20 Years of Disha
1993: Anti-liquor Movement

A country liquor vend at the Pather village, about 6 km off Sultanpur, was causing lots of inconvenience to the women of Pather and neighbouring villages. These affected women decided to fight the vend under the organisation’s guidance. The agitation spanning 100 days led to the vend’s closure.

Despite poverty and illiteracy, life was an easy going one in Pather and adjoining villages till 1989 when a country-liquor vend was opened there in April. In a few days started opposition to the vend from the area’s women. When their attempt to pursuade the shop employees to shift the vend to some other location failed, they approached the Saharanpur district administration to get it closed. The administration promised to do the needful when the next auction was due. But it failed to honour its promise. Three years passed this way.

Now the women of Pather and neighbouring villages were restless as the ills draining out of the bottle had ruined their lives. They wanted to get the shop closed immediately. They held a demonstration at Saharanpur on March 24, 1993, the day the auction for the financial year 1993-94 was to be held. But the auction was not held that day.

On March 31, 1993, the women of Pather stormed the shop and sat on an indefinite dharna before it. The organisation’s workers were there not only to support the dharna, but also to participate in it and mobilise people for it. In the days to follow, they braved chilly nights, hot days and often strong winds and rain. But they would not budge from the scene till their mission was complete.

On June 23, 1993, when the sun was shining at its peak, the women faced police lathis on their way to the district magistrate’s office where they wanted to give him a memorandum demanding the vend’s closure. About 50 women were injured in the lathicharge. With broken limbs, the injured women were admitted to district hospital. The police slapped cases on them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code Act. These cases lingered on in courts for several years. The leaders of agitation feared threat of arrest. That, however, did not materialise was the only consolation.

Finally, their leaders were successful in raising the issue before the Governor who visited the city on June 29. The district administration tried to mislead even the Governer. But on his orders the vend was ultimately closed down for good on July 2. That was a red letter day in the history of Saharanpur and a feather in the cap of the organisation’s workers.

So many women suffered so much during the agitation. They faced wrath of their families who did not at all like their participation in an activity like that. There was threat to them from the local goondas and the henchmen of the liquor contractor. On one point they also faced the threat of being kidnapped. Three women lost their children during the agitation.

Within a year after the vend was closed life in Pather improved drastically. Calm returned to homes, lanes and streets. People were fast progressing towards prosperity. There were instances in which certain shopkeepers who got hooked to liquor and ruined their business revitalised it.

A year after the Pather agitation, villagers from another village Haria came to the organisation’s workers to tell them they too wanted to launch an agitation against the liquor vend in their village. After mutual consultation the organisation’s workers and Haria villagers gave January 13 as the date of the commencement of the agitation. But well before the declared date, the vend was abandoned for good.

The spread effect of the anti-liquor agitation continues even today. In the beginning of 2003 a country liquor shop was opened again in Pather village as a branch of liquor shop located in Chilkana. The shop was causing a number of problems for the residents, particularly for women. The villagers led by morcha members went in delegation to the district magistrate with an application and got order of closure of the shop in February 2003. This shows the strength of collective leadership.

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