Bar Wapsi — back to the bar — is doing the rounds in Kerala’s social media and chat circles.

The term basically refers to the Oommen Chandy government’s reversal of its widely debated, controversial liquor policy. But it is also gaining popularity as a term to refer to any initiative that backfires or ends with a whimper.

The term marries two events that raised eyebrows in Kerala in the last week of 2014. One was the Sangh Parivar’s Ghar Wapsi mass conversion programme and the other was Chandy’s partial rollback of its liquor policy, done under pressure. The about-turn on the liquor policy allowed the reopening of 418 closed bars.

A fortnight ago, Chandy — forced by legal setbacks, economic realities and the bribery charge against Finance Minister KM Mani — announced the rollback.

Under the amended liquor policy, the 418 bars that had been closed since March 31, when the government refused to renew their annual licences, were allowed to reopen and serve beer and wine, but not hard liquor.

Huge surprise

This was a huge surprise to Kerala because six months ago Chandy had thrown another big surprise on the State by announcing that all bars, except the two dozen attached to 5-star hotels, would be shut down. Also, “total prohibition” would be enforced in the State step by step over the next 10 years.

The Sangh Parivar’s Ghar Wapsi, which mainly aimed to reconvert those whose forefathers had converted to Christianity and Islam, was seen as an audacious attempt in Kerala’s peculiar socio-religious context.

Close to 100 people converted to Hinduism in half-a-dozen ceremonies. This caused a big social commotion as such a thing had been unimaginable in Kerala’s society where Hindus, Muslims and Christians have co-existed harmoniously all these days.

While Ghar Wapsi seems to have lost some steam, Bar Wapsi is keeping the State’s tipplers in good spirits.