All adult members of a household will end up in jail if a liquor bottle somehow found its way under their roof. So what if only one of them had consumed it and others were not even aware of its presence in the houseIJ This and many more controversial measures are part of Bihar Prohibition Bill, 2016 which was passed by the Bihar Assembly on Monday after the Opposition staged a walkout calling it draconian and a Talibani legislation.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, while replying to the Opposition’s charges, said he was ready to face the consequences but will not budge from the promise he had made to the people during the Assembly polls. He said prohibition was not only his decision but a collective decision of all the grand alliance partners — RJD, JD(U) and Congress.
Kumar challenged RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to clarify the stand of Sangh Parivar on the prohibition and also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain his prohibition policy. He reminded Modi that during his 12 years as Gujarat CM, he had
continued with the prohibition policy. “That meant he favoured a prohibition,” Kumar said, adding, “I do not know what was stopping him to impose the regulation in other BJP-ruled States.”
The Opposition did not oppose the prohibition policy per se, though they attacked “some draconian” provision and also accused the CM of subjecting the people to the terror of “police raj” in Bihar.
The Opposition members mainly slammed the Bill for making all the adult members of the family accused in case liquor is found from their household; permission to the existing distilleries to continue production and supplying it out of Bihar; and giving excess power to police and excise personnel.
Senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav, who had initiated the debate, said liquor consumption was a habit and could not be eliminated eventually. “The Government has failed in checking smuggling of liquor into Bihar, so it was a law to punish people,” he said, and demanded that the Bill should be withdrawn and a consensus must be arrived on its provisions. Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi said 1.5 lakh families were dependent on toddy business while leader of Opposition Prem Kumar said crime has shot up since the imposition of the prohibition.
During the two-and-half-hour debate, all the 20 amendments proposed by the Opposition were rejected by voice votes. After the rejection of all their amendments and contrary to the hope that some RJD members might speak against some provisions of the Bill, the BJP-led Opposition staged a walkout. There had been murmuring in the ruling alliance that RJD chief lalu Prasad and many of his legislators were opposed to certain provisions of the Bill and wanted them to be deleted. But it appeared that Kumar prevailed over lalu to make the passage of the bill a smooth affair. lalu’s both sons Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav were present in the House during the debate.
The CM in his hour-long speech accused the liquor lobby and some others for opposing the Bill. “I know I have taken a big risk but this is my social commitment,” he said and added that in the centenary year of Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha, Bihar will be totally free from liquor and that would be the biggest tribute to Mahatma.
The Bill will now go to the legislative Council on Tuesday and then it would be forwarded to the Governor. The CM lamented that only four months back, the Opposition was supporting the prohibition act and took a pledge neither to consume nor to encourage liquor. “It’s strange they were going against it even though no big change has been made in the new Bill,” he said.
The CM reiterated that after the total prohibition from April 5 there had been sharp fall in the crime-graph. Cognisable offences were down by 12.7%, dacoity 31%, kidnapping 54% and crime against women by6 19% as compared to the same period last year.