With the Delhi government coming under sharp criticism over its liberal liquor licence distribution policy, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Vice President and Delhi In-Charge, Baijayant 'Jay' Panda on Friday hit out at Odisha government by likening its excise policy to Delhi’s newly announced one.
Panda spoke to OTV in the aftermath of his address to a massive virtual rally organised in the National Capital to protest the new Excise policy of the Delhi government,
Drawing comparisons with Odisha, Panda demanded the Naveen Patnaik-led government to withdraw its decision of arbitrarily opening liquor shops in order to stop ruining the lives of youths in the State.
He also appealed to the women in the State to raise their voice over the matter.
Earlier, senior party leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani and Panda addressed a virtual rally demanding the closure of liquor outlets near schools, temples and other religious non-permissible locations.
Addressing the rally, Panda said, “Delhi’s new Excise policy has been introduced to ruin the people of the National capital. The Delhi government has gone on to open liquor shops near religious places and housing societies, which is almost similar to what Naveen Patnaik is up to in Odisha.”
“The Kejriwal government had proposed to open 850 liquor shops in the National Capital. However, after facing severe backlash from the people, around 300 shops were either closed or could not open. I want similar movement from the women and youths in Odisha to close down liquor shops there too,” Panda added.
Women in Odisha have been continuously raising their voice against the sales of liquor near their villages. In November last year, as part of an anti-liquor protest, a large group of women reportedly ransacked an off-shop at Telkoi Block in Odisha’s Keonjhar district. Thousands of women barged into the shop, collected all the foreign liquor stock worth lakhs of rupees and smashed them one by one.
A video had also gone viral last year of a little boy carrying a bag full of foreign liquor bottles on his shoulders.
Captured by a news reporter, the little boy could be seen in the video taking the liquor bottles from a newly opened government liquor off-shop in Koira area of Sundargarh district. When the reporter followed the boy to the off-shop he found an Excise official sitting inside the outlet.