MP: Uma Bharti throws stone at liquor shop in Bhopal to 'warn' administration

Bhopal, Mar 13: Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti, who has been demanding total prohibition in the party-ruled Madhya Pradesh, walked into a liquor shop in Azad Nagar area of Bhopal on Sunday evening and hurled a stone at alcohol bottles kept on a shelf there. A video of the incident, which Bharti shared on her Twitter handle, went viral on social media. The former Union minister said that through her act, she has warned the local administration to get the liquor shop shut within a week.

In the video, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, surrounded by her supporters and local residents, is seen entering the liquor shop, lifting a stone and hurling it at some bottles kept on the shelf. After that, her followers raise slogans in her support and also chant 'Bharat Mata ki jai'. The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has recently unveiled a new excise policy, under which it has permitted setting up of home bars and slashed retail prices of liquor by 20 per cent.

Bharti had earlier announced that she would run an anti-liquor campaign in the state. But she had also clarified that her campaign for liquor ban was not against the state government. While sharing the video of her act at the outlet, Bharti said in a tweet, "There are a number of liquor shops situated in a colony of labourers at Barkheda Pathani area, where liquor is served in 'ahata' (enclosed space)."

"The money of these labourers gets drained out in these shops. The residents and women have objected and protested as the liquor shop is against the government's policy. The administration had given assurances several times in the past that it would close the shop, but this has not happened for many years," she said. "Today, I gave a warning to the administration to get it closed in a week," she added. PTI