Nitish Kumar, despite being under pressure from many quarters, is not letting go of his dream policy that literally defines his fifteen plus years of administration in Bihar – prohibition insisting the problem is people and his alcohol ban policy in Bihar.
Aggrieved by the news of a number of people having died in Bihar’s Kaimur, Gopalganj, and Muzaffarpur district following consumption of spurious liquor in the past few days, the Chief Minister, at a press conference in Patna on Sunday, blamed those who were still engaging in selling illegal and home-brewed alcohol despite placing the toughest laws against such persons.
“These people are going to die themselves and will kill other people in the process as well,” Kumar said referring to illicit alcohol makers and sellers adding he ordered imposition of prohibition not for himself but for the welfare of the people of Bihar.
While the majority of people in Bihar are in favor of prohibition, there are a handful of people who are hell-bent on creating trouble for the others,” he said.
In the meantime, Janata Dal – U legislator Dr. Sanjeev Kumar, at a party meeting in presence of Kumar on Friday, declared prohibition in Bihar a colossal failure and asked the Chief Minister to rethink the policy that has spurned a whole new business involving illegal sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages in the state.
Kumar’s political ally in the NDA Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi and Vikashsheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahni also questioned the success of prohibition in Bihar saying the business of buying and selling alcohol was booming thanks to the criminal-police nexus.
“Prohibition in Bihar is also causing huge amount of revenue loss to the state and that cannot be swept under the rug any longer,” a VIP leader said.
In the past, however, Kumar has asserted many times that prohibition in Bihar was there to stay and no amount of talks to remove it would change his mind.
