BJP Bihar spreads a video from 2020 of cop getting beaten by the liquor mafia.
BJP and JD(U) alliance were in power when the incident happened but now BJP blames the Mahagathbandan alliance.
Claim
Liquor mafia fighting, being intoxicated!
Law and order has broken down, Nitish Kumar is insensitive!!
Are the liquor mafia beating the police only? If the police is also not safe, then how will the general public be protected, Nitish Kumar?
#फर्जी_शराबबंदी
#JungleRajReturns
Rating
Explanation
The state of Bihar implemented a complete ban on alcohol in 2016 which led to consumption of illicit liquor and smuggling of liquor becoming a lucrative business for organized crimes. There have been many instances of people dying after consuming spurious or hooch liquor being reported and the liquor mafia & the Police having a conflict. In the last few weeks of 2022, 70 people have died in Mashrakh, Marhaura, Ishuapur, Amnaur, Tariyya, Baniyapur and Parsa blocks of Saran district due to the consumption of spurious liquor.
This this tragedy had shocked the state of Bihar which ensued a war of words between the BJP and the ruling Mahagathbandhan (MGB) alliance (also known as Grand alliance), which includes JD(U), RJD, Congress and the communist parties. At this juncture, BJP Bihar’s official twitter page, elected representatives & supporters of BJP are sharing this video of a police officer getting beaten by the liquor mafia which is being widely shared. See here, here, here, here, and here. Using this video, BJP alleges that the law & order situation had deteriorated in Bihar under the Grand Alliance Government and the liquor mafia enjoys a free hand, which had gone to the extreme of beating up even the law enforcement officers.
What’s the truth?
When we did a keyword search & reverse image search, we found out that the video is from 2020. Several news outlets such as Outlook India, Zee News, ABP Live, Mirror Now, Live Hindustan have reported on the incident which is said to have taken place on 6th September 2020.
More importantly, Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal President and the former Chief Minister of Bihar & former Union Minister of Railways, had tweeted on 6th September 2020 about this incident in which he stated that it is not the inspector who is getting beaten by the liquor mafia, but the home minister of the state himself.
यह है बिहार पुलिस की औक़ात और इक़बाल! मानो वीडियो में शराब माफिया दरोग़ा को नहीं प्रदेश के गृहमंत्री को पीट रहा है। शराबबंदी के नाम पर भ्रष्टाचार फैला उसने बिहार को महका दिया है और इसी महक के चलते उसने शराबबंदी पर प्रवचन भी बंद कर दिए है। pic.twitter.com/9bHZhZ6KdB
— Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) September 6, 2020
Interestingly, in September 2020, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) was in power in Bihar in coalition government. It was only in August 2022, Janata Dal (United) broke its ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party and joined the Mahagathbandhan alliance (Grand Alliance).
Now, BJP is claiming that the incident of liquor mafia beating a policeman, which happened when they were in power in a coalition government, had happened under the current Grand Alliance Government.
Conclusion
The claim that a policeman was beaten by the liquor mafia under the current regime of Mahagathbandhan alliance is misleading. The incident took place in September 2020 when BJP-JD(U) coalition (NDA) government was in power and not in the Mahagathbandhan alliance which came to power only in August 2022.
