Patna: Chief minister Nitish Kumar mounted a strong attack on a resurgent Opposition on Thursday, the second anniversary of total prohibition in Bihar.
He accused them of firing frivolous tweets and misleading the Mahadalits in an effort to scuttle the liquor ban.
Though Nitish in his usual style did not take anybody's name, his likely target was the RJD and its leader, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav. "Some people have become leaders due to my mistakes. They keep tweeting all day without knowing anything and speak nonsense," Nitish said.
"They are such great men in political and public life that they follow the principle of making the law, but not following it or taking action under it. They do not even respect the law made by Ambedkar," he added.
The chief minister was speaking at a function to mark the second anniversary of total prohibition organised here in the state capital. He also released a video album by TV journalist Nitish Chandra, appealing to everybody to stay away from liquor.
Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, prohibition and excise minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav, parliamentary affairs minister Shravan Kumar, home department principal secretary Amir Subhani and director-general of police K.S. Dwivedi were among dignitaries present at the event.
Nitish accused the Opposition of posing as well-wishers of the poor, including the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Castes, but going against liquor ban while ignoring that alcohol abuse has hurt these sections of the society the most, especially the Mahadalits.
"There are Mahadalit communities in which a large number of people - almost half of them - used to die prematurely. You are trying to become their well-wishers but forget that liquor leads to more deaths among the poor. Few among the forward castes die due to liquor abuse," Nitish said. He expressed his displeasure that the Opposition was not helping nab those who involved in the illicit liquor trade.
"Get them arrested, don't try to get them released," the chief minister thundered.
He challenged the Opposition leaders to attack him if they were angry, but added: "Do not speak illogical things that could have a harmful impact on the society."
The RJD and the Congress in particular have been pointing out that most of the people arrested and jailed for flouting prohibition were Dalits and Mahadalits. There is speculation that the anger of these communities over the dry law was a factor behind the loss suffered by the NDA in the bypolls in the state last month.
Nitish said the state government is framing a policy to provide livelihood to poor people who were engaged in brewing liquor to earn some money. "I will not compromise with anything wrong. My focus is development and social reform. We are finalising a policy to provide alternative employment to those poor who were trapped in brewing liquor for money due to ignorance," Nitish said.
He said that though 1.27 lakh people have been arrested under the dry law, only 8,123 of them were in jail as on March 12 this year.
People from different castes and communities connected to the illicit liquor trade were in jail but it is the SC, ST, OBC and EBC communities who have socio-economically benefited the most from the statewide ban on liquor, he said.
Over 17 lakh litres of Indian made foreign liquor, 11.7 lakh litres of country liquor, 3 lakh litres of home-brewed country liquor and 1.3 lakh litres of illicit spirit were seized during the two years of prohibition.
