Greed for revenue, mafia pressure behind no ban on liquor: Uma

In the wake of death of severalpeople due to consumption of spurious alcohol in MadhyaPradesh and Uttar Pradesh, BJP vice-president Uma Bharti onThursday said that due to the greed for revenue and pressureby liquor mafia, drinking is not being banned.She expressed her opinion in a series of tweets inHindi.A large number of people died due to liquorconsumption in UP and MP recently.

In the wake of death of severalpeople due to consumption of spurious alcohol in MadhyaPradesh and Uttar Pradesh, BJP vice-president Uma Bharti onThursday said that due to the ''greed'' for revenue and pressureby liquor mafia, drinking is not being banned.

She expressed her opinion in a series of tweets inHindi.

''A large number of people died due to liquorconsumption in UP and MP recently. The reason behind the fatalroad accidents is that drivers are drunk. It is surprisingthat for the greed for paltry revenue collction and due to theliquor mafias' pressure, drinking isn't banned,'' she said.

''It looks like that the state machinery serves liquorto the people. It is like a mother who is responsible forfeeding and protecting her child, giving poison to the baby.

Opening of the liquor shops by the state is similar to that,''the former Union minister said.

Advocating complete prohibition, the former MadhyaPradesh chief minister tweeted, ''During the coronavirus-induced lockdown a sort of ban on drinking prevailed. And thismade it clear that people had either died of COVID-19 or otherreasons. No one has died of drinking liquor then.'' In what appears to be a taunt to Madhya Pradesh ChiefMinister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Bharti said, ''Madhya Pradeshgovernment has not taken any decision on opening more liquoroutlets yet. This statement by @ChouhanShivraj ji iscommendable.'' Over 20 people died in a hooch tragedy in Morenadistrict of MP earlier this month.

Spurious liquor had also claimed the lives of morethan a dozen people in Ujjain in October last year.