Hooch Tragedy: opposition stages walkout, alleges NHRC’s misuse

Amid a raging controversy on the Bihar Hooch Tragedy, the Joint Opposition led by Congress walked out of the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday in protest of the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) role. Several parliamentarians belonging to parties including the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Trinamool Congress, and the Congress walked out of the Upper House to raise the issue during Zero Hour.
Meanwhile, in the Lok Sabha, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP Chirag Paswan raised the issue of the Bihar hooch tragedy.
The senior BJP MP said that an NHRC team should visit the state while Paswan demanded an imposition of President’s Rule and a CBI probe.
In a press briefing held after the opposition walked out of the house in Rajya Sabha, RJD leader Manoj Jha accused the BJP-led central government of misusing the NHRC and using it as a “political tool” in Bihar hooch tragedy issue.
“NHRC is being used as a political tool in Bihar hooch tragedy issue,” said Jha, adding that, “Prime Minster Narendra Modi’s own state, Gujarat, faces hooch tragedy on every third month but the NHRC never visited there. NHRC neither visited to probe Morbi nor the killing of hundreds of people in Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh), Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana. The entire opposition walked out of the house in protest of ‘partition role’ of the NHRC,” Jha said.
During Zero Hour of the House, Trinamool Congress MP Dola Sen raised the issue of the NHRC’s involvement in the Bihar hooch tragedy. Addressing the briefing, Sen also said, “It is a matter of sorrow that the NHRC did not go to Morbi (Gujarat) and Uttar Pradesh, it only likes to go to Bihar and West Bengal.”
“Manoj Jha had submitted adjournment notice in the Rajya Sabha over the issues, but it was not accepted. We raised the issue in the House and walked out,” Sen said.
JD (U) leader Ramnath Thakur thanked the opposition parties of raising the issue of misuse of NHRC in Bihar hooch tragedy issue.
The matter was raised following inputs that the NHRC has decided to depute its own investigation team to conduct an “on-spot” inquiry into the Bihar Hooch tragedy, which has claimed over 60 lives.
The Commission wants to know where and what kind of medical treatment is being provided to these victims. Most of them are from poor families and probably cannot afford costly medical treatment in private hospitals. As a result, the state government feels compelled to provide them with the best medical care possible, wherever it is available, according to a statement.
“The Commission would like to know about the relief and rehabilitation provided by the state government, as well as the measures taken or proposed to be taken to dismantle clandestine hooch manufacturing hotspots across the state in order to completely eradicate this social menace, which occurs intermittently in the state of Bihar,” the rights panel stated.