, as poisonous ingredients like menthol, a highly toxic form of alcohol, normally used as an anti-freeze liquid and as fuel, was added to it. The menthol in hooch upped the alcohol content cheaply, but if the dosage was too high, it produced a concoction that induced blindness and led to a painful death by poisoning. Hooch deaths were reported periodically across the country and according to The Lancet, the British medical journal, around two-thirds of all alcohol consumed in India was regrettably moonshine as it was cheap and freely available.Back in Manipur, it remains to be seen how the faceoff between the state government and the Paibi’s plays out; and whether alcohol or female temperance contingents-power prevails.
