New Delhi: Continuing her attack on the Madhya Pradesh government over prohibition, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti went a step further Monday and targeted Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, days after a new excise policy slashing rates on liquor by 20 per cent came into force.
The former chief minister has urged the state government to “stop the abominable system of door-to-door delivery of liquor immediately” and said that shops should not be opened “where women or citizens protest”.
In a series of tweets Monday, Bharti said that from 1984 to 2022, she and Chouhan had had a respectful and affectionate relationship. “Shivraj ji would meet me either while going to the office, or during my stay in Himalayas or while remembering any of my hymns, used to call me,” she said.
1. मध्य प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री आदरणीय मेरे बड़े भाई श्री शिवराज सिंह चौहान जी से 1984 से मार्च 2022 तक सम्मान एवं स्नेह के संबंध बने रहे, शिवराज जी ऑफिस जाते समय या मेरे हिमालय प्रवास के समय या मेरे किसी भजन का स्मरण आने पर या तो मुझसे मिलते थे या फोन करते थे।
— Uma Bharti (@umasribharti) April 4, 2022
Bharti said she had been speaking to Chouhan about implementing prohibition in “every meeting “ over the past two years. However, she added that now the matter has come out in public, the chief minister has instead started talking through the media, and is not communicating directly with her.
2. मैंने शिवराज जी से 2 साल हर मुलाकात में शराबबंदी पर बात की है, अब बात बाहर सामने आ गई है तो भाई ने अनबोला क्यों कर दिया है और मीडिया के माध्यम से बात क्यों करने लगे हैं।
— Uma Bharti (@umasribharti) April 4, 2022
While referring to a statement by Chouhan, Bharti said, “Shivraj Singh ji said the day before that if people stop drinking alcohol, then I will close the liquor shops. When people don’t drink alcohol, shops will not run at all, then they will be closed on their own,” she countered.
3. श्री शिवराज सिंह जी ने परसों कहा है कि लोग शराब पीना बंद कर दें तो मैं शराब की दुकानें बंद कर दूंगा। जब लोग शराब पिएंगे ही नहीं, दुकानें चलेंगी ही नहीं तो वह तो खुद ही बंद हो जाएंगी।
— Uma Bharti (@umasribharti) April 4, 2022
Bharti also pointed out that it is the responsibility of the police and the administration to stop the sale of illicit liquor, calling it a question of law and order, and offered a series of suggestions.
“Liquor shops near schools, hospitals, temples and other prohibited places should also be closed,” she said.
She further said, “First do this much, then in the legal and proper places where there are liquor shops, there should be hoardings with photos of the disadvantages of drinking alcohol. Then there should be an awareness campaign, in which saints of all religions, social organisations and leaders of all parties, like me and Shivraj ji, should participate,”
Many in the state unit of the BJP claim that the firebrand leader, who has been targeting the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government over its liquor policy for quite some time now, has her eye on the state and Lok Sabha polls due in the next two years.
‘Playing with the lives and honour of our sons and daughters’
A few days ago, Bharti had hit out at the government over the new liquor policy, which came into force Friday and which, she said, makes alcoholic beverages cheaper and more easily available.
“I am ashamed that we are earning revenue by playing with the lives and honour of our sons and daughters,” Bharti had earlier said in a series of tweets.
The former chief minister had also created a stir last month after she hurled a brick at alcohol bottles inside a liquor store in Bhopal’s Azad Nagar locality — a move that BJP leaders say smacks of her “frustration at being sidelined in state politics”.
Bharti had later explained her move in a letter to Chouhan, saying that it was meant to protect the “honour” of women, and sought to remind him to implement a liquor ban in the state.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
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