'Improving Body Strength May Help Handle Spurious Liquor': Bihar Minister after Hooch Tragedy | Watch

Amid the political slugfest sparked after the most recent Bihar hooch tragedy where at least 40 people have died after allegedly consuming spurious liquor, the state’s Industry Minister made a baffling statement on Wednesday.

In a video shared by ANI, Bihar Industry Minister Sameer Mahaseth claimed that improving body strength might help to “tolerate” spurious liquor. “Best if you give up drinking. Poison, and not liquor, coming here,” he said.

“If we build strength via sports, we might be able to tolerate it (spurious liquor) but people will have to build that strength,” he said. “Give it up. It’s prohibited and being wrongly pushed here.”

The minister was speaking at a state-level sports event in Hajipur on Wednesday and emphasised on the importance of sports in building strength.

Even as the death toll continued to rise in the dry state on Wednesday and Thursday, the Bihar legislative assembly saw stormy sessions with the Nitish Kumar government and the opposition parties exchanging barbs.

As opposition leaders questioned the government’s ban on Thursday, CM Nitish Kumar shot back, saying that people were dying even where there was no ban.

“There is full effort to implement liquor ban in Bihar , when there was no ban on liquor then also people were dying here,” he said.

Meanwhile, Opposition BJP MLAs staged a demonstration outside the assembly on Wednesday, blaming the “nexus” between police and illicit liquor traders for the deaths. “We have always supported the ban on liquor, even when it was introduced while we were in opposition. But its implementation has been a complete failure,” said former deputy chief minister Tarkishor Prasad.

The Nitish Kumar government banned consumption and sale of alcohol in 2016. The state has seen several hooch tragedies since then.

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