New Delhi: The opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday (December 20) came together and attacked the Union government over its alleged attempts to misuse the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in probing the Bihar liquor tragedy. The MPs from Janata Dal (United), Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Trinamool Congress, walked out from the House while raising the issue.When the Upper House assembled and Zero Hour proceedings began, Trinamool Congress MP Dola Sen raised the issue of NHRC’s action in connection with the Bihar liquor tragedy.On the other hand, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP Chirag Paswan supported the NHRC’s move of probing the hooch tragedy. Prasad said the NHRC team should visit the state while Paswan demanded that President’s Rule be imposed in Bihar and the Central Bureau of Investigation probe the matter.Meanwhile, other opposition MPs simultaneously attacked the Centre for misusing central agencies and institutions against them. They then walked out of the House in protest.Later speaking to the media, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha, who had earlier in the day given a notice of Suspension of Business to discuss the issue of misuse of NHRC, said: “NHRC is being used as a political tool in Bihar hooch tragedy issue.” He added 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 the partisan role of the NHRC,” Jha said.Sen also insisted that it was 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”. The MP also noted that “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”.What prompted the outcry against the NHRC was its statement that it has decided to depute a team to conduct an “on-spot” inquiry into the Bihar liquor tragedy. “The Commission would like to know about the relief and rehabilitation given by the state government as well as the measures taken or proposed to be taken to dismantle clandestine hooch manufacturing hotspots across the state with a view to completely eradicate this social menace, intermittently happening in the state of Bihar,” a statement by the panel had said.In the notice to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha given earlier in the day, Jha attached this letter/notice from the NHRC to the officials of the Government of Bihar on account of the recent hooch tragedy in Saran district of Bihar, that is reported to have claimed at least 70 lives so far.`Brazenly partisan approach, credibility of NHRC being eroded’Stating that “deaths on account of consumption of such illicit liquor disturb us all”, the MP wrote, “but so far we have not heard of the NHRC making visits following hooch tragedies in Gujarat, MP, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other states ruled by BJP”.Jha charged that “such a brazenly partisan approach is eroding the credibility of NHRC” and that it was also “encroaching upon issues which are fundamentally a state subject”.To illustrate how the Commission was functioning, he also pointed out that “we also did not come across a similar approach of NHRC following the `Morbi Bridge Tragedy’ (in Gujarat) on 30th October, 2022.”Invoking Rule 29 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States, Jha said “the House must have a wider discussion on the grossly partisan role of organisations like NHRC which undermines the neatly delineated constitutional scheme of things”.`Mahagathbandhan’ partners of Nitish Kumar government attack NHRCTwo days ago, a leader of the Congress in Bihar, Councillor Prem Chandra Mishra, had also charged that the NHRC was being “misused” by the Centre like other central agencies like Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation.Mishra also attacked the Commission saying, “Does the NHRC really hold the view that hooch deaths amount to a human rights violation? If it is so, why has the Commission not acted when similar incidents have happened in BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana?”Incidentally, it was only in August this year that Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal United had parted ways with the BJP in Bihar and formed a government after entering into a “mahagathbandhan” or grand alliance with the Congress, RJD and some other parties.The allegations being levelled by leaders come at a time when the Ministry of Home Affairs had itself submitted in the Lok Sabha in response to a question on deaths due to spurious liquor in July this year that “as per entry 8 in List-II (State List) of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, the production, manufacture, possession, transport, purchase and sale of liquor is a State subject.” It had added that “ ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India and State Governments are responsible for prevention, detection and investigation of crimes and for prosecuting the criminals through their law enforcement agencies.”Five-year data shows over 6,000 died due to spurious liquorTo a question from Bahujan Samaj Party MP Kunwar Danish Ali, the MoS Home Affairs Nityanand Rai had also provided data published by NCRB on deaths due to illicit liquor in various states and union territories.As per this data, across India there were 6,172 liquor deaths due to consumption of illicit or spurious liquor in the five years from 2016 to 2020. The states which had the highest number of these deaths were Madhya Pradesh 1214, Karnataka 909, Punjab 725, Chhattisgarh at 505, Haryana 476 and Jharkhand 427.Two large and highly populated states of Rajasthan, at 279, and Uttar Pradesh, with 291, had also reported significant number of deaths.In comparison the two states with prohibition, Bihar and Gujarat, had reported fewer deaths at 21 and 50 respectively. In fact, this data flies in the face of criticism of the Nitish Kumar government by his political opponents and some party people alike who insist that prohibition is responsible for the liquor deaths in the state and that the liquor ban has failed.