The Mizoram Presbyterian Church, the largest church in the Christian-dominated state of Mizoram, has said that the red pot wine is a ''liquor'' and cannot be liberalised.
The Synod, the highest assembly of the Mizoram Presbyterian Church, in its annual meeting here yesterday held that the made-in-Mizoram grape wine labelled Zawlaidi, which contains 14 per cent alcohol, is a 'liquor' and resolved to press the government to reduce the alcohol content.
The red pot wine, produced from two wineries at Hnahlan village and Champhai town in eastern parts of Mizoram, had already faced opposition from smaller churches and NGOs since it hit the market on market on October 11.
Earlier, the Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitu Committee (MKHC), a committee comprising leaders of different denominations, had made it very clear that it was against production and sale of grape wine and guava wine.
The church leaders committee also reiterated that its 100 per cent support to the Mizoram liquor total prohibition act, imposed in the state in 1996, remained unchanged.
The prohibition of liquor was grounded on the solid teaching of the Word of God and therefore the Church's stand will never be compromised, sources from the church leaders' committee said.
Meanwhile, the Evangelical Church of Maraland in Mara Autonomous District Council in southern Mizoram supported by other organisations, have unanimously agreed to ban the grape wine in the autonomous district council.
A joint memorandum had been submitted to the chief executive member of Mara ADC, S Khipo to request him to take necessary actions in this regard.
The Church and the voluntary organisations also asked the government to cancel the license issued to the retail vendor for Saiha town.
Even though other smaller churches such as Baptist Church of Mizoram, the Salvation Army, United Pentecostal Church, Seventh Day Adventist, etc have expressed their opposition to the grape wine, official resolutions are yet to be made.
With its 14 per cent alcohol content, Zawlaidi contains has come as a perfect substitute to liquor which is totally prohibited in the Christian dominated state since the past 13 years.
The Mizoram government, in 2007, made an amendment of the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act, passed in 1997, to enable grape growers in Hnahlan and Champhai in northeastern parts of Mizoram to manufacture wine from their fruits of labour.
Even as the grape growers have heaved a sigh of relief, the churches in Mizoram, who were behind the prohibition law, have expressed their resentment on the liberalisation of grape wine.
In Hnahlan village 80 per cent of the total population of 670 families, has been engaged in producing grapes and 325 families in Champhai area.
--UNI
