Sushil Kumar Modi questions Bihar CM Nitish Kumar over post-liquor prohibition claims

Patna: Picking holes in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's claim that the sale of sweets, clothes and vehicles have increased after the prohibition, Sushil Kumar Modi on Saturday questioned the 19 percent fall in commercial tax receipts in the first six months of the current fiscal.

"The chief minister is claiming that after liquor ban, sale of sweets, clothes and vehicles have registered increase. Then why there is 19 percent fall in commercial tax receipts in first six months of the current fiscal?" Modi, who served as deputy chief minister of the state during the NDA rule, said in a statement here.

The senior BJP leader also dismissed Kumar's assertion that China surged ahead after shunning opium and asked him "is there prohibition in China and other developed countries".

"Isn't opium banned in India since past?" he further said and mocked the chief minister for "weaving illogical arguments".

"Has consumption of intoxicants like charas, opium, ganja and bhang not increased in Bihar four-fold after liquor ban," Modi asked.

Due to availability of liquor illegally, now the poor habituated of alcohol has to spend more, he said.

Modi also disputed the claim of drop in crime rate and communal tensions after prohibition and asked why "communal situation" had erupted in Bihariganj, Piro, Gopalganj, Turkolia and Sugauli in October.

Everyday liquor was smuggled into the state from outside and those manufactured illegally within the state were being seized, he claimed.