PATNA: The death of 13 people in over a day due to the consumption of spurious alcohol in Bihar’s Nalanda — Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s home district — has provided fodder for fresh political attacks against him over the prohibition law.
The deaths were reported at Chhoti Pahari and Pahartalli villages under Sohsarai police station limit late on Friday night. The toll rose to 13 on Sunday with five more victims succumbing to spurious alcohol allegedly being sold at the village. The post-mortem of the victims has been conducted on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the chief minister has been cornered by the main opposition party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), as well as allies Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM).The RJD demanded that the chief minister resign on moral grounds, for his failure in enforcing the prohibition law effectively even after five years.
Toeing similar lines, BJP state chief Sanjay Agrawal called for a review of the prohibition law. “The law has failed to deliver desired results, and worse still has led to bootlegging. Moreover, majority of the people lodged in jails for violating the law belonged to the poor strata of society.”
The BJP state president got backing from HAM chief and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who asked, “If PM Narendra Modi can roll back the farm bills, then why cannot Nitish Kumar rethink do the same on the prohibition law?”
The former chief minister also urged Nitish not to make the prohibition a prestige issue. “I hope he will consider the matter and make a decision in the larger interest of the people. Numerous families are on the brink of starvation with breadwinners languishing in jail. They don’t have money to bear the expenses in court to secure bails for their relatives,” he said.
The state’s prohibition law invited the wrath of the judiciary as well. After remarks of the Chief Justice of Supreme Court, the Patna high court told the apex court recently that there has been phenomenal rise in filing of bail applications due to enforcement of prohibition in the state (roughly 25 per cent of all regular bail applications consist of those filed under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act 2016).