Maha: MP Jaleel against opening liquor shops in Aurangabad

AIMIM Lok Sabha MP Imtiaz Jaleel has said if liquor shops are opened in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district, he would strongly oppose it.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will not allow liquor shops to open even under police protection and force their closure, he said on Tuesday. His remarks came after Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Monday said there should not be any ban on liquor shops in the state if social distancing measures, in place to curb the COVID-19 spread, are strictly followed. Tope was replying to a question on the state government not clarifying, in its April 17 notification, whether liquor shops will be