Author: Muzaffar Raina
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: January 14, 2009
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090114/jsp/nation/story_10388008.jsp
Vijay Mallya's Kashmir beer dream has crash-landed,
with chief minister Omar Abdullah ruling today that the liquor baron can't
grow hops in the state.
"The government is not interested in
the project and the views expressed by Vijay Mallya are his own. The chief
minister was categorical about not doing anything which will go against the
religious sentiments of the people," an official spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the government
had not received any proposal for the revival of hop cultivation.
Mallya had yesterday said he proposed to resume
growing hops - used in the manufacture of beer - in Kashmir, an announcement
that immediately triggered protests from separatists.
Today, Kashmir's Grand Mufti Bashir-ud-din
said Jammu and Kashmir is a Muslim-majority state and nothing that goes against
the religion of the majority would be tolerated.
"He (Mallya) should desist from going
ahead with the project as it will hurt the sentiments of people. We will start
peaceful protests against such deals," the Mufti, who is seen as pro-government,
said.
Drinking is banned in Islam.
The liquor baron had yesterday recalled that
his family started growing hops in Shilvat in 1973 but the facility was destroyed
at the start of insurgency. Hops are used to balance the sweetness of the
malt with bitterness. The more hops added, the bitter the beer.
Militants had in 1990 started a vigorous campaign
to ban the sale of liquor, and several shops were damaged and forced to close
down.
The National Conference government re-opened
a few shops when it came to power in 1996, but they could not function normally.
During the last three years of the PDP-Congress
government, five shops opened in the Valley despite opposition from separatist
groups and social organisations.
Official sources said around 1.3 million bottles
of liquor were sold in the Valley in a year till June 2008, most of them bought
by tourists.
Hardline women's leader Aisiya Andrabi, who
heads the Dukhtaran-e-Milat, slammed Mallya's proposal and said her group
would start a campaign against the government, which she blamed for supporting
the move.
"Liquor sale or consumption is against
our ethics and morals and I am sure this proposal has the blessings of the
government," she said.
The National Conference-led government had
yesterday said it would react to Mallya's proposal once he approached it formally.
The liquor baron is a friend of Omar's father
and National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah.
Andrabi has been at the forefront of most
moral policing campaigns in Kashmir, including enforcement of purdah.
Jamait-e-Alhadees chief Moulana Showkat Shah
also opposed the proposal, saying trade in liquor is forbidden in Islam.
