Andhra Pradesh's Anti-Liquor Movement

Author(s): Kancha Ilaiah

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 27, No. 45 (Nov. 7, 1992), pp. 2406-2408
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 COMMENTARY

courageous and confident, and wants

Andhra Pradesh's Anti-Liquor nothing but a war with them till the liquor

business and landlordism is put to an end.

It is for this reason that on October 18,

Movement

Rajashekhar Reddy sent his drunken

'Dussasanas' to disrobe her and the rest

Kandea ilaiah

of the women campaigning against liquor

at Bangla near his native village. But the

The anti-liquor movement in Andhra Pradesh, nmanaged and women fought back. The women who

never figured in the political discourse of

spearheaded by village women, has shaken the government and

the state suddenly found a definite place.

fhe ruling parties. In time to come these women activists will no

Not only do women call the women-

doubt pose questions quite different from those- brought up by

activists as Akkalu so do the men, both

the urban women's movement.

the poitically conscious and not so

conscious.

The Kurnool movement has a rhythm

RURAL women in Andhra are making such a convulsion in village society before

of its own. Having realised the potential

history. Illiterate women, whose minds Kurnool is the home district of the chief

minister Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy. From of the women in Nellore district who stop-
and ies appeared to have been crippled

Kurnool, Srishailam is 175 km cutting ped the auction on September 9, and

under the heavy weight of hard labour,

subsequently too, the Kurnool women ac-

landlord and market exploitation, social deep into Nallamala hill forest range. The

tivists decided to stop-the auction that was

and doinestic oppression, and who have road takes us through two wild animal

supposed to start on September 16. They

been 'public goddesses' and 'private sex sanctuaries. One, a human 'animal' sanc-

succeeded in their first attempt and it was

tuary, the second, a lion's sanctuary. The
objects: have now suddenly revolted

human sanctuary consists of different postponed to September 21. The women

against their husbands, the mandal of-

landlord-liquor contractors who rule the again-gathered in front of the collector's

ficer the police sub-inspector, the collec-

roost. There are three ferocious landlord- offipe to stop the auction and it was again
tor and superintendent of police and the

contractors in the area-Baireddy postponed to September 25, but this time

home minister and chief minister. Their

with the decision to start the auction at

demands are simple-'no drinking or sell- Rajashekhar Reddy, Budda Vengal Reddy

4 am. Friends of the women's movement

ing liquor'. Drunkards are being dragged and Mohamnmad Zilani. The area between

Kurnool and Srishailam is 'their sanc- within thE administration, leaked out this
into the street, their heads clean-shaved;

tuary. Unlike the lions which live in the information and women reached the col-
the liquor dealers are being brought into

lector's office at 3 am. The shocked

the 6chowrasta' garlanded with chappals sanctuary that extends from Atmakuru to

officials and contractors now thought up

and onions and made to ride a donkey Srishailam, these human 'animals' use

more deceptive mechanisms. In the face

through the village. In hundreds the guns, goondas without any fear from the

of the threat to cancel the auction the

women go to the nearby police station to state or any other agency. In these sara

baron kingdoms any ordinary mortal whp officials and contractors arrived at a com-
tell the sub-inspector the bitter truth, "You"

promise and the cut-throat (earlier the

are only licking the boots of 'sara' con- speaks a word against them-particularly

Kurnool's landlords and contractors kill-

tractors"O Tihey go to the local landlord, against Rajashekhar Reddy-will be kill-

ed and fed to the fish in the tank and the ed each other) competition was turned
whose very presence spelt terror to them

into a friendly distribution of 'addas'

fattened fish is eaten. Rajashekhar Reddy
not so long ago and say "stop trading with

is known for using the expression 'cham- (liquor markets) among themselves and
our men's blood and our honour". They

pi chapalakesta' (I will kill you and feed instead of auctioning the shops, the con-
go to the collector, who of course, will be

the fish) and few escape him. But the anti- cerned contractors were asked to sign the
in the company of the SP to warn him

liquor women's movement has shaken the contract agreements secretly at their
"either stop auctioning 'sara' or dare to

houses or in the hotels. The state

foundations of his world.
drive your car over our bodies". The go

machinery at the district level is reduced

to the chief minister taking a letter writ-

to such a farce that in the presence of the

ten in the blood of a young woman to

How IT BEGAN

landlords the officials can do nothing but

demand "ban liquor or bury us all".

This movement started as a spillover of shiver.

The methods that they use are neither

The women decided to fight the con-

Gandhian nor Marxian but uniquely their the Neliore liquor movement and proceed-

spiracy in their own way. Now that they

own. In some villages when the landlord- ed to stop the auctioning of liquor shops

were deceived (but not defeated) at the

contractor goondas came to attack on October 16, 21 ;nd 23 at Kurnool

district headquarters they chose their

women campaigners they retaliated with through protests, 'dharnas', human road

villages as battle grounds.

