Tamils seem to have this strange obsession with demanding a TASMAC ban whenever a new government takes charge.
(For those outside Tamil Nadu — TASMAC stands for Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation, the government-owned company that controls alcohol sales in the state.)
The usual reasons given are:
- Crime
- Women’s safety
- Health concerns
- Domestic violence
- Broken families
Now visit a TASMAC shop once in your life.
You will realise it is probably the second-dirtiest place in India after public toilets. And who stands there in line, often paying more than the MRP?
Poor daily labourers.
Men who spend 10–12 hours carrying cement, digging roads, loading bricks, working under unbearable heat — whose only relief at the end of the day is a quarter bottle.
Where does the middle class drink?
In pubs.
Where do the rich drink?
In five-star hotels.
The middle class travels to Thailand and Europe for “stress relief,” while many of these labourers drinking in TASMAC bars do not even possess a passport.
Now let us break down the arguments.
Crime
The biggest crimes in India are political, bureaucratic, and corporate crimes — and almost none of them happen in drunkenness. Multi-crore scams are executed with complete sobriety.
Women’s Safety
Some of the worst sexual exploitation cases emerge from film industries, corporate spaces, religious institutions, and elite circles. Poverty alone is not the birthplace of male violence.
Health Concerns
India’s public health crisis is not caused by alcohol alone. Diabetes, tobacco, gutkha, pan masala, stress, pollution, and unhealthy lifestyles are destroying millions of lives every year.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence exists across all classes. Alcohol may worsen it in some homes, but education and sobriety alone have clearly not made families kinder or relationships healthier.
Broken Families
The highest divorce rates today are among educated, urban, financially stable couples — many of whom are completely sober.
Most people reading this have probably never worked as physically hard as an Indian labourer. So it is difficult to understand how, for some of them, alcohol functions less as luxury and more as a crude painkiller that numbs the body enough to survive another day of physical exhaustion.
A society that refuses to reduce human suffering will eventually begin moralising the coping mechanisms of the poor.
And yes, if the state truly wants moral symbolism, then perhaps banning alcohol only on New Year’s Eve would already satisfy the performative outrage.