RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav entered the poll mode on Thursday and came out with several promises, including removing “toddy” (fermented palm sap) from prohibition, and implementing a 100 per cent domicile policy in state government jobs.

“We have also vowed to implement 100 per cent domicile policy in state government jobs if we come to power. We will provide such employment opportunities that there would be reverse migration in Bihar,” Tejashwi said.

The promises also included 200 units of free electricity to the people, bringing the “Mai Behen Yojana” in which women across the state would be given ₹2500 per month, hiking the old age pension, and providing domestic cooking gas cylinders at ₹500.

Tejashwi asserted that the his promises were “vows” undertaken after touring Bihar and interacting with men, women and farmers.

He pointed out that recently he interacted with some labourers and farmers at Bihiya in Bhojpur district while returning from Buxar. They were from the Pasi (toddy tappers) community, and were working at a farm while ruing about the destruction of their traditional work of toddy tapping in the name of prohibition.

Speaking further to reporters, Tejashwi added that people from the Pasi community revealed that they were unable to take proper care of their families after prohibition, and the neera (unfermented palm sap) selling scheme, brought by the state government to provide them employment, has also failed.

“The Pasi community is around 1.5 to 2 per cent of the population of Bihar. We will exempt toddy from prohibition if we form the government in the coming Assembly elections,” he said.

The RJD leader slammed the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government over the failure of prohibition and said that 12.8 lakh people were arrested for flouting it between April 1, 2016 and August 31, 2024, with around 8.44 lakh cases registered.

“If we take the figures, they boil down to around 12,800 people being arrested every month, or 426 people being arrested daily, or 18 people being arrested every hour in Bihar. Around 99 per cent of them are from the extremely backward castes (EBC) and the Dalits,” Tejashwi said.

“Additionally, over 2,000 people have died in hooch tragedies in the state since the liquor ban. Prohibition has strayed from its objective and has become an instrument in the hands of the police, who function at times in nexus with the smugglers and bootleggers,” Tejashwi added.

However, the RJD leader was quick to add that he was against “any kind of addiction”.