‘No means no’ for alcohol in Kothamangalam
PUDUKKOTTAI: The history of women uniting for prohibition of alcohol dates back to the time when Periyar EV Ramasamy made his wife Nagammal and his sister Kannammal led women volunteers picket liquor shops in Erode in 1922. The brigade of women, who had carried this baton forward in 2017, in the Kothamangalam village in Pudukottai, by forcing shut down of two TASMAC shops, have once again come together in large numbers to stop a liquor shop from being opened there.
The women who stood at the forefront of this protest are Santhi Valarmathi, village panchayat president, and Podhumani Sivalingam, panchayat vice-president.Post the local body elections, a liquor shop was going to be opened. As soon as the villagers got to know about this, they staged a protest and a roadblock. Following this, the DRO assured that the TASMAC would not be opened. The grama sabha passed a resolution to stop the liquor shop from being opened on Sunday.
Podhumani, who took up this cause after she lost her husband to alcohol addiction, said she doesn’t want any other girl or woman to go through the suffering. “More than 2,000 women have come together to stop a liquor shop from ruining more families. So many of us have lost our husbands to this evil. My husband used to come home each night and hit me and my children. We protested in 2017 and made sure that these shops were shut. Now, again we will ensure that this shop is not opened,” said Podhumani.
The women said that it used to be difficult for them to walk home or anywhere in the village, as groups of drunken men would harass them.“There was a TASMAC near the girls high school. Young girls would tremble walking back home each day. It was a bad situation with men not working and merely drinking all day. Since the past 3 years, our village has been peaceful. We won’t allow our peace to be destroyed again,” said Valarmathi.Police inspector, Rajesh, confirmed to Express that the shop will not be opened.