People power, BJP forced Nitish hand: Sushil Modi

Soon after chief minister Nitish Kumar announced total prohibition in Bihar, BJP on Tuesday termed it a result of the constant pressure from the saffron party as well as the people

Soon after chief minister Nitish Kumar announced total prohibition in Bihar, BJP on Tuesday termed it a result of the constant pressure from the saffron party as well as the people.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi at a janata durbar, in Patna on Tuesday. (AP Dube/HT Photo)

“From day one, after the Bihar government announced ban on country liquor, we maintained that it should not be partial. If there has to be a ban, it should be complete, as partial bans never succeed,” said senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. BJP president Mangal Pandey also reiterated the same.

Modi said the matter was also debated in both the houses and the BJP raised its demand for total ban, but the government was not ready to listen. “Now that the government has announced it, we will support it and expect its full implementation,” he added.

The BJP leader, however, had a dig at Kumar. “He is a master at rolling back his decisions. He banned many things in the past and later on backtracked. We hope he does not backtrack this time,” he added.

Citing examples, Modi said there was complete ban on mining in Bihar, but later on the chief minister backtracked and made it partial. “Earlier he justified ban on mining on the pretext that hills would completely disappear and children would have to go to UP, MP and elsewhere even to see hills, but later mining was allowed in select districts,” he added.

Modi said the same thing happened with the government decision, which made it mandatory for panchayat poll contestants to have toilets at home to be eligible. Later, the Bihar cabinet withdrew the clause, he added.

“Similarly, the government had in 2012 banned manufacture, storage, sale and distribution of gutkha and panmasala, but it could not make any impact on the ground. In another instance, the chief minister scrapped the local area development fund of MLAs. Later, under pressure he had to double the amount for schemes the legislators could recommend under the CM area development scheme,” he added.