RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday alleged that the much-touted prohibition law in Bihar has become a "tool" in the hands of the police for "mental and economic exploitation" of the state's poor.
Addressing a press conference, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly claimed that "99 per cent" of the people arrested for flouting the stringent law, which first came into force nine years ago, belonged to the depressed classes.
"More than nine lakh cases of violation of prohibition have been lodged in the state since it went dry in April, 2016. In connection with these cases, over 14 lakh people have been sent to jail," said Yadav, who was the deputy chief minister when the sale and consumption of liquor were completely banned in the state by the Nitish Kumar government.
"But this law has become an instrument in the hands of the police, a tool to exploit the underdogs economically and mentally. This can be gauged from the fact that 99 per cent of the arrested accused are tribals, Dalits and OBCs. Only one per cent belong to other social groups," the RJD leader claimed.
He pointed out that the state police claim to have seized a little under four lakh litres of liquor since the clamping of prohibition.
"Of this, foreign liquor accounts for more than two lakh litres. The poor do not consume or deal in foreign liquor. Yet they are bearing the brunt of the crackdown on liquor trade," he said.
Yadav, who is expected to lead the Mahagathbandhan charge in the assembly polls due later this year, added, "We are all for dissuading people from consuming intoxicants. But the state is witnessing a nexus between liquor smugglers and the police which is running an extortion racket in the name of enforcing prohibition. We will keep exposing this and try to set things right when we come to power."
