Nitish Kumar has called for a review meeting after the deaths from toxic drinking
Patna:
“Some people have turned away from me because of the ban policy,” Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today, in an act of concealment from both allies and opponents.
Speaking to the media a day before a meeting to review the state’s ban policy amid more than 60 deaths from toxic alcohol consumption, the minister said some people were not satisfied with the ban introduced. “There may be personal opinions. But we have listened to people, women and a large number of men. Most people are against alcohol. We follow the principles of Bapu (Mahatma). Gandhi) Whatever he says, we do.” “
Affirming that the ban policy was implemented with the consent of all parties, Mr. Kumar questioned, “Have they forgotten that this was done with everyone’s consent? Has anyone protested? against it, whether the ruling party or the opposition?”
Referring to the deaths, the minister said it was a serious matter and called for awareness of the ban, that “if you drink alcohol, you die”.
“Since 2018, we have been raising awareness about the number of people who have died and fallen ill from drinking. We will be making this more public,” he said.
Mr. Kumar’s statements come at a time when his first policy of banning poisoned alcohol deaths and the rise of the alcohol mafia in the state.
Besides criticism from the main opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Mr. Kumar’s petty policy has also received opposition from BJP ally’s state president Sanjay Jaiswal. Immediately after the recent spate of deaths, Mr Jaiswal said there was “certainly a need to revisit this policy” and also raised questions about the role of the government.
Meanwhile, the leader of the RJD, Tejashwi Yadav, considered the review meeting futile. “The minister is surrounded by the same officials, what’s the difference? How many review meetings have been conducted by the minister, has the incident decreased or increased?”, Mr. Yadav, also Opposition leader said. festival.
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