NEW DELHI: Political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has dared to tread an uncharted territory in Bihar politics in recent times with his promise of scrapping liquor ban in the state, within an hour, if voted to power by the people in assembly elections due next year.
Interestingly, liquor ban is considered to be one of the important factors behind the continued electoral success of Nitish Kumar, who is now the longest serving chief minister of Bihar.Many analysts believe liquor ban helped increase Nitish Kumar‘s popularity among women, espcecially in the rural areas. Little wonder, none of the mainstream parties have spoken openly against it, perhaps for the fear of losing women voters. There have been some individual voices against the law, but none of the parties has opposed it openly.
Liquor ban was implemented in Bihar in 2016 to deal with the problem of alcoholism and problems related to it in the state. It was also Nitish Kumar’s election promise to the women of the state who suffered due to excessive drinking of their male members and as such it helped consolidate women voters in favour of ruling JD(U).
However, implementing the liquor prohibition law has been a huge challenge for the Nitish government. Despite the ban, Bihar has reported several official deaths caused by consuming of illicit alcohol and also hooch tragedies. The conviction rate has also been very poor. Moreover, the stringent provisions of the law has led to widespread resentment in the state among a large population, which perhaps Prashant Kishor hopes to capitalise.
Prashant Kishor claims prohibition law is annually causing losses to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore to Bihar. He plans to plug this loss after scrapping the law and use the money to provide world-class education system to the children and youth of the state.
“We will need more than Rs 4 lakh crore to improve education in the state. We will raise the money by scrapping the prohibition law which is annually causing losses to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore. I reiterate that once Jan Suraaj comes to power, the ban on liquor will be scrapped within one hour,” said the 47-year-old leader during the launch of his Jan Suraaj Party.
“When the liquor ban will be removed, that money won’t go into the budget and will not be used for the security of leaders, nor it will be used for roads, water and electricity. That will be used only for building a new education system in Bihar,” he added.
“Jan Suraaj’s top priority will be on quality education for children,” he said and urged people to think about their children’s future. “How many times have you voted for the education and employment of your children? Education quality and employment were never prioritised in Bihar because you never voted for these things,” Kishor said.
But the big question is – Will Prashant Kishor’s emphasis on improving education have takers in a state where caste and religion have played a big role in politics? Are people in Bihar ready to say yes to liquor? Will it be a gamechanger for his Jan Suraaj Party? We do not know the answers to all these questions now. But what we do know is that Prashant Kishor’s “scrap liquor ban” agenda will surely trigger a much-needed debate on the effectiveness of the prohibition law.
The mainstream parties have played down Prashant Kishor’s entry into politics with the RJD calling Jan Suraaj Party a B-team of the BJP and the saffron party taking potshots at him and claiming at least two parties get registered in Bihar before polls every time. However, it is the people of Bihar who would next year decide the fate of Jan Suraaj Party and its scrap liquor ban agenda.