NDA allies urge Nitish Kumar to review Bihar’s liquor laws

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies in Bihar have urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to review the State’s prohibition policy, in force since April 2016, and flagged financial losses to the State exchequer from trade in illicit liquor. The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leaders, however, have said the policy was being reviewed from time to time, and has had a good impact on society.

Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) leader and MLA from Madhubani Madhav Anand first raised the issue of a review in the State Assembly on Tuesday (February 17, 2026), drawing attention to “financial losses”.

Led by former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, the RLM has four MLAs in the Bihar Assembly. Apart from Mr. Anand, Mr. Kushwaha’s wife, Snehlata, is the MLA from Sasaram; Rameshwar Mahto is the MLA from Bajpatti; and Alok Kumar Singh is the MLA from Dinara. Mr. Kushwaha’s son Deepak Prakash, who is neither an MLA nor MLC, is the Bihar Panchayati Raj Minister.

On Wednesday (February 18, 2026), Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) leader and Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Jitan Ram Manjhi, also an NDA ally, raised the same issue while speaking to media persons in Gaya.

“We have been saying for a long time that the liquor policy is not wrong but there are flaws in its implementation. We thank Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for conducting a third review of the prohibition policy at our request. Prohibition is causing significant financial loss to the Bihar government and Nitish Kumar should address this,” Mr. Manjhi said, adding, “The poor are suffering under the liquor laws while the rich can have costly liquor at their doorsteps.” The HAM(S) has five MLAs in the Bihar Assembly.

JD(U) spokesperson Abhishek Jha, however, said the prohibition policy was doing well in Bihar, and was being reviewed “from time to time”.  

JD(U) MLA from Islampur in Nalanda district Ruhail Ranjan said Mr. Anand’s statement was not that of his party but his own, and there was “no confusion over the ongoing prohibition policy in the State, which has its good impact on society”.

Opposition leaders have been demanding a review of the liquor policy for its “faulty implementation”, which they allege has lead to trade in “home delivered” illegal liquor at high rates in the State. Hundreds of mostly poor people have died in different parts of Bihar in hooch tragedies since the policy came into effect.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and its leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly, while criticising the government’s prohibition policy, had earlier alleged that “prohibition has completely failed in Bihar”.

Leaders of the Congress party, too, have raised doubts over the “implementation” of the prohibition policy in the past decade. Mr. Kumar, however, maintains “piyoge to maroge (if you drink, you will die)” as his dictum, and holds to the view that his “government will continue with prohibition, come what may”.

Illicit liquor has been found funnelled into the State in coffins, railway pantry cars, bicycle tubes, ambulances, boats, LPG cylinders, watermelons, and so on, mainly from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Haryana, and even Nepal. Hundreds of police personnel and Prohibition Department employees have been caught engaged in the illegal trade of liquor, and suspended or dismissed from service. Several lakh litres of illegal liquor have been seized, and thousands arrested for the violation of the liquor laws, which have continued despite more than 80 checkpoints, and the use of scanners and other gadgets to keep Bihar a dry State.