During a recent visit to Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his alcohol ban policy in Bihar. He said: “I greet Nitish Kumar from the core of my heart for launching a campaign against liquor.
However, this work (prohibition) would not be a grand success simply by the singular efforts of Nitish Kumar or one party. All the political parties, social organisations and citizens, have to participate equally to make it a ‘jan-jan ka andolan’ (people’s movement).
In April 2016, Kumar announced a ban on the sale and consumption of country liquor in the state. The ban was one of Kumar’s key poll promises, made to women voters –who rallied behind him strongly, as this Mint report indicates – during the 2015 assembly elections.
Thirty days after the ban, Kumar claimed that crime was down by 27 percent, according to his analysis of crime data from April 2015 to April 2016.