Stating that prohibition has failed in Bihar, former BJP Union Minister Raj Kumar Singh said it has led to the youth “spoiling themselves” through other forms of addiction and involvement in illegal trade of liquor to “earn a quick buck”.
| Photo Credit: X/@OfficeOfRKSingh
Stating that prohibition has failed in Bihar, former BJP Union Minister Raj Kumar Singh said it has led to the youth “spoiling themselves” through other forms of addiction and involvement in illegal trade of liquor to “earn a quick buck”.
“Prohibition had failed to serve its purpose in Bihar. It is better to abolish it through proper means. It (prohibition) is spoiling youths of the State as due to prohibition they are having other forms of addiction and are involved in illegal trade of liquor,” the former Bhojpur MP said while speaking at a farmers’ organisation event at Bhikham Das Mathia ground in Barhara, Bhojpur, on Sunday.
“The real story of prohibition today is totally different from what is being presented before the Chief Minister,” he added.
Members of the ruling alliance in Bihar, both the BJP and JD(U) distanced themselves from the statement, saying it might be Mr. Singh’s “personal opinion”.
Mr. Singh, a popular bureaucrat in Bihar before joining politics, went on to blame policemen for being hand-in-glove with the liquor mafia. “The officers-in-charge of police stations are involved in illegal liquor trade,” he alleged, adding that illegal liquor was available everywhere in the State today and even being delivered at the doorstep.
“Prohibition in Bihar is only on paper. Had there been a good management and strict way to implement provisions of the new liquor law, it (prohibition) would have been successful in the State,” he added.
He demanded that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar “review his decision on liquor ban” in the larger interest of people.
The new Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 was implemented in Bihar in April 2016. Since then, several lakh litres of illegal liquor — both country-made and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) — have been seized in the State and hundreds of people and policemen were arrested for violating the strict provisions of the Act. Hundreds of people, mostly poor, have died after consuming spurious liquor.
Earlier, Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S), another National Democratic Alliance member, had criticised the Nitish Kumar-led government over the failed liquor ban.
Leaders of Opposition parties Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress joined in on the criticism and said it’s high-time the government reviewed the policy.
Meanwhile, JD(U) leader and spokesperson Abhishek Jha said that the “decision to implement prohibition in the State was taken unanimously and it will continue”.
Chief Minister Kumar has often found to reiterate the slogan “piyoge to maroge (if you drink, you die)“.
Bihar Police are said to have constituted 180 anti-liquor task force teams and 25 sniffer dog squads, deployed drones and speedboats, besides, installed CCTV cameras and scanners at different borders and check-points across the State to check illicit trade of liquor from the neighbouring States of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Punjab, Haryana and from bordering country Nepal as well.
Published – March 24, 2025 08:30 pm IST