Hooch deaths in Nalanda: BJP questions liquor policy

PATNA: The state BJP functionaries on Sunday intensified their attack on JD(U) and the police over death of 11 people allegedly due to consumption of illicit liquor in Nalanda, the home district of CM Nitish Kumar.
While some saffron party and HAMS functionaries reiterated the demand for review of prohibition law in the state, Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal alleged that Nalanda district administration and police were hand in glove with the liquor mafia.
“If the state administration wants to enforce prohibition, it should first arrest the senior officer of Nalanda district administration who issued a wrong statement about the reason behind hooch deaths. The administration’s main job is to run the district and not to issue statements. It reveals that the administration is hand-in-glove with the liquor mafia,” read a social media post of Jaiswal on Sunday.
“The second culprit of hooch deaths is police which allowed open sale of illicit liquor. The police officers should be jailed for 10 years as per the provisions of the prohibition law. The police officers should not be suspended only for two months and get fresh posting in another police station,” Jaiswal said.
“The culprit is the liquor mafia as they ensure sale of illicit liquor at different places. Ensuring arrest of liquor mafias is an easy task. If police officers are questioned in police method, the names of liquor mafia will come out. If the state administration wants to uproot the illegal trade of liquor, it will have to destroy the illegitimate troika of administration, police and liquor mafia,” Jaiswal said. Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi-led HAM(S) reiterated its demand for review of the prohibition law, while another BJP leader criticised CM Nitish Kumar for not listening to the allies’ demand of review of the prohibition law.“If you want your allies along with you to run the government, listen to them too. We asked the CM to review the prohibition law. Is that a wrong question to ask? He has double standards and it won't work,” state president of the BJP’s SC Morcha Ajit Choudhary told mediapersons on Sunday.
JD(U) leader Neeraj Kumar criticised the BJP netas for their statements and wondered if the saffron party was not part of the coalition government in the state.