Politics of prohibition a double-edged sword for Nitish Kumar

An anti-liquor poster at the Janata Dal (United) party office in Patna.  

“Hamara sankalp sharab mukt, dahej mukt… bal-vivah mukt rashtra (our resolve liquor free, dowry free… child marriage free nation),” says a huge poll poster put up outside the JD(U) office in Patna, sending out loud the message that party president and chief minister Nitish Kumar’s ambitious prohibition movement will be a poll plank for the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

But, travelling across the three constituencies of Aurangabad, Gaya and Nawada, going to polls in the first phase on April 11, it appears that prohibition may be the biggest poll risk for Mr. Kumar and his party. But BJP could save the day for them.

“By imposing prohibition Nitish Kumar has done more damage to the families like us who earn 400-500 daily by doing casual labour here and there…liquor still is available in our village and those who were having it earlier are still boozing but have to spend three time more…it has its adverse impact on such families”, says Jitendra Kumar, 28 of Raniganj village under Madanpur block in Aurangabad district.

He and a group of villagers are playing cards on a post-Holi Sunday afternoon. “What kind of prohibition is this?...It has burdened more those who drink but they still drink while ruining their hard- earned income”, rued Sarpat Singh, 60, a farmer of the village.

Dinesh Kumar, a daily wager nodded in agreement and said, “Only policemen and those in the business of illegal smuggling of liquor are flourishing …the common man has become the worst sufferer.”

But, Mr. Nitish Kumar says prohibition has been a “revolutionary step which has transformed the social atmosphere in villages?” “Yes, it has transformed the social milieu in villages but, for the worse”, they said.

The Chief Minister is going to make prohibition an election issue. Will you people vote for him? “Aap likh lijiye yeh unko le dubega…BJP se alliance ke karan hi bachenge nahi to akele Nalanda seat bhi nahi jeet pate is baar (you write it down, this (prohibition) will ruin him (in election)…alliance with BJP can be a big redeemer for him. If he contested alone he wouldn’t save even Nalanda, his home constituency),” they said.

People at Ganjas, Bandhua and Fatehpur villages in Gaya too are enraged with the Chief Minister for this “nakli darubandi (fake liquor ban).”

“Let Nitish Kumar first ban liquor in Patna…many of his officials drink liquor daily…the condition in villages is more pathetic…we’ll teach him a lesson in this election”, said Dharamveer Singh, Mohan Yadav, America Prasad and Anil Paswan at Fatehpur village.

At Madho Bigha and Akbarpur villages in Nawada too the reaction from Rajiv Kumar and Shiv Mohan Prasad was similar. “Prohibition sounds good, means good and makes images good but in reality it’s all fake in Bihar”, they said.

Jadu Sao and Sarekan Mehta of Patanwa village of Aurangabad added, “The liquor ban will boomerang for Nitish Kumar in this election.”

The Nitish Kumar government had enforced total ban on liquor in the State from April 5, 2016 through the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016. Later, in June 2018, the government made amendments in some “stringent provisions” of the Act. However, liquor bottles continue to be seized from trucks and vans laden with oranges, potatoes and gas cylinders from different parts of the State. About 15 lakh litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and 8 lakh litres of country-made liquor have been seized in the State since April 2016.

Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), though, is not contesting the upper caste dominated Aurangabad seat as under the NDA alliance the BJP candidate Sushil Singh is trying his luck for the third time. The opposition mahagathbandhan’s Hindustanti Awam Morcha (Secular) has pitted a light-weight Upendra Prasad, a former MLC. For the first time since the first general election, the Congress has not fielded its candidate from Aurangabad.

Former Congress MP Nikhil Kumar was denied ticket this time and it has caused some resentment among voters in some pockets of the district. Mr. Sushil Singh had defeated Mr. Nikhil Kumar in the 2014 LS poll by over 66,000 votes. The upper caste Rajputs comprise 17.5 %, Bhumihars 6.75% while Yadavs and Muslims comprise 10% and 8.5% of the population. The Other Backward Class like Kushwahas and Koeris too are in sizeable numbers in the constituency which could tilt the poll result to any side.