The Legislative Council on Tuesday passed the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Bill 2016, amid the BJP led by Sushil Kumar Modi calling it draconian, Talibani, anti-people and questioning the intentions of the Nitish Kumar government behind bringing such a harsh law. The chief minister defended the bill as a medium of ushering in social change in the state. While Sushil spoke for about 40 minutes, Nitish countered the charges in a 75-minute speech during which the BJP walked out

♦ We had supported total prohibition in the state and it was implemented on April 5; what was the need for a new law?

♦ You (Nitish) never talked about prohibition at even a single meeting in the run-up to Assembly polls; this shows you raised it as an issue for your all-India launch and not for any social change

♦ You made people in the state drink for 10 years, caused them pain to increase state revenues

♦ You never appeal for prohibition to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee or in the six Congress-ruled states. You keep appealing for prohibition to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but never to Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi despite having an alliance with the party

♦ You are unable to secure the borders of landlocked Bihar against smuggling of liquor and blame Jharkhand

♦ 1.5 lakh litres of country and foreign liquor seized in the first three months of prohibition is just the tip of the iceberg

♦ 14 people have died in hooch tragedies in Patna, Gaya, Jehanabad and Aurangabad after prohibition

♦ You say prohibition is recommended in the Directive Principles of State Policy of the Constitution, but you oppose uniform civil code and forget ban on cow slaughter mentioned in it

♦ Comparing crime figures of the first two months - April and May this year - after imposition of prohibition shows a sharp rise in crimes; rapes increased by 29 per cent, cognisable offences by 13.5 per cent, robbery by 54 per cent, riots by 69 per cent and kidnapping by around 7 per cent.

♦ No de-addiction centres are functioning and specialist doctors are not available. Liquor addicts have shifted to use of other narcotic substances

♦ I was assured by you (Nitish) and your ministers that there will not be any ban on toddy and bhang, but they are included in the bill

♦ Why is Bihar supplying liquor to other states, despite you appealing for prohibition?

♦ Remove provisions of confiscation of property and jailing of all adult persons of a family if any of them flouts prohibition; this is draconian

♦ Arrest of MLC Manorama Devi after liquor bottles were found at her house and the case on MLA Vinay Verma after he talked about availability of liquor was uncalled for

♦ The BJP had constantly demanded Manorama's arrest after the Gaya road rage incident

♦ What is draconian in the bill? What is in it which was not in the previous law?

♦ Capital punishment is in the prohibition laws of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and other states in cases of hooch tragedy

♦ If you have information of availability of liquor, share with us, because hiding information of any crime is also a crime and you could be deemed of conniving with liquor mafia

♦ If any excise or police official harasses anybody by misusing the provisions of the new Act, he will be jailed under the new law and will lose his job

♦ The punishment for advertising liquor and other intoxicating substances has been brought down from previously five to seven years to three to five years

♦ BJP is opposing the bill after seeing extensive effect of prohibition and support of the masses to it

♦ BJP tried to influence the toddy tapping and trading community for its own gains, but we want them to make progress

♦ Bhang, which grows on its own in agricultural fields, has been exempted and nobody will be punished for it

♦ They (the BJP) are talking about my visits to other states for prohibition, but they have forgotten the way they raised the beef issue during the Assembly polls

♦ Earlier if liquor was found in a house, people used to express ignorance. The new law will make them accept. Who will want his wife to go to jail?

♦ I have written to the chief ministers of Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal to seek help and cooperation for prohibition

♦ Jharkhand raised the sales quota for liquor in the border districts along Bihar by up to 50 per cent

♦ I will not allow new liquor units. We have never promoted liquor. We cannot ask the existing liquor units to close down as they will start demanding compensation

♦ Prime Minister Narendra Modi preaches yoga, but doesn't talk about prohibition or stopping substance abuse

♦ Prohibition is a fitting tribute to Mahatma Gandhi during the centenary year of Champaran Satyagraha

♦ Opposing the new law will be a suicidal step

♦ Crimes increase during summer months