BJP ministers insist on making liquor law more holistic, CM remains firm

Earlier, state BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal questioned the rationale behind carrying out the prohibition law that failed to check flow of illicit liquor in state

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar might have insisted on stricter implementation of the prohibition act, but ministers of the lead coalition partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), kept reminding him about the need to revisit the liquor law to help the state march towards de-addiction. This came during the high-level meeting held in Patna on Tuesday.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. (File photo)

Citing the recent report of the national family health survey (NFHS), state health minister Mangal Pandey urged the CM to relook into the law in view of the survey report that stated that liquor consumption in dry Bihar was more than Maharastra. “We shall definitely look into the veracity of the report during the review meeting on prohibition, as we relied on the NFHS data for immunisation and other health parameters,” Pandey told the CM.

Earlier, state BJP chief and the Member of Parliament (MP) from West Champaran Sanjay Jaiswal questioned the rationale behind carrying out the prohibition law that failed to check the flow of illicit liquor and asked for a review of the act in the entirety.

Road construction minister and BJP MLA from Bankipore Nitin Nabin drew the chief minister’s attention towards the growing prevalence of drugs among the young generation due to the administrative focus on checking on the liquor flow. “As the police kept their crackdown on liquor, drug Mafiosi seem to have got enough scope to entice the youth towards drugs which is deadlier than the alcohol,” Nabin informed Kumar in presence of other cabinet colleagues.

Industries minister Shahnawaz Hussain supported Nabin’s contention and said that drugs had emerged as a major source of addiction in Bhagalpur and other parts of the state. “The government shall not take other sources of addiction for granted for the sake of rigorous enforcement of liquor law,” said Hussain.

A senior BJP leader said that they always insisted on a logical way to encourage people to shun the habit of liquor, instead of terrorising them by law. “We always advocated for the Gujarat model of liquor ban and work for total deaddiction,” he added.

Pandey, when asked for his comments on his suggestion, said that he urged the CM to first examine the veracity of the NFHS survey and act accordingly if it’s true. “Sometimes, surveys are also found incorrect. I also congratulated the CM on completion of the one year of the new government and its efforts to deal with the crises like the Covid pandemic and floods,” said the health minister.

Nabin said he raised the issue of the growing prevalence of the drug and urged him to work out modalities for cracking down on the drugs cartel as well, which is crippling the young generation. “The role of the station house officers (SHOs) should also be reviewed with respect to the recovery of drugs, besides liquor, in their jurisdictions,” said the minister.

The latest NFHS report for 2019-20 stipulates that about 14% of men above 15 years consume liquor in urban areas, while 15.8% of people consume liquor in rural areas. In Maharashtra, about 13% urban and 14.7% rural population are in habit of taking alcohol. Similarly, 0.5% women and 0.4% women in rural Bihar take liquor as compared to 0.3% urban women and 0.5% rural women. People of Jammu and Kashmir are the least consumers of alcohol, while the states of Goa, Sikkim and Telangana have the highest percentage of liquor consumers.