Gandhian's death provides impetus to prohibition call

CHENNAI: Though he welcomed Karunanidhi's recent call for total prohibition in the state, Sasi Perumal wasn't exuberant. He said the DMK chief's astute u-turn came after years of grassroots activism and mounting citizen anger against Tasmac shops located near schools and places of worship. It had been a gradual surge and there really were no tipping points."The video of a small boy drinking went viral on the net. But there was no spark really," he told TOI then.
But Sasi Perumal's death on Friday while protesting against a local liquor shop may have become the spark - the trigger for a sporadic movement to gain cohesiveness. While DMK and PMK are demanding a judicial probe into his death, other parties, including Vaiko-led MDMK, CPM, CPI, VCK, MMK and SDPI have called for a statewide bandh on August 4. Congress and DMDK came out in support of the bandh on Sunday.
But electoral calculations may yet trump support for the issue. Not anxious to be seen in the company of a move initiated by the Left and VCK, PMK, a strident campaigner for prohibition, is staying out. Its leader Ramadoss has said the bandh is a publicity stunt. Tamil Maanila Congress leader G K Vasan said TMC will not participate in the bandh since it will affect people's lives and traders. Parties that called for the bandh have said there would be no bar on vehicular movement but they have asked traders to down shutters. DMK leader M Karunanidhi on Sunday urged the Tamil Nadu government to announce total prohibition in the state immediately, before it claims any more lives. The DMK leader said his recent statement that his party was committed to introduce total prohibition if it was elected to power was made in the backdrop of growing public sentiments. "However, given the recent developments across the state, there seems to be no other alternative than to implement total prohibition," Karunanidhi said in a statement.State BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan asked CM Jayalalithaa to respond to the wishes of the people to close down liquor shops before August 10.
A protest in MDMK leader Vaiko's native village of Kalingapatti in Tirunelveli district led by his mother Mariammal took a violent turn. Party cadres started throwing stones at the police, in a move to prevent Vaiko from being arrested. Then some cadres tried to demolish the Tasmac shop in the region. Police resorted to lathicharge and used teargas to disperse the mob. They also fired in the air.
Meanwhile, another instance of citizen protest - the sort that Sasi Perumal was associated with - were reported on Sunday. A youth from Gobichettipalayam near Erode attempted to commit suicide from a mobile tower on Saturday night. Police and fire service teams reached the spot to rescue the youth. After almost five hours, the police managed to bring him down, and later arrested him.