'lathis'. The landlords, their drunken blocks to stop the collector and the SP

like for example the fisherwomen of

goondas and even the police have now from reaching the place where the liquor

Sundipenta and Lingala Gattu, two

realised that these women have turned into auction was supposed to take place, etc.

'Kalikadevis' (Kalis). villages on the right bank of river Krishna

These illiterate women led by an educated

adjacent to Srishailam barrage Earlier

Listening to these stories and watching woman called Sandhya (vice-president of

known as the weakest whose interaction

the men with shaven heads paraded before a progressive organisation for women,

with the rest of the civil society, both

us, we (a four-member team which visited Stree Vimukti), who is called 'akka'

within Srishailam and outside the

the areas in Kurnool district) thought that (sister) by all poor women and men, old

Nallamala forest, was minimal. Perhaps

we had reached a 'pranmadavanam' (the and young of the whole area. For the

Atmakur, the mandal headquarters was

women's world) where the unbelievable is landlords-particularly to Rajashekhar

the biggest town many of them had seen.

happening. I have never been a witness to Reddy-Sandhya is like Draupathi,

2406 Econorn and Political Weekly November 7, 1992

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Their men 'catch fish from morning to the visitors are hostile they abuse them as
Despite the police, they reached the CM

evening and drink liquor in the evening. much as possible.

and asked him to read the memo and 'give

The 200 odd fishermen of Lingalagattu Earlier in Baireddy Rajashekhar

his word' to ban liquor. However, the CM

were estimated to consume liquor worth Reddy's 'kingdom' no woman dared to

told them that he could not do so. The

Rs five lakh every year. women simply decided to sleep across the criticise him but now they publicly talk of

For these drunken men cheating and how he has been terrorising men and
door and not let the CM go. The panic-

beating women was a daily routine. women of that area. The 'speak bitterness'
stricken police had to mobilise large

Education was something unknown in campaign of the women leaves none

numbers of women police to remove them

spite of the fact they live very near untouched-the husband, the landlord
and make way for the CM. Having fought

Srishailam Temple which draws thousands and the police. It appears as though the
public officials at all levels the women

of pilgrims every month. Because of the, village women's gatherings have started a
realised that everyone was deceiving them

callousness of the 'welfare government' 'small cultural revolution'. This is what

and the better course of action would be

while they live in the womb of Srishailam shocked the village men. It is, however,
to focus on reforming their men and the

Hydroelectric Project their houses have wrong to think that there are no men to
local shops.

never known an electric bulb. In the rainy support the anti-liquor struggle. Con-

season they drink only the muddy water scious and educated youth doing so.
ON HOME FRONT

that flows in the Krishna-while there has Interestingly enough the village women do

The struggles of the women on the

never been clean water, they have always not allow the enthusiastic men to out-

home front is more significant than their

been supplied with 'clean liquor'. shadow them while dealing with officials

fight with the state. As usual they re-

These women, after participating in the or while narrating the events. In our

quested their men not to drink. Since most

dharna at the collectorate, decided to stop presence, Mallika, the local activist of

of these habitual drinkers have already

the sale of liquor in the village. The con- Sundipenta, asked a youth leader to shut-

become psychological wrecks they did not

tractor of the mandal, Zilani who is of up while he attempted to intervene. They

care. The women decided to mete out

course, the bosom friend of Bhaskar are very conscious about their leadership,

symbolic punishment. Even this collective

Reddy (the new CM) and an arch rival of their strength and weakness. When an

decision could have been resisted by the

Budda Vengal Reddy who decided to sell MP, Gangulapratap Reddy, a faction

men but for the fact that they saw how

the liquor in the villages at any cost. This leader, asked them while they were talk-

each wife has now become a Kalika-the

rivalry had earlier brought about the ing to the CM to "set their husbands right

wife who was 'eating his beatings' every

murder of Zilani's father by Budda. After so that the problem gets solved" they

day was now facing the SI, CI, SP,

secretly signing the contract Zilani pro- replied "when your wife could not set you

collector and even the CM. The local

mptly brought two truck-loads of liquor right how can we set our husbands right".

landlord-contractor, who was a terror to

to the Sundipenta-Lingala Gattu adda, in

For the women, liquor represents

them became 'adanavadu' ("its only him")

the early hours of October 2, Gandhi

economic and health problems. One after

both at the collectorate and in their

jayanthi day. By then the women had

the other the women talk of how the

villages. All this has shaken the con-

developed their own intelligence network

families' economy was being ruined with

fidence of 'drinking husbands' who used

and as they got information about the

liquor-they point to a man sitting around

to beat their wives.

