Nagaland’s government has excluded the state’s powerful Baptist Church from its latest round of consultations on relaxing a “failed” alcohol ban.

The government in the Christian-majority state in India’s northeast began consultations this year aimed at lifting the ban.

However, the latest round of talks on July 2 involved only apex organizations.

The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), which spearheaded the original ban in 1989, “was not invited” for the latest consultation in Kohima, said Abei-u Meru, president of the Naga Mothers Association.

Naga Hoho president Keviletuo Kiewhuo, who attended the consultation, told ucanews.com that a survey they conducted showed the two-decade-old ban had seen a rise in homemade liquor, crime and encouraged bootlegging.

Naga Hoho is the apex body of Naga tribal elders.

Kiewhuo said he and others wanted the government to lift the alcohol ban, yet with stringent regulations on its sale.

Eastern Naga Peoples Organization President Y. Mangko Phom said prohibition has not affected the availability of liquor but only increased its price and helped the spread of drugs.

The government said there was no need to consult the Church.

State Excise Minister M. C. Konyak told the consultation that the government was only seeking the views of apex organizations at the present time and that “no final decision” would be taken just yet.

Lifting prohibition would help the state earn about 1,300 million rupees (US$ 29 million) in annual excise duty, he said.

The Baptist Church body said it was prepared to fight any move to relax the alcohol ban.

“Christians in Nagaland are prepared to fight for prohibition through any democratic means based on moral and spiritual authority,” said Reverend Khari Longchar, who heads the NBCC’s Prohibition Committee.

Some 90 percent of the state’s nearly 2 million people are Christians, mostly Baptists.

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