On March 21, a group of women at Murliganj in Madhepura district of Bihar seized several litres of desi (country-made) liquor and handed it over to the police. They even lodged a complaint to the police demanding arrests.
“We’re fed up with the people selling desi daru [liquor] to our husbands and children. They are ruining our homes and peace in society. So, we seized their liquor pouches and handed them over to the police”, Poonam Devi, Reena Devi and other women said in chorus to journalists.
Experts in the State believe that through prohibition, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar “wants to nurture a caste- neutral vote bank of women to remain in power”. “Since women are supposed to be the worst sufferers in the families of those who drink liquor, Mr. Kumar has repeatedly been saying he banned liquor after women urged him to do so. In fact, he has been meticulously trying to create a caste-neutral women vote bank through prohibition”, political analyst Ajay Kumar told The Hindu.
Unlike RJD leader Lalu Prasad, political commentator Nawal Kishore Chaudhary stated, Mr. Kumar did not have a caste support to keep him in power. He always had to bank upon some social engineering to be in power but by nurturing this caste-neutral women vote bank through prohibition, he wanted to bag a larger share of vote across caste and community. In the last parliamentary and Assembly polls, women in Bihar were seen standing in long queues outside polling booths.
However, in the last one year, 158 people have lost their lives by consuming spurious liquor. Government records said they died due to some illness or ailment. Last week, over a dozen people died in Bhagalpur, Banka and Madhepura districts after consuming spurious liquor (as their family members put it on record to journalists) But the district administrations submitted reports to the Home Department saying all deaths occurred due to some ailments. There is no official count of hooch deaths in the State.
Courts clogged with cases
Ever since Bihar was declared a dry State in April 2016, over 200 people have died in hooch tragedies; about 4.5 lakh people arrested for violation of the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act’ 2016 and 21 million litres of liquor---both country-made and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL)--- have been seized till February last. The Patna High Court and lower courts in districts are “clogged” with liquor related cases so much so that the Supreme Court recently flagged the issue. According to a recent report of the High Court registry, around 40,000 bail applications under liquor law are pending.
The Opposition parties that had supported the government over the liquor law in the Assembly are now slamming it for the alleged bad implementation of the law.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Tejashwi Yadav had been mocking the government over regular hooch deaths and for using drones, copters, satellite phones and formation of Anti-Liquor Task Force (ALTF) to track down illegal liquor manufacturing units and arrest liquor smugglers. “Hundreds of people are dying in the State due to hooch but no action has ever been taken against any officials for this”, he has said.
Senior State Congress leader Prem Chandra Mishra has demanded Mr. Kumar’s resignation for regular incidents of hooch deaths. “Who will be responsible for such hooch deaths when liquor is completely banned in the State for the last six years,” he asked.
Smile on faces of women: CM
But Mr. Kumar appears unfazed over the hooch deaths or the Opposition criticism. “We all know liquor is banned in the State. Jo sharab bandi ke baad bhi sharab piyega who marega hi [those who will drink liquor after it is banned will die)”, he said on February 27, 2022 at an official function in Patna. On regular hooch deaths, he remarked, “hasn’t hooch deaths incidents happened before Bihar was declared a dry State?.... doesn’t such incidents happen in those States where liquor is not banned?” He further said that after prohibition, “we can see smile on the faces of women and peace and harmony prevailing in the State”.
Political analyst Ajay Kumar observed, “And, whom these women are supposed to vote, they will vote for Mr Kumar, won’t they?”
