Chennai: Attempting to silence critics casting aspersions on DMK president M. Karunanidhi’s promise to enforce prohibition, his son and party treasurer M. K. Stalin on Tuesday asserted that the party would definitely enforce “total prohibition” in 2016.
Karunanidhi on Monday said, “DMK will make strenuous efforts to enforce prohibition if the party is voted back to power in 2016.” His political opponents, who questioned the pun in the statement and promotion of TASMAC in the previous DMK regime, accused Karunanidhi of making the announcement keeping in mind the 2016 Assembly polls.
Stalin described the latest promise as a ‘new chapter’ and said, “DMK will wipe the tears of Tamil women and create a bright future for the children and youngsters of Tamil Nadu.”Referring to the various steps taken in the 2006-11 DMK regime during which the business hours of Tasmac was reduced to 10am-10pm and closure of 1,300 bars and 132 shops near temples and schools, Stalin alleged that Tasmac bars have outnumbered schools in the AIADMK regime.
“Public welfare is more important than the revenue netted from sale of liquor. This is the objective of the new chapter of the DMK,” Stalin said, adding, “There shall be no doubt. DMK will enforce total prohibition in 2016.” Later in the evening, when reporters asked him about the feasibility of enforcing total prohibition, which will deprive the state of huge revenue, Karunanidhi said, “We have to create it.”
