Nitish Kumar had announced prohibition in Bihar on April 5. (PTI photo)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who dropped a bombshell last week by advancing the date for total prohibition in the state by six months, has compared the feat of banning alcohol to scaling Mount Everest.
Speaking at a function organised in Patna by the health department, Mr Kumar hit out at critics who have said that prohibition, a key promise in the elections that he won last year, will not work.
"Many people are saying prohibition doesn't work. Some are pointing to other states and telling us it's not a good idea. So if something has not worked, should I let go of it? You tell me, did someone climb the mount Everest for the first time or not? Till then, did anyone think it was possible?"
The audience of mainly women from self-help groups responded with roaring applause.
Mr Kumar had announced a ban on making and selling country liquor from April 1. Encouraged by the response and just four days into partial prohibition,
he advanced total prohibition by six months last week.
The Bihar Assembly then passed a law that provides for the death penalty or life imprisonment for those caught manufacturing and selling country liquor.
But critics have continued to question whether Mr Kumar's prohibition gamble will work. Union Minister and lawmaker from Bihar's Nawada Giriraj Singh, known mostly for his controversial remarks, today said, "The prohibition campaign is in the limelight right now. But I don't think it will work in the long run. And anyway, it is Nitish who first opened up thousands of liquor shops in his tenure. To now take this moral high ground seems such a farce."