If it's wrong to impose liquor ban on Hindus, how did Gujarat and Bihar do it: Iltija to J-K CM

Peoples Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti on Monday said Chief Minister Omar Abdullahs refusal to ban alcohol in Jammu and Kashmir because Hindus are permitted to drink liquor was illogical. The chief minister replied that his government was not forcing anyone to drink.

Peoples Democratic Party leader Iltija Mufti on Monday said Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's refusal to ban alcohol in Jammu and Kashmir because Hindus are permitted to drink liquor was illogical. She was commenting on Abdullah's statement that liquor shops were to serve people of those faiths in which the consumption of alcohol was not forbidden. ''J-K CM's expected U-turn on the refusal to prohibit liquor shops lacks logic. He claims it is wrong to impose a ban on Hindus consuming alcohol since their religion does not forbid it. If this is the case, how have Hindu majority states like Gujarat and Bihar banned alcohol successfully without a whimper?'' Mufti asked on X. ''We are proud of J-K's secular credentials, but deeply unfortunate and insensitive for its chief minister to dismiss religious sensibilities of the majority with such indifference,'' she added. While interacting with reporters in Ganderbal on Sunday, Abdullah was asked about the demand for an alcohol ban in Jammu and Kashmir. The chief minister replied that his government was not forcing anyone to drink. ''Is anyone forcing them to drink? You are going to (a wine) shop on your own will. Why are you going there? We are not dragging you there. We are not advertising it,'' he had said.