trucks, ran to the outskirts of the village

them and say "this man was drinking

At Kistaraopet the women's collective

and stopped them. The police too had

Rs 40 worth liquor a day. He sold an acre

declared that those who drink would have

rushed there promptly but with instruc-

of land, all his wife's ornaments and all

their heads shaved and those who sold li-

tions not to let loose terror but wait and

the grain procured for food". Another

quor would be taken through the village

watch the women. The contractor refus-

woman says that she became a widow at

on a donkey. No man dared to say 'no'

ed to take the trucks back and the women

the age of 30 because of liquor. Another

to the declaration. First, because it would

refused to leave the spot. For two days and

woman points to a boy of 12 and says his

amount to supporting drinking which has

two nights the women kept the trucks

father taught him drinking. "Now 1 can-

suddenly become a 'shameful' act. And

there. They mobilised stocks of rice,

not think that the liquor devil dies even

each wife saw this as an opportunity to

vegetables and cooked there. Their

with his father's death", says she. Not that

set her husband right.

children were put to sleep in 'jholas' hung

the diehard drunkards do not come to

At Kistaraopet a liquor shopowner, in

from trees. On the third day the SI of

public gatherings with their pet theory

spite of threats sold the liquor and some

Srishailam again deceived the women by

that 'with drinking I could forget the day's

'dare devils' bought and drank it. Hun-

telling them that the liquor would be

labour and the body aches. They do. But

dreds of women went to the seller's home

dumped at godowns but would not be

the women retort, "They drink by prop-

dragged him out, garlanded him with

sold. But after three days the liquor

ping up this bodyaches theory and beat

chappals and onions and took him round

packets reached the sales counters of both-

us so that our bodies keep on aching day

the village in procession. It is mandatory

the villages. The women promptly rushed

in and day out". They say 'a drunken man

for every working class woman to par-

there and destroyed the packets. The

does not eat ordinary food but wants

ticipate in the procession. They caught

police then arrested them and filed cases

'neesu' (mutton or fish, etc) which we can

hold of the drunken men and they them-

against 26 women. The women. were let

never buy because of his drinking.

selves shaved their heads in the presence

off by the Atmakur magistrate on bail but

The social complications that emerge

of hundreds of villagers. The moment a
from then on section 144 has been impos-

from drinking are no less. Women cite

stranger goes to the village, all the women
ed on Sundipenta.

example after example of how some one

surround him/her, if the visitors are sym-
Meanwhile the chief minister visited

misbehaved with his mother or sister. The

pathetic they will tell them all they have
Srishailam Mallikarjun temple and the

women in these areas sit at the liquor shop

achieved-'within 10 days my family sav-
Sundipenta women decided to seek from

to keep a watch on selling and drinking

ed Rs 150-200': 'wife-beating has sudden-
him a promise to ban the liquor. In hun-

because the police have said "we do not

ly come down, my husband who never
dreds they reached the guest house with

used to eat food now does so and now bother if you control drinking but we will

a memorandum written by their leader

cares for our children'. So much change intervene if you destroy liquor packets".

and a poem written in blood to say "we

within 10-15 days? "YMes, yes", they say. If So they simply sit and keep a watch. But

do not need liquor that drains our blood".

Economic and Political Weekly November 7, 1992 2407

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 the state have done. The repeated attempts
careful in declaring its identity. While the
this is a 'speak bitterness' gathering. Every

to define this movement as part of class

Nellore movement has succeeded in stop-
woman criticises her drinking husband

movement, or to define it as part of anti-

ping the liquor auction till today, the Kur-
and exposes the economic problems due

caste movement, because majority of

nool movement has succeeded in building
to liquor consumption.

women participating in the movement are

up village-level resistance in a militant

SCs and OBCs, indicate that many have

way. In a state where the class movement

STATE RESPONSE

not yet come to accept that it is in fact

and the dalit movement have been paving

a 'prelude' to a 'matriarchal revolution'

newer ways, the anti-liquor movement,

The state and the ruling parties do not

which may in the long run pose major

started and led by women has shocked

seem to be interested in what is happen-

questions for- feminism.

many patriarchs irrespective of their caste,

ing at the family and the village level. Of

Whether one likes it or not the women

class and status.

course, many 'big' leaders stand disturb-

cadres and leaders emerging from this

However, it is still a movement that at-

ed by- the fact that the women were

movement will pose serious questions in

tempts to assert the mother's right to set

prepared to face the goondas sent by

future. The questions that the grassroots

the family right and the attempts of

Baireddy Rajashekhar Reddy at Bangla of

women pose to husbands, activists and

patriarchal society is to see that it shall

Nandikotkur Mandal. When the goondas

parties-to the entire civil society-will be

not become a feminist movement where

planned to attack the campaigners they

radically different from the ones that the

it formulates its own theoretical

were ready with chilli powder and lathis

urban middle class women have posed so

framework and practical programme just

to retaliate. The 'problem' according to

far.

as the class and anti-caste movements in

them,f is going far beyond liquor-the

women are becoming far too powerful.

