Bihar forms world's largest human chain against liquor ban

Claiming that Bihar has formed the world's largest human chain in support of liquor ban, the state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday said, "The statewide human chain remained successful and reflected people's 'strong resolve' in support of prohibition."

The Bihar human chain is tipped to be the world's largest so far. The previous record is of 1050-km-long human chain which was formed in Bangladesh in 2004.

Kumar and political leaders cutting across party lines along with citizens held each other's hand to reaffirm commitment towards liquor ban. The 45-minute-long human chain started at 12:15 pm at the historic Gandhi Maidan when the Chief Minister floated colourful balloons.

The chief minister joined hands with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on the one side and state Legislative Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary on the other to begin the chain of people to express unity in support of Bihar government's 'nasha mukt' (addidction-free) campaign.

To display communal harmony, four children dressed in traditional attires of hindus, muslims, sikhs and christians stood by side of the CM and Lalu Prasad. The human chain is estimated to cover a distance of 11,292 km involving over 3 crore citizens.

Legislative Council Chairman Awdesh Narayan Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, state Congress president and education minister Ashok Choudhary, NCP general secretary and MP Tariq Anwar and a host of ministers and legislators held each other's hands at the beginning of the chain which branched to different directions to stretch across Bihar.

Opposition BJP which lent support to the human chain joined the queue in Siwan, where their two-day state executive committee meeting began on Saturday. Top BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi, Union minister of state Ramkripal Yadav, Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Prem Kumar, party national spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain and party MP from Maharajganj Janardan Singh Sigriwal joined each other's hand in Siwan as part of human chain.

The CM, Lalu Prasad and other leaders stood in lines to form a map of Bihar in Gandhi Maidan. A picture of liquor bottle with a cross sign was drawn in the middle of this map to give the message against alcohol. Bihar was written in dark black colour in the middle of the map so that a clear picture of the event is captured through ISRO satellite, drones and helicopters.