Patna: Senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh on Saturday attacked chief minister Nitish Kumar, saying he first opened liquor shops around the state and then took the credit for prohibition for which only poor people were being jailed.

The national vice-president was speaking during a function organised by the RJD's fishery cell here to mark the martyrdom day of revolutionary and freedom fighter Shahid Jubba Sahani.

"Under prohibition, 1.26 lakh people are in jail. The government is smelling the mouths of people and sending them behind bars. Of the people arrested, around 65,000 are from the Musahar (rat-catcher) community and Scheduled Castes. When the poor people sleep at night, police enter their houses and put them in jail by smelling their mouths," he said.

Besides Raghuvansh, RJD state president Ram Chandra Purbey and MP Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav Singh were among the dignitaries at the programme held at SK Memorial Hall.

Raghuvansh said the jails in the state have run out of space since the police are forcefully putting people behind bars.

"I am raising a very honest question. If liquor is a crime then Nitish Kumar will spend the rest of his life in jail because he made the biggest crime by opening liquor shops in every nook and corner of the state. It is Nitish who made the people drunkards by opening liquor shops and now he is taking pride in prohibition. Mahatma Gandhi had said that if he was appointed 'dictator' for one hour, the first thing he would do is close all the liquor shops. But Nitish is not a dictator, he is a chief minister," said Raghuvansh.

He also predicted that the NDA government in Bihar would not complete its term and fall this year. The former Union minister urged the people not to plead for their rights but snatch them from people like Nitish and the BJP.

"Show your power not by pleading. Raise your voice. That is the only way to teach Nitish a lesson. The Grand Alliance (government) was given the mandate but Nitish insulted it," Raghuvansh said. "How can we allow him (Nitish) to rule the state, we have to forcefully throw him out of power. We have to struggle to get our rights."

The Nitish Kumar government was already shaking, the RJD leader claimed, and all that was needed was just a push. Governments are given a mandate by an electoral process but in the case of the JDU and BJP, it was not formed through votes, he said. "If the government is not formed by votes but with duping and ill will, we will do the same - by kicking him out of power by holding his neck. We have to keep that spirit to throw Nitish out of power by agitation," Raghuvansh called out.

He also demanded castes like the Nishads, Binds and Nonias be added in the list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.