‘Those who drink are mahapaapi, not Indians’: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

The CM also made it clear that the families of those who would die of drinking spurious liquor would get no relief. “We would not give any compensation to such families. Liquor traders would face stringent action post amendments in the Act,” said the CM, who had recently launched an awareness against drinking through a yatra.

The CM’s recent salvos against drinkers come after the death of 60 persons in over half a dozen incidents of hooch tragedy in the last six months.

RJD national spokesperson Subodh Mehta, however, said, “Though we also support prohibition and the liquor law was implemented during the RJD-JD(U)-Congress regime, I humbly want to ask the CM if Gandhian principles on prohibition were not there between 2009 and 2016 when Nitish Kumar had liberalised the liquor policy. The CM talks about Gandhi’s panchayati raj system but is vesting too much power on bureaucrats rather than public representatives against Gandhi’s concepts of panchayati raj.”