Partial Prohibition Isn't Working in Kerala. Time to Rethink?

Sixteen days for Kerala to vote. Things are getting clearer. In my journey and conversations it is clear that change is imminent. Will it be a change of mindset? Will the younger voters change the predictable dynamics of Kerala elections?

Will put my thoughts on this in this Kerala series. Let me first look at partial prohibition leading up to total prohibition. How this is playing out on the ground.

Strong voices that I capture outside a liquor vend are scary. Men initially hide their faces when the camera started rolling. When I start speaking to some, others come closer to the TV mike and open up. It's a let-go of bottled-up emotions.

"I will drink to die. I don't care about my family," an angry 55-year-old man shouts into the mike. Another waves a Rs 500 note. He has cycled 15 kilometres to buy his booze. "I will come back in the evening and spend another Rs 500". That's for his evening fix! The long queue and what his family will do is never a bother. Another man says the only way out is total prohibition. The argument gets high. Some of them don't know how to kick the bottle. They want to, but not sure how.

What is needed is awareness. Encourage responsible drinking - that's the other view. Women I spoke to have mixed opinions. Nothing has changed for them though UDF has put out ads with testimonies from women on how this has helped.

To me it hasn't. Drug haul has gone up four times says an excise officer. People haven't stopped consuming. Liquor sales, year on year, has only gone up. Restrictions drive craving. You store more. You drink more. People now drink everywhere. From cops to bar owners to women, the voices say how this isn't working, or at least not thought through.

Was this political oneupmanship that Chandy pulled on his PCC chief VM Sudheeran?

It has claimed the job of a powerful finance minister, KM Mani. Almost took the job of excise minister K Babu.

Why do Malayali men drink so much? A man in the queue outside the liquor vend says he consumes three litres in two days! Priya Nair, an English professor at St Teresa's college in Kochi, says Malayalees are 'repressed and depressed'. They don't laugh, they don't dance! They don't let go. The bottle is one way out!

Too much expectation is built into you from school days. Failure is not an option. You have to be a doctor or engineer or IAS officer. Sreesanth is the lone success in cricket in recent times and now, Sanju Samson. Kids are forced by parents to take tuitions that start at 4 am and prepare for engineering and medicine classes right onwards! This was the same mindset when I was in college.

Why are we not allowing our kids to choose the careers they want? Pursue their dreams. Let them be happy, passion can take people away from escape routes like binge drinking?

Don't women drink in Kerala? My colleague Bhupendra Chaubey asks me. Yes they do. Most women are discreet about it, men are all over. Movies have made it an in thing to drink. The small font warnings don't work when larger than life stars are high on alcohol. Movie stars say they won't endorse drinking, but they can't be stopped from doing what it takes for a character. The Malayali drinker is a character in himself.

The voices outside the liquor vend come back to me again. "No one can take away my right to drink. Whoever comes to power it doesn't matter," a retired army jawan is angry. He says there is LDF, UDF and BJP now. He is so confident that no one will dare bring total prohibition.

If the men can't hold their drinks, how else do we address it? Everyone is admitting there are problems. Divorce due to alcoholism is on the rise, can there be quota limits on the basis of buying power? Making it work is tough.

It's a debate Kerala is having now. Bihar has total prohibition. Gujarat has it. Tamil Nadu is talking about prohibition, it's a national debate that Kerala is a case study.

In Kerala, partial prohibition is not working. Will it help politically? I don't think so. Kerala has to admit that it is a social problem. It has to be addressed as one. Not with an eye on votes.

Tourism is majorly affected, conference circuits are moving out of Kerala. only 24 five star hotels serve liquor. The Rs 25000 crore tourism industry is losing out to countries like Sri Lanka. Many home stay places are shutting down.