Prashant Kishor vows to scrap Bihar liquor ban if party comes to power
Ahead of his party's launch, Kishor calls Bihar's prohibition law a ‘sham’ and pledges to contest all 243 seats in the 2025 Assembly elections
Prashant Kishor, political strategist-turned-activist, has promised to scrap Bihar's liquor ban "within an hour" if his new party, Jan Suraaj, comes to power. Speaking ahead of the party's launch on October 2, Kishor called the prohibition law by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar a "sham".
He slammed the ban as ineffective, leading to illegal home deliveries and costing the state Rs 20,000 crore in excise revenue. Kishor also accused politicians and bureaucrats of profiting from the illegal liquor trade.
Spurious liquor
Opposition parties have also condemned the policy for failing to curb the consumption of spurious liquor, which has resulted in deaths and methanol-induced blindness. The ban was initially imposed following large-scale protests led by women, who demanded a complete ban on alcohol in the state.
"Politics of merit"
He insisted in his belief in "politics of merit" and said unlike other parties, he wouldn’t shy away from opposing the ban, despite concerns about losing women's votes. Kishor blamed both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad for Bihar's problems, while holding Congress and BJP partly responsible.
Kishor confirmed Jan Suraaj will contest all 243 seats in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections.