Minority leaders want ‘dry day’ on Prophet’s birthday

Minority leaders want ‘dry day’ on Prophet’s birthday

Abhijit MulyeUpdated: Friday, May 31, 2019, 07:49 PM IST
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This has put the govt in a dilemma as Eid-e-Milad falls on Dec 24, or Christmas Eve

Mumbai : The state government is in a dilemma over a demand made by some minority community legislators to declare a ‘dry day’ on Eid-e-Milad that falls on December 24 citing religious sentiments, even though a home department circular has already relaxed the restrictions on alcohol sales on that day.

A delegation of Muslim legislators had on Friday submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking that December 24, which will be celebrated as Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, be declared a ‘dry day’ (no liquor sales).

Senior Congress leader and former minister Naseem Khan, who led the delegation, in a statement had said that they urged Fadnavis to consider their demand, like it is done on Mahavir Jayanti and Gandhi Jayanti every year.

Khan was accompanied by Waris Pathan and Imtiyaz Jalil (both belonging to the AIMIM), along with Samajwadi Party state president Abu Asim Azmi and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil.

Interestingly, the demand came a day before the government issued a circular on December 19 that allowed liquor shops, restaurants, canteens, clubs, beer bars and other establishments in the state to remain open with varying timings ranging between 10.30 pm to 5 am in the morning on December 24 (Eid-e-Milad), December 25 (Christmas) and December 31 (New Year’s Eve).

A rather puzzled Minister for State Excise Eknath Khadse remarked that this was the first time that the government had got a request to ban alcohol on Eid-e-Milad.

He added that no legislator or any private citizen has ever made this demand before. The minister stated that on the one hand the government respects the sentiments of the minority community for whom, according to religious customs, consuming liquor is forbidden. On the other hand the Christian community says that alcohol is necessary on Christmas Eve.

Khadse admitted that the sentiments of both the minority religious communities have left the government in a dilemma.

The home department circular says relaxation in the timing for foreign liquor shops (FL-II retail shops) on all three days is between 10.30 pm to 1 am, for permit rooms, restaurants and bars on all three days (excluding police commissionerate areas) 11 pm to 5 am (in police commissionerate areas it will be between 1.30 am to 5 am), beer and wine shops between 10.30 am to 1 am, for hotels, restaurants, canteens and clubs 10.30 am to 5 am, for country liquor shops in ‘C’ class municipal councils and zilla parishad areas (excluding Cantonment areas) 10 pm to 1 am and in areas other than these between 23.59 pm to 1 am the next day on all these three days.

A look at the ‘dry days’ across various states reveals that the states of Delhi, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir, and Andaman & Nicobar have a ban on the sale of liquor on some of the Islamic religious days. Although Muslim religious and political organisations have been demanding a ban on the sale of liquor in a few other states like Telangana, there has been no decision over it. Muslim organisations had made a similar demand in Rajasthan a few months back when Bakri Eid and Anant Chaturdashi fell on consecutive days.

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