Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday called for public shaming of those flouting liquor ban in the State, while hardening his stance against relaxing the stringent prohibition law for those coming to the dry State from elsewhere.
Addressing a gathering of women’s self-help groups ‘Jeevika’, Mr. Kumar said, “Don’t come to Bihar if you find the ban inconvenient.”
Reiterating that relaxing the ban for visitors from outside the State was out of question, the Chief Minister claimed his decision to impose prohibition was admired widely and he was invited by advocacy groups in U.P. and Jharkhand to share his experience after he took the step in 2016.
“But despite our best intentions, there will always be some mischief mongers...I urge all of you, if you find anybody flouting prohibition in your village, report the matter to police but also take out a demonstration and raise slogans,” he said.
He added the police had been asked to protect the whistle blowers and seek to put the wrongdoers to shame. Invoking Mahatma Gandhi to stress that drinking was a ‘social evil’, Mr. Kumar quoted from a WHO report to underscore health hazards that were directly associated with drinking.
He added that he held in low esteem those who drank, no matter how kaabil (accomplished) they were presumed to be.
Reform campaign
Mr. Kumar is on a State-wide social reform campaign launched last week to galvanise public opinion against drinking, dowry and child marriage.
His government has been under fire since hooch tragedies around Deepawali claimed more than 40 lives.
Stern warning to police officers against laxity allegedly led to an overkill by the men in uniform who have ended up conducting searches at wedding parties and rounding up visitors who carried liquor bottles, unaware of the prohibition law.
Mr. Kumar also held forth on ill-effects of child marriage on the physical and mental well-being of girls and asked people of the State to follow his example in discouraging dowry. “As a matter of principle I have stopped accepting wedding invitations wherein the card does not declare that the marriage will take place sans any dowry. You should do the same. You will see a change.”
