Patna (Bihar) [India], December 19 (ANI): As the winter session of the Bihar Assembly concluded on Monday with outrage and uproar over the Chhapra hooch tragedy, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said that if the BJP wants to end the liquor ban in the state, the party should say it clearly.
The Deputy CM also accused the opposition led by the BJP of not raising any issues on behalf of the public during this Assembly session.
“BJP never raised any issues on behalf of the public during this Assembly session. What is happening in BJP-ruled states? They have no answers to this. If they want to end the liquor ban in the state, then they should say it clearly,” Yadav said while addressing the media persons.
Yadav was referring to the liquor prohibition law of Bihar that came into force in 2016 and states that the manufacture, sale and consumption of liquor were banned in the entire state.
The winter session of the Bihar Assembly concluded on December 19 with a total of five sittings.
The opposition kept on cornering the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the Saran hooch tragedy that has claimed over 70 lives so far.
Several BJP leaders including Sushil Modi and Union Minister RK Singh also accused the government of hiding the actual number of deaths due to spurious liquor.
Amid all this severe criticism over the tragedy, Nitish Kumar in the assembly went on defending his government’s decision to ban liquor in the state.
“The state’s prohibition policy has benefitted several people and a large number of people have given up drinking alcohol due to his measures,” he had said adding that “piyoge to maroge (If you drink, you will die.)
The government later were criticised by its adversaries over Kumar’s remark and its refusal to pay compensation to family members of those who died in the Saran hooch tragedy.
Notably, Bihar CM also adopted a stance on the issue of compensation, saying that people who drink, do not deserve any compensation.
“No compensation will be given to people who died after drinking,” Kumar had said while speaking on the issue in the assembly.
The Chhapra Hooch tragedy was one of the issues raised in the Rajya Sabha earlier on Thursday, leading to the adjournment of the House thrice within a short span of 40 minutes as both the Treasury benches and the opposition raised their issues together with the commencement of the Zero Hour. (ANI)
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