Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti’s tirade on liquor ban in the state continues and has now targeted chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan personally.
On Monday, Uma Bharti again posted a series of tweets in which she expressed her pain on the fact that ‘Brother Shivraj had stopped talking to her and is responding to her through the media. She has also made light of Chouhan’s recent statement that he will close down liquor shops if people stop drinking.
The former CM has again made a string of suggestions to stop the illegal sale of liquor, serving liquor in open spaces adjacent to liquor shops and not opening liquor shops where locals, especially women, oppose them as they are the ones who have made BJP government in the state.
“I have had a relationship of respect and affection with respected elder brother Shivraj Singh Chouhan ji from 1984 to March 2022. While going to the office or even if I was on a visit to the Himalayas or if he remembered any of my religious songs, Shivraj ji would meet me or call me on the telephone. During the past two years, during every meeting, I have discussed liquor prohibition with Shivraj ji. But now that the matter has come out in public, why has my brother stopped talking to me? Why is he speaking through the media?” Bharti tweeted.
She further said “Shivraj ji said that if people stop drinking, I will close down liquor shops. When people won’t drink, shops won’t run and will automatically close down. But stopping illegal sale of liquor is the responsibility of police and administration and an issue of law and order.”
She went on to make suggestions regarding steps to be taken toward a liquor ban, of which an awareness campaign could be a part in which she, Chouhan and other political leaders should participate.
After Bharti’s tweets, ex-CM and Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh has taken jibe at the developments. Singh tweeted “very basic differences regarding liquor ban between Uma ji and mamu ji (as he refers to CM Chouhan) has come before people. BJP central and state leaders should make its policy on the issue clear. Uma Bharti’s pain: Shivraj has stopped talking to me; he is responding to me through the media.”
Uma Bharti’s verbal campaign on total prohibition in the state has been going on for more than a year. She has repeatedly announced dates for her ground campaign on the issue and then deferred it, saying that both CM Chouhan and state BJP president Vishnu Dutt Sharma were sensitive leaders and unanimous with her on the issue.
However, with the state government making details of its new excise policymaking liquor cheaper and more accessible -- to the public-- in January this year, Uma’s patience seemed to be waning. Last month, she hurled a stone at a liquor shop in Bhopal in support of women demanding the closure of the shop.
Also, Uma Bharti posted a series of tweets on April 1, saying that she was ashamed that the state government was earning revenue by playing with the lives and honour of sons and daughters of the state.
Following this, incidents of women and locals laying siege to liquor shops and hurling stones at them were reported from several places in the state. Uma Bharti then tweeted again, urging the residents to refrain from taking any illegal steps in their protest against liquor shops.
Meanwhile on April 2, speaking in Ujjain, Chouhan responded to Uma Bharti’s tirade (without referring to her) and said that if he was convinced that prohibition could lead to people giving up consuming alcohol, he wouldn’t take a day in taking the decision, but it doesn’t happen that way. “So we will work for an addiction-free society. When people stop drinking, the shops will close down by themselves,” the CM said.
Bharti’s latest set of tweets on Monday came in response to these comments.
