Toddy makes a comeback in Bihar politics: Why are parties wooing Pasi community ahead of assembly elections?

In April 2016, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar implemented a blanket ban on the manufacture, transport, sale, and consumption of alcohol in the state.

Ahead of the Bihar assembly election, Union Food Processing Minister Chirag Paswan recently said toddy is a “natural product” and must not be categorised as liquor.

Paswan, who leads the LJP (Ram Vilas), was reacting to Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav’s promise to exempt toddy-tapping from the prohibition law if his RJD came to power in the state in the assembly elections later this year.

In April 2016, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar implemented a blanket ban on the manufacture, transport, sale, and consumption of alcohol in the state. The policy was to restore social order, reduce domestic violence, improve public health, and minimise alcohol-induced crimes.

What did Tejashwi Yadav promise?

Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly Tejashwi Yadav recently said that toddy would be exempted from the liquor law if INDIA bloc comes to power following this year's assembly elections.

“I (as the then Deputy CM in the Mahagathbandhan government) had tried hard to convince Nitish Kumar to keep toddy out of the liquor category as the Pasi community had been extracting toddy from the palm and date trees for generations as their traditional occupation. But the CM did not listen,” he said while addressing a gathering of the Pasi community (Scheduled Caste) in Patna.

The RJD leader also recalled how his father Lalu Prasad had waived off tax on toddy during his tenure as the Bihar Chief Minister. He further reiterated that the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act badly affected the Pasi community whose only source of livelihood is toddy-tapping.

Connection between Pasi community and toddy

According to the Bihar caste survey, the population of the Pasi caste in the state is 1,288,031, which is less than 1% of the total population. The community comes under Mahadalit sub-category of the Scheduled Castes.

In April 2016 when CM Nitish Kumar introduced total prohibition in the state, toddy also was included in the list of intoxicants.

Many belonging to this community earn their livelihood by tapping toddy. After the liquor ban, members of the Pasi demanded the state government should come out with notifications and advertisements to declare that there was no ban on collecting toddy (fermented palm tree sap) and selling it, except the few public places where its sale stands banned since 1991.

Both the RJD and BJP had opposed the then Bihar government’s move saying that it would adversely affect the livelihood of poor families of Pasi community.

Why is toddy back in Bihar politics?

The Nitish government has always showcased the liquor ban as a badge of honour, a bold step that has helped curb crime, saved families from financial ruin and empowered women. However, ahead of the state assembly polls, bringing up the cause of the Pasi community may be seen as the parties’ attempt to woo Dalit voters who are hard to ignore in the caste-driven politics of Bihar.

Meanwhile, the JD(U) accused the RJD of doing a “U-turn” on the issue and dared it to seek the views of women voters. JD (U) chief JD(U) MLC Neeraj Kumar told The Indian Express, “The RJD’s constitution clearly says that only one abstaining from narcotic and psychotropic substances can become its member. In fact, RJD used to get financial support from liquor traders before 2016. I also dare RJD to get signatures from random women voters on excluding toddy from prohibition. As for our government, it has supported over two lakh Pasis by giving them Rs 2 lakh assistance each to raise goats and take up other professions.”

BJP spokesperson Manoj Kumar Sharma also said the prohibition law was passed by the Bihar Legislature with a voice vote. “RJD, which was the single largest party after the 2015 polls, supported total prohibition. What had stopped RJD from sending a team to the fields for a survey on the good or bad impact of toddy’s inclusion in the liquor category? They are trying to make it a plank for the Pasi vote. But it would boomerang on them,” he told IE.

Meanwhile, facing severe backlash over the years, the Nitish government has made multiple amendments to the 2016 law. The last such amendment was brought in May 2023 when Bihar decided to lower the penalty for release of impounded vehicles from 50% of its insurance cover to 10%.