Was it the right Waqf to introduce the Bill?Bihar will be the first state in the country to hold Assembly elections since the recent passage of Waqf (Amendment) Bill in both Houses of Parliament. The saffron party’s ally, the JD(U), has already faced a lot of heat from its own Muslim leaders over the party’s support for the proposed legislation. But it’s safe to say that the NDA members did their homework before introducing the Bill in Parliament. BJP leaders don’t generally expect Muslims to vote for their candidates in big numbers, and JD(U) leadership doesn’t have a strong base in the minority community either. It remains to be seen how the hot-button issue will sway the voters in the state.A mega rally to target Nitish govt on April 11The Prashant Kishor-led Jan Suraaj party has decided to organise a ‘Badlo Bihar Maha Rally’ at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna on April 11. Party leaders say they are holding the mega rally to overthrow the Nitish Kumar government, which they claim has long failed to deliver justice to people of Bihar. The party leaders also reiterated the party president’s pledge to create enough jobs in Bihar so that its residents are not compelled to migrate to other states in search of a livelihood. They also pointed up Kishor’s commitment to ensuring quality education in the state and introducing a domicile policy that could benefit the youth of Bihar.190 lives lost to hooch in ‘dry’ Bihar since 2016It seems like Bihar is not that dry a state, after all. Officials of the Excise Department have admitted that an alarming 190 people have died in the state because of the consumption of spurious liquor since prohibition was imposed there in 2016. According to the official data, Saran, Siwan, Gaya, Bhojpur, Buxar and Gopalganj recorded the highest number of deaths due to hooch. A total of 9.36 lakh cases pertaining to the violation of the prohibition laws were registered till the end of last month, and over 14.32 lakh people have been arrested in connection with those cases. The officials concerned have seized 3.86 crore bulk litres of liquor so far.RamashankarOur correspondent in Biharramashankar@newindianexpress.com
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