Karaikal (Pondicherry), May 13: Tipplers throng Raasi Wines at Nedungaadi town in Karaikal even on a weekday night. On weekends, the numbers double. About 90 per cent are from two districts of Tamil Nadu that sandwich Karaikal, a coastal enclave of Pondicherry.

No wonder Bhoopalan, the owner of the wine shop, is eagerly looking forward to prohibition in Tamil Nadu. "At present, my daily sales are around Rs 2 lakh. If prohibition is imposed, it will multiply many times. Now they come from border villages and towns close to Kariakal. In the future, they will come from all nearby districts," he predicts.

He gives the example of Mahe, another enclave of Pondicherry located in northern Kerala, which saw a spurt in liquor sales after prohibition was imposed last year.

Pondicherry has always been a drinker's den, with a wide choice of Indian and imported liquor and priced lower than in Tamil Nadu. "For Rs 140, I can have two bottles of Kingfisher here but in Tamil Nadu, one bottle costs Rs 130. Not only are the prices lower, even the quality of liquor available in Pondicherry is better because of the adulteration in Tamil Nadu," said Arumugam, a tailor from Nagpattinam town, 20km away.

Even now, because of the price difference, most customers lug dozens of bottles back home on their two-wheelers to sell them at a profit. Excise officials often look the other way as the liquor lobby in Pondicherry is both influential and liberal with money.

Pondicherry thrives on liquor revenue and liquor tourism. In Karaikal alone, measuring all of 160sqkm, 58 shops do brisk business every day. Add 237 Indian-made foreign liquor shops in mainland Pondicherry, which abuts four districts of Tamil Nadu, and imagine the impact on a dry Tamil Nadu. Then add arrack and toddy shops to that.

"Pondicherry's Rs 700 crore annual liquor revenue may pale before Tamil Nadu's Rs 30,000 crore. Here we sell 1.5 lakh cases in a year, whereas Midas distilleries (owned by Sasikala's family) dispatches 25 lakh cases a month for the Tamil Nadu market. When that supply dries up, the addicts from Tamil Nadu will fly towards Pondicherry like parched birds. Sales here can only go up," said a senior officer from the Union territory.

The presence of thriving liquor markets in Pondicherry, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala was what DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi cited to roll back prohibition in Tamil Nadu in 1971 with the famous words: "Tamil Nadu is like a camphor surrounded by the burning fire of liquor. How long can it remain untouched?" Now, it is the same Karunanidhi who has vowed to abolish liquor in his state.

While one can tout prohibition to woo votes in Tamil Nadu, it had exactly the opposite effect in Pondicherry. In 1977, the Janata Party was routed after Morarji Desai said he would impose prohibition there.

The Congress manifesto for Pondicherry released today declares there is no question of imposing prohibition in the Union territory. But in Tamil Nadu, it is firmly perched on the prohibition bandwagon. "That is the political reality of Pondicherry. There is no escaping it," said Congress leader Vaithialingam.