The MDMK will organise marathons in Chennai and other districts to demand total prohibition in Tamil Nadu and stage a protest thereafter, party general secretary Vaiko said on Sunday after flagging off a rally at Sundarapuram here.
Around 3,500 boys and girls participated in the five-km run that ended at the Madukkarai market. Alcoholism, spread by the State-run liquor shops, led to degeneration in society and ruined families. However, the government seemed to be concerned more about Rs. 25,000-Rs. 30,000 crore it earned in revenue from liquor sales than about the families.
The former Chief Ministers, K. Kamaraj of the Congress or C. N. Annadurai of the DMK, would not have allowed the mushrooming of liquor shops. But their political heirs M. Karunanidhi, M.G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa had adopted a different policy and were responsible for the ills that had come to plague the Tamil society, he said.
The increase in the incidents of murder, rape, sexual abuse and other crimes was linked to the jump in liquor sales, Mr. Vaiko said, pointing out that he had been fighting for long to bring in prohibition, undertaking a 1,200-km padayatra across the State and following it up with another one.
MDMK youth wing secretary V. Eswaran said students from Udhagamandalam, Mettupalayam, Karamadai, Pollachi, Udumalpet and other towns in the district participated in the marathon.
