In 2016 Carlsberg had promised to transform Bihar. But Nitish Kumar stuck a dagger in its CEO’s back

Bihar and its love affair with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have lasted far longer than one would have liked. The relationship turned toxic long ago but somehow both, or rather Kumar hasn’t been able to let go. As a result, Bihar continues to be one of the Bimaru states and has paid the price for it in kind. One of the moves that Nitish Kumar often thumps his chest for is the prohibition order passed in 2016 to ban alcohol consumption, soon after he came to power, riding on a coalition with his arch-enemy Lalu Prasad Yadav. 

Atul Mishra, founder, The Frustrated Indian has dug deeper into Kumar’s rather dictatorial decision and argued that the Prohibition order helped nobody but Kumar who took the moral high ground while the people of the state, akin to the last three decades suffered.  

While people suffered, the ill-timed decision also meant that Bihar lost out on a golden opportunity to have a brewery giant set up a plant in the state’s backyard. 

Nitish wooed Carlsberg to set up a plant

Reportedly, Nitish had wooed the Danish multinational brewer Carlsberg to set camp in Bihar in 2014. He had wooed the company to start its operations in the Diyara area of Patna. 

Atul Mishra observes, “Nitish Kumar had wooed Carlsberg to invest in the state and sealed a deal of $25 million plant in Diyara area near Patna in 2014. Bihar has a lot of water, open lands, Sunlight and barley.” 

He further added that owing to the natural conditions in Bihar, the brewery could have been a runaway success, “Bihar is well connected to all parts of India. Carlsberg was the first foreign company to tap into the untapped potential of Bihar. Carlsberg had promised jobs to locals. It had promised to assist Bihar Government in setting up riverside resorts, shacks and food joints.” 

Read More: Nitish Kumar’s liquor ban had once made him tremendously popular, but now it is going to ensure his downfall

Carlsberg left in the lurch as Nitish banned alcohol overnight

However, after Nitish was re-elected in 2015, he went on to ban liquor in the state, despite having just signed a deal with Carlsberg. His brain fade decision had a cascading effect. The plant that could have contributed heavily to the state’s economy became an unattainable dream in a matter of hours. 

“The Carlsberg plant would have attracted other big players to invest in Bihar. Bihar could have become India’s first river tourism destination. It would have provided taxes to the government and jobs to locals, but Nitish Kumar decided to keep Bihar poor to win an election.”

The decision led to the company’s revenues falling and forcing it to pull out since there was no backup plan for this unexpected move. Michael Jensen, CEO of Carlsberg India in the aftermath of the decision had famously remarked, “It was a sizeable market and investment but they decided to do prohibition in 12 hours,” 

The existing breweries in Bihar like Diageo Plc, United Breweries, and Molson Coors were forced to move out as well while Bihar’s economy tumbled furthermore.

The corrupt implementation of the alcohol ban

The alcohol ban and its corrupt implementation in the last five years have made the lives of ordinary Biharis tough. Given the fact, almost everyone has access to smuggled liquor–which is costlier and, therefore, a bigger financial burden on the households–due to the laggard implementation of the ban, the women who supported Nitish Kumar back in 2016 are now against him. 

As explained by Mr Mishra, after Nitish Kumar banned alcohol, it was the occasional drinker who drank, once in a blue moon with his peers to unwind themselves that was hurt the most. Meanwhile, the regular drunkards who had the money, might and muscle continued to have unrestricted access to the alcohol.  

The prohibition order has helped not a single woman as people are drinking and dying, “Nitish Kumar banned the sale and consumption of Liquor of Bihar to ‘help’ poor women, male members of whose families were wasting money on liquor. But as previously explained. They are still drinking and now they are dying too.” 

Such has been the thirst for alcohol in the state that this year alone, more than 95 deaths have occurred due to consumption of spurious liquor. The state police headquarter further added that a total of 12,93,229 litres of country-made and 25,79,415 litres of foreign-made liquor were seized in the last 9 months.

As per official data shared with the media by the police headquarters, 49,000 cases of violation of prohibition rules were registered in different districts in the last 9 months.

Ban helped the liquor mafia

Moreover, the ban on alcohol consumption has led to the rise of bootlegging mafias as the ones emerging in Gujarat. The prohibition on liquor has given rise to many Abdul Latifs–the infamous bootlegger from Gujarat on whom the movie Raees is based–who are earning thousands of crores through smuggling.  

The thousands of crores they earn further goes into illegal and criminal activities leading to a vicious cycle. So, this money, which could have gone to state coffers and honest businessman’s pocket- which would lead to the welfare of the state- is now in the pocket of Bihar’s own Abdul Latif and has led to rising of crime and additional burden on the criminal justice system in the low-capacity state.

Safe to say, the liquor ban in Bihar has helped only Nitish Kumar. Everyone else has lost. The locals on employment opportunities while the exchequer on millions in revenues that are now filling the coffers of Liquor mafia.