As moonshine deaths spike in India’s Bihar, even supporters of its alcohol ban say the law has ‘failed’
- Chief minister Nitish Kumar is under fire for continuing his almost 7-year-old alcohol ban, despite a growing number of deaths from tainted booze
- Critics say the ban targets poor people, and only benefits bootleggers and police officers who take bribes
An Indian politician says dozens of men who died recently from drinking moonshine had only themselves to blame, as outrage grows over the impact of an alcohol ban that has created an underground market risking the lives of the poor.
The harsh words of Nitish Kumar, chief minister of Bihar, where alcohol is forbidden, came mere hours after the labourers died having drunk illegal liquor. “Know that if you drink, you will die,” he said.
Seventy deaths is the figure opposition leaders have cited, but critics say it could rise to around 100, with some of the drinkers critically ill in hospital.
But since then, with hundreds of Bihar men dead – women tend not to drink because of taboos – and others blind from drinking what is basically poison, prohibition has become more than a little controversial. It is not common, with just three other Indian states doing the same – Gujarat, Nagaland and Mizoram, the last two having small populations.
