Amid uproar by the BJP-led opposition in the Bihar state assembly over the recent hooch tragedy in the state, deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav said on Thursday that the agenda of the saffron camp is to only “spread hatred and lies”. He alleged that the number of hooch deaths in Bihar compared to the BJP-ruled Gujarat is lesser.
“It’s BJP-ruled states that come among top 3-4 states (deaths due to spurious liquor). If you compare Bihar and Gujarat, 50 such deaths were reported in four years whereas 21 were in Bihar. The agenda of BJP’s people is to only spread hatred and lies,” Tejashwi was quoted as saying by ANI.
Referring to ruckus in the state assembly, the deputy CM asked where the BJP was when liquor was found in the houses of relatives of one of their ministers.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader also dragged other BJP ruled states in his statement such as Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, claiming these stood at the top in terms of number of hooch deaths. “I am reading out from a statement given on the floor of Parliament by Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai, who incidentally hails from Bihar, on July 19,” Tejashwi was quoted as saying by PTI.
“The MoS had made the statement in response to a query from MP Danish Ali who sought to know the number of deaths caused by the consumption of spurious liquor. The minister had quoted NCRB data to submit that between 2016 and 2020, Madhya Pradesh accounted for the highest number of 1,214 hooch deaths followed by Karnataka where the number was 909. Both states are ruled by the BJP,” he said.
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Tejashwi alleged that Haryana – another BJP-headed state, stood at number four as per Rai’s data. “BJP MLAs have been demanding chief minister Nitish Kumar’s resignation over the Saran hooch tragedy. Would they make similar demands with respect to CMs of states ruled by their own party?” he asked.
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The hooch tragedy that happened in three villages in Chhapra on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday over consumption of spurious liquor has claimed the lives of at least 31 people. It has created a political slugfest between the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ regime and the BJP-led opposition in ‘dry state’ Bihar.
Earlier in the day, Kumar stirred up fresh controversy after he said in the state assembly, “peeyoge toh maroge (if you drink, you’ll die)”. He said that as Bihar is a dry state, “something spurious will be sold” and informed about directing police officials not to arrest poor people for consuming liquor.
The Bihar CM’s comment was not taken well, with BJP’s IT cell head Amit Malviya slamming him for being “insensitive”.
Later, multiple BJP MLAs were seen staging demonstrations with placards in their hands against the Kumar-Tejashwi government at the well of the state assembly. A video showed the Bihar CM navigating through the protesting MLAs to make his way inside the assembly.
