Ban liquor throughout India on Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary: Nitish Kumar

Chennai: Contending that there can be no “greater reverence” to the Father of the Nation if India implemented total prohibition across the country, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday said a nationwide prohibition would be best manner of paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary in 2019.

“Soon the nation will formally be celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji in 2019. I firmly believe that there can be no greater reverence to the father of the nation if you implement prohibition in the country,” Mr. Nitish Kumar said while speaking at the late Karunanidhi memorial meeting here.

Implementation of prohibition was Bihar’s tribute to “Bapu when we celebrated the completion of 100 years of Champaran sathyagrah in Bihar,” he said. “It is heartening to see a deep seated social transformation taking place in Bihar. It has led to a more empowered and healthy society, the results of which are visible in the development of Bihar. Prohibition has resulted in healthy citizens, economic betterment of families, and reduction in domestic violence,” the CM said sharing his experience in implementing prohibition since 2016.

He claimed that Karunanidhi too favoured a “complete ban on liquor,” and recalled that the DMK had promised implementation of prohibition in its manifesto for the 2016 assembly polls.

Referring to the liquor ban in Bihar, Karunanidhi had announced that if the DMK came back to power, the party would take all steps to implement prohibition for social betterment. As a successor to the great leader, it is the responsibility of M K Stalin to fulfil the wish of Karunanidhi when the party was returned to power, he said.