THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Catholic Church has come out in the open against the LDF government's liquor policy and warned that it will reflect in the Chengannur by-election. The Church will organise a protest on April 2 when the new policy comes into effect. The Congress and the BJP have also backed the Church stand. Bishop Joshua Mar Ignathios, CBCI vice- president, said that reopening of the bars will be a major setback for the government. "The decision is a challenge to the democratic values of the state, especially in view of the Chengannur bypoll," he said.
Syro-Malabar Church Thamarassery Bishop Mar Remigiose Inchananiyil said that the LDF would suffer a setback in Chengannur. The government's decision was another 'Ockhi disaster' in the making, he said. Thiruvananthapuram Latin Catholic Archbishop M. Soosa Pakiam warned of an agitation against the abkari policy and asked the government not to force people to come out in the streets. Cardinal Baselios Cleemis Catholicos, head of the Syro-Malankara Church, said that the LDF was going back on its stated policies after promising to take steps to reduce the consumption of liquor.
Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala recalled the claim made by Mr Biju Ramesh, bar owners' association president that the LDF would help the bar owners to reopen the closed bars if they helped them to oust the UDF government. Former KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran flayed LDF government and the Supreme Court saying that the court verdict had created anarchy in society. "The government is pushing the people to a social tragedy by ensuring that there is free flow of liquor," he said.
BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan claimed that the LDF government would immerse the people in liquor by opening bars in panchayats having more than 10, 000 population. "The LDF has returned the favours extended to it by the liquor lobby during the 2016 Assembly elections," he said and asked the government to revoke its decision to open bars across the state.
