Patna: RJD national vice-president Shivanand Tiwari on Sunday taunted chief minister Nitish Kumar and the Janata Dal United over celebrating the second anniversary of prohibition in the state.

Nitish had imposed partial prohibition on April 1, 2016, and total prohibition on April 5.

Tiwari said that Nitish and JDU should celebrate the occasion as Dalit Utpiran Diwas (Dalilt Atrocities Day), claiming most of those in jail for violating prohibition belong to the backward and extremely backward classes.

The number of people arrested under the prohibition law is more than the arrests made during the Emergency, Shivanand said.

"Around 1.25 lakh people have put behind bars for violating prohibition and most of the people are from the downtrodden sections of society. They are Dalits, EBC, people from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes," he said.

His statement came against the backdrop of the JDU celebrating the anniversary of prohibition at the party office in the presence of several senior party leaders including former minister and MLA Shayam Rajak and spokesperson Arvind Nishad. The party has organised a symposium to celebrate the anniversary.

The RJD leaders alleged that Nitish is enhancing his branding through the dry law but in reality prohibition is a total failure in the state. Shivanand also said that the focus of the police has completely changed and the lawkeepers are extorting money in the name of enforcing prohibition.

Shivanand, who was once with Nitish, maintained that only poor people are being arrested and no big names have been arrested.

"If the big people are caught they get bail on the spot after exchange of money," he alleged. "When the poor people are caught they go to jail because they cannot afford to give money to the police."