Chief minister Nitish Kumar and some of his ministerial colleagues on Tuesday remained glued to the recreation of a century-old dialogue between Mahatma Gandhi and the then sub-divisional magistrate of the erstwhile Champaran district.

"Who will plead your case?" asked the then sub-divisional magistrate when Mahatma Gandhi deposed before his court on April 18, 1917.

Without a pause, Gandhi replied: "I am a new person for this place. Nobody is known to me. So I will plead myself." The magistrate then sought to know from Gandhi: "Do you know your presence will endanger public peace and tranquillity?"

Gandhi replied: "I may have committed an offence in the eye of your government. But I am a law-abiding person. I am ready to serve any sort of punishment. I have come here on the call of peasants to listen to their sufferings and I will not leave the place till my task is complete."

The sub-divisional magistrate, a bit annoyed at his stubbornness, told Gandhi that he should then be ready to go to jail. Gandhi remained undeterred, saying: "Then I will prefer to make Champaran my abode after stepping out of the prison."

The sub-divisional magistrate, however, decided to release Gandhi on a bail bond of Rs 100. But Gandhi expressed his inability to produce a bailer before the court. Finally, the court decided to release him on its own bond. Gandhi won the legal battle here.

Narrating the anecdote, Nitish said that it was the beginning of Gandhi's satyagraha and disobedience in Champaran a century ago.

Imbibing the Gandhian philosophy, Nitish said he initially started a campaign against liquor and has now begun a drive to eradicate prevalent social evils like the dowry system and child marriage.

Addressing an impressive gathering at the historical Gandhi Maidan, Nitish said a latest study in Goa and other states has revealed that family members of the alcoholics were suffering from depression and other health-related problems.

"Even in places like Goa, women were the worst suffers of people addicted to liquor. This has created major problems in their conjugal lives," Nitish said. He appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose prohibition across the country out of respect for Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary in 2019.

Nitish again criticised Union home minister Rajnath Singh and other NDA leaders for skipping Monday's function to celebrate the Champaran Satyagraha centenary, a PTI report said. He also took potshots at the BJP's plan to observe Kisan Kumbh (farmers' congregation) in Motihari on Wednesday as part of the Champaran Satyagraha centenary celebration. "I saw big hoardings of the Kisan Kumbh at Motihari. It's a good thing... I wish to humbly ask them what happened to the promises made to farmers during the 2014 general election to provide minimum support price by adding 50 per cent on the input cost," he asked.