The very atmosphere in the state-that

there is a strong class movement, anti-

Myth of Total Literacy in
caste dalit movement-is enough reason

for the landlord forces to be afraid of and

Narsinghpur

the women's movement as an added

dimension.

Sadhna Saxena

The state is attempting to divert the

discourse to budget statistics-how to

A visit to the 'totally literate' district of Narsinghpur leads to a

mobilise Rs 860 crore revenue lost because

of banning liquor. Their real worry is

better understanding of why literacy programmes are not making

about the unstated income which works

much headway in the Hindi belt.

out to Rs 2,500 crore per year. For every

25 paise that the state gets, the contrac-

threw up many questions regarding the
NARSINGHPUR was once a part of
tors get 75 paise. Part of this huge amount
feasibility of conducting literacy work
Hoshangabad district in the Central Pro-
gets back to political parties in the form
among the rural poor in a feudal and
vinces. After the formation of Madhya
of party funds. With the anti-liquor move-
economically backward area. Things have
Pradesh, Hoshangabad district was divid-
ment the present form of election system
changed since then and there is a demand
ed into two and thus a new district was
would be in a crisis because 'liquor-
for education in these villages. But that
formed. Culturally Narsinghpur is part of
packet-distribution and vote-mobilisation'
is because the landless labourers and
the Bundelkhand region, influenced by
is an intal part of the electoral game.
the small farmers are beginning to get
the proximity of the cities of Jabalpur and
Of cours, the situation in the state is such
organised.

Sagar. Economically it is predominantly

tuit, at the moment every party, xcoept the

agricultural, a rich fertile tract of the Nar-

Congress, is proniLsing prohibition to cap- Hence declaration of Narsinghpur as a

mada valley. Socially, the remnants of the

ture rural women's vote. N T Rama Rao 'totally literate' district left me a little scep-

Imalguzari' feudal system still dominate.

with the help of campaign of Eenadu (a tical. The opportunity to go there and see

I had experienced the consequences of

Telugu daily) is on an uninvited tour of the change for oneself was offered by the

organising literacy classes for adults and

the area because now power can flow out visit of an evaluation team nominated by

children of the backward communities in

of the anti-liquor slogan. The governor, the government of India, which I accom-

a few villages of the Bankhedi block of

Krishnakanth and his wife, Suman panied as an observer. Though it was a

Hoshangabad district. Bankhedi block

Krishnakanth, are busy preaching morals brief visit, the field situation provided

has a common boundary with Narsingh-

to anti-liquor agitators-no violence, no interesting insights.

pur district. Fifteen years ago the effort

politics, etc-while they themselves live

Many eyebrows lifted when the chief

met with fierce resistance from the land-
-amidst the politics of Rajbhavan and are

minister of Madhya Pradesh declared

ed elite. People who tried to come for the
heading the violent state machinery which

Narsinghpur totally literate. In the face of

classes were threatened and abused. Their
'is organising attacks on agitating women

various questions and suspicions, the

notebooks, pens an pencils were snatched
'day in and day out. The areas under the

media was cleverly manipulated. Editorials

away. They were terrorised to the extent
grip of Naxalite groups-Nizamabad,

in the leading newspapers of western

that they stopped coming. The landed elite
Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and

Madhya Pradesh called it the 'Ernakulam

were very clearheaded and articulate
Khammam where actually anti-liquor

of the Hindi belt'. But what was the reac-

about their actions. A crude reaction was
movement started around 1981-are at

tion of the field level functionaries-the

"if these-learn how to read and write
present pushed to the background. Nellore
volunteers who were recruited at the
they will get a swollen head. They will
which is not known for any militant

village level to run one literacy class each,

start making all kinds of demands. Then
movements became the igniting point of

and the school teachers who were released

who will work on our lands and graze our
anti-liquor women's movement. The
from the normal school duties for about
animals?" A more sophisticated response
CPI(M) which has been concentrating on

a year to supervise and look after literacy

was, "All this 'shiksha-viksha' will wreck
this question through its science forum

classes in five to six villages each? The

the peace of our village" This experience
called 'Janavignana Vedika' chose to be

2408 Economic and Political Weekly November 7, 1992

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