Bihar Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary talks to media
By Neeraj Kumar
Patna: Ever since the NDA’s landslide victory in the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, speculation has been rife over the future of the state’s liquor prohibition law. While some voices have spoken of a possible rollback, others within the ruling alliance have demanded a review of the legislation. Putting these rumours to rest, a senior and trusted minister of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Vijay Chaudhary, has made it clear that the government has no plans to reconsider the law.
Vijay Chaudhary said those highlighting revenue losses should remember that the government had carefully assessed the financial impact before enforcing prohibition in 2016. “All aspects, including potential revenue loss, were taken into account before the law was implemented,” he said.
The minister argued that repeatedly reducing the issue to “liquor prohibition” weakens the very purpose of the legislation. “This is not merely a prohibition law; it is the Bihar Excise and Prohibition Act, under which consumption of alcohol is a punishable offence. People should not consume alcohol. Despite this, making it a political issue is wrong,” Chaudhary said, making it clear that prohibition will remain in force.
He added that the government knowingly implemented the law despite the likelihood of revenue loss. “It is a hallmark of the Nitish Kumar government that, even with reduced revenue, it has performed at the top across all development indicators. This is commendable,” he said.
The demand for a review of the prohibition law was raised recently during the budget session of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. RLM MLA Madhav Anand urged the Chief Minister to revisit the law, saying the time had come to review it and ensure more effective implementation.
Senior NDA ally and HAM patron, Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, has also been consistently calling for a review. Supporting the RLM’s stand, he said the law was well-intentioned but suffered from serious flaws in its implementation.
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