This refers to the editorial, “Nitish's Tughlakian ban” (October 5). It appears that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is obsessed with the implementing of prohibition in his State, come what may. liquor ban is considered authoritarian because it encompasses strange provisions like booking all adults of a family if liquor is found in the house. Even after the Patna High Court struck down the Bihar Excise (Amendment) Act, describing it as illegal, draconian and unreasonable, an adamant Nitish Kumar has brought in a new law which has even harsher provisions.
Sharp dip in revenue, increased inter-State alcohol smuggling, proliferation of bootlegging mafias, flourishing politician-criminal nexus, surge in corruption and harassment of innocents in the guise of executing the law — are all proven collaterals of prohibition. Moral policing is bound to take toll on the gullible, and honest officers are likely to be hounded for laxity for not meeting deadlines. Nitish Kumar's new law is also bound to be challenged.