"Liquor ban is the biggest corruption of Nitish Kumar's rule": Tejashwi Yadav on hooch tragedy

New Delhi [India], October 19 : Lashing out at the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar over the hooch tragedy, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav alleged that the liquor ban is the "biggest corruption" of Nitish Kumar's rule and a "parallel economy" of 30,000 crores is being run under the guise of JDU and its leaders.
Taking a jibe at Nitish, the former Deputy Chief Minister said that after opening "thousands of liquor shops" during his first two tenures, the Chief Minister is now "pretending to be a Mahatma."
As many as 33 people have been killed in the Bihar hooch tragedy. 28 deceased are from Siwan while 5 are from Saran.
The matter has triggered a political blame game with opposition parties questioning the efficacy of the ban on the sale and consumption of liquor, imposed by the Nitish Kumar government.
https://x.com/yadavtejashwi/status/1847504729665863694
Taking to social media X, Yadav wrote in a post "The Chief Minister who opened liquor shops at every square and intersection of Bihar and took thousands of lives due to spurious liquor in the name of liquor ban is now pretending to be a Mahatma. Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar took every measure to increase the consumption of liquor in Bihar in his initial 10 years and now he is taking every measure to sell illegal liquor. Can Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar deny these facts of mine?"
The former Deputy CM cited some numbers, claiming that liquor shops in rural areas increased from under 500 in 2004-05 to 2360 in 2014-15, and liquor shops in the whole state doubled from 3000 in 2004-05 to over 6000 in 2014-15.
He further claimed that before Nitish Kumar came to power, on average 51 liquor shops were opened in Bihar every day, while in the next 10 years, an average of 300 shops opened per day.
"One implication of this is that the confiscated liquor is later sold in the markets with the connivance of JDU leaders, liquor mafia and police officials," Yadav added.
Tejashwi cited a National Family Health Survey report stating that "despite prohibition in Bihar, more people drink alcohol in Bihar than in Maharashtra."
"Yet according to Nitishji, prohibition is in force in Bihar, what a joke," he added.
He added that despite the prohibition of liquor in the state, over 400 people were being arrested in the state in alcohol related cases.
"Liquor ban is the biggest corruption of Nitish Kumar's rule. In Bihar, a parallel economy of about 30 thousand crores is being run in the form of illegal business in the name of liquor, the direct benefit of which is going to JDU party and its leaders," the RJD leader stated.
Earlier, Gopalganj Superintendent of Police (SP) Awdhesh Dixit on Friday said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing the matter and 14 people have been arrested and conducted raids at over 200 places.