‘Will have no option but fast unto death’

August 26, 2024 9 Views No Comment

KBBB ordained Ministers on lifting of NLTP Act 1989

MON, AUGUST 26 (MExN): With the Nagaland Government indicating a possible revisit of the Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition (NLTP) Act, 1989, which is being slated for discussion in the upcoming monsoon Assembly session, church entities are stepping up their pressure to make sure that the contentious Act remain in place.

The ordained Ministers of the Konyak Baptist Bumeinok Bangjüm (Konyak Baptist Church Association) on Sunday sought reaffirmation on the NLTP Act from the Konyak elected members of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly, telling them “not to be on board with the idea of lifting the NLTP Act, be it partial or fully.”

“Dear honorable members, perhaps, some of you are too young to remember the genesis of NLTP Act, but it was the Mon district that had played a pioneering role in prohibition history. It didn’t just happen overnight, but it took series of prayers, fasting, discussions and personal commitment among the Konyak churches and civil societies and later unanimously agreed to declare Mon district as ‘dry’ on October, 1, 1988,” the appeal, appended by 37 ordained Ministers under the KBBB, and addressed the Konyak elected members of the NLA read.

“We are, today, extremely anguished to foresee a serious decline again in our social and spiritual sphere, as we are a living testament to that social menace caused by the open sale of liquors in Mon district; it had already caused untold misery and devastated many individuals & families,” it went on to state.

The KBBB then indicated that the undersigned ordained Ministers would be compelled to ‘fast unto death’ if the NLTP Act 1989 was to be lifted. “As the GoN has proposed to revisit NLTP Act 1989, we, the undersigned KBBB ordained Ministers, shall have no option left but to revisit how it all started on our part as well, i.e., to ‘fast unto death’ once again.”

It asserted that even if the NLTP Act is partially lifted in other parts of Nagaland, the Konyak believers under the KBBB are committed to fight tooth and nail to keep the NLTP Acts active in Mon district.

While announcing this, the KBBB also highlighted certain points to the Konyak NLA members to ‘keep in mind’ when the issue is deliberated in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly- that instead of merely giving up and succumb to pressure from certain section of society, they must rather voice out for tougher law enforcement to curb the surreptitious entrance of liquor in the state.

That people with vested interests always talks about the unchecked, unregulated inflow of liquor, but how many time has the government discussed on how to fix the loopholes in the Excise Department?

That the skeptics on this NLTP Act may explain, several hypothetical considerations of revenue generation and quality of liquor, once the Acts is lifted, but it will be doomed to repeat the sorry state of affairs we had already experienced.

That NLTP Act was not just a mere agreement on the paper, but a covenant that was made between God and churches under Nagaland Baptist Church Council; make no mistake, “you will find yourselves going against the ‘covenant of God.’”

That the reputation of the strength of Konyaks survived intact from ages past; the KBBB, as spiritual guardian, will call upon the Konyak Christians for the mass movement, if and when needed, for safeguarding the ‘covenant’ that was made with God.