Hundreds of women gathered in Bengaluru to protest against unabated illegal liquor sales by unlicensed shops, especially in rural areas of the state.
Published Nov 26, 2025 | 12:00 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 26, 2025 | 12:02 PM
Hundreds of women gathered in Bengaluru seeking a ban of alcohol sale in the Karnataka.
Synopsis: Organised under the Madya Nisheda Andolana Karnataka, several hundred women from rural Karnataka protested in Bengaluru’s Freedom Park seeking a complete ban on alcohol in the state. They have been protesting since alocohol addiction of men in their family have been causing them emotional, physical and financial distress.
Not knowing the women sitting on her sides, Ratna, a daily-wage worker from Raichur in Karnataka, sat among thousands of women at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Tuesday, 25 November, with an absolute resolve seeking complete prohibition of alcohol in the state.
However, all the women who gathered, wearing purple satin armbands, are bound by the same story: The men in their lives are addicted to alcohol.
“My father used to hit me after getting drunk with his friends. There was no limit to his drinking. He is now bedridden, and we do not have money to take care of him,” said Ratna.
Hundreds of women like her gathered in Bengaluru on Tuesday to protest against unabated illegal liquor sales by unlicensed shops, especially in rural areas of the state.
Women at the protest site demanding a ban on alcohol.
Organised under the Madya Nisheda Andolana Karnataka, the women have been demanding a complete prohibition of liquor since the group’s formation in 2016. Launched in Raichur, the campaign gained momentum over the years with countless protests in North Karnataka.
In 2019, around 2,500 women from rural parts of Karnataka embarked on a 200 km march to the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru. However, this is the first time the protest has been initiated in Bengaluru.
Addressing the gathering, Mokshamma, an activist with the Rajya Mahila Okutta, asked the women to raise their hands if they wanted complete prohibition. She had earlier led a 71-day hunger strike in Raichur ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections.
“We wanted the attention of the leaders in Vidhana Soudha. We have been saying this for years: Beeru beda, neeru beku (We don’t want alcohol, we want water). The government should give a promise of education instead of allowing such an unchecked supply of alcohol,” she said.
Meanwhile, the protesters submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday, urging him to look into their demand for a complete prohibition on alcohol. The chief minister met the protesters, listened to their demands and assured them that the government would examine their memorandum.
ಫ್ರೀಡಂ ಪಾರ್ಕ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರತಿಭಟನೆ ನಡೆಸುತ್ತಿರುವ ಮದ್ಯಪಾನ ವಿರೋಧಿ ಹೋರಾಟಗಾರರ ನಿಯೋಗದ ಜೊತೆ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ @siddaramaiah ಅವರು ಚರ್ಚೆ ನಡೆಸಿ, ಅವರ ಅಹವಾಲುಗಳನ್ನು ಆಲಿಸಿ, ಮನವಿ ಪತ್ರ ಸ್ವೀಕರಿಸಿದರು. pic.twitter.com/uGQ1wBvAwz
— CM of Karnataka (@CMofKarnataka) November 25, 2025
To recall, in 2018, at a meeting between the then-Congress president Rahul Gandhi and farmers in Sindhanur, 90 km from Raichur city, a farmer urged Siddaramaiah to ban alcohol. However, he dismissed the idea, claiming that it wouldn’t be possible or practical and that the Union government should enact a law for the ban to be effective.
Another protester, Sheila, also a daily-wage worker, travelled from Raichur with her daughter. She said she was afraid to leave her daughter home, fearing her drunk husband would become violent in her absence.
“We were a happy family before his drinking spiralled out of control. Now, I live in constant fear, not just for myself, but for our daughter too. She is scared to be alone with him because she has seen him hit me,” she said.
Women gathered at the protest site demanding a ban on alcohol.
According to the last conducted National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), Karnataka recorded the highest number of incidents of domestic violence against women in the country, with 44 percent of married women surveyed in the year 2019-2021 claiming they had faced domestic violence. The survey also found that in over 80 percent of cases of physical violence against women, the perpetrator is the husband.
The same survey also revealed that about 23.1 percent of men in the state consume alcohol, which is higher than the national average of 22 percent. On the other hand, only 0.3 percent of the women in the state consume alcohol, which is less than the national average of one percent.
For women like Sheila and Ratna, alcohol has only brought violence, fear and financial ruin, especially since they are often left to repay loans taken to fund their husbands’ drinking.
“My father sold mine and my mother’s jewellery to pay for alcohol,” Ratna said. “We had to take loans of around ₹1 lakh just to keep a roof over our heads and pay for his medical treatment now.” She had taken a day off from her daily-wage job to attend the protest.
While most women in Freedom Park raised slogans demanding justice, one woman laid down quietly on the ground, with her belongings next to her. She lost her husband to alcohol addiction over five years ago. Now, her 15-year-old son is treading on the same path of addiction.
“My son had to drop out of school and start working as a construction labourer after his father died. He couldn’t handle the pressure at such a young age, and alcohol was available everywhere,” she said.
Several women warned that alcohol addiction is becoming generational, as teenage boys are increasingly drawn to drinking because of its easy accessibility.
While alcohol is supposed to be available only at licensed shops, illegal liquor is being sold in paan shops, grocery stores, and other small establishments, said activists who were addressing the protest.
Seeking prohibition is not a new reality for women in rural Karnataka. They have been raising the demand for a complete prohibition of alcohol with every political party that has been at the helm at the state level since 2016. Many of the women who gathered for Tuesday’s protest had also participated in earlier agitations when the BJP and JD(S) were in power. However, no party has so far given them a clear assurance.
Protesters met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking a ban on alcohol.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, women associated with the Madya Nishedha Andolana warned the main political parties — the BJP, Congress and JD(S) — that they would vote for NOTA if their demands were ignored. In Raichur district, several women said they were forced to exercise that option. In some districts, women even chose to stay away from the polls altogether. Years later, they say their concerns remain unaddressed.
One of their major demands is that gram sabhas be given the power to permit or reject liquor sales in villages, and that permission should be denied even if just 10 percent of committee members oppose it. Mokshamma pointed out that in states like Haryana, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, gram sabhas have been given the authority to grant or deny liquor licences.
Activists at the protest further said that Panchayat Raj laws of various states urge state governments to obtain the consent of at least 20 percent women in the gram sabha to issue a license (open) for any liquor shop within the limits of the gram sabha. “This aspect should be incorporated and implemented in our (Karnataka) Panchayat Raj law. A similar aspect existed in the law of Karnataka till 2016, but the government in power at that time removed it,” the Andolana said.
Additionally, the women also demanded the formation of women’s vigilance committees in every village. The Karnataka Panchayati Raj Act currently allows for the formation of social justice committees. The women argued that quasi-judicial powers should be given to the women’s vigilance committees under this Act, enabling them to identify and halt illegal liquor sales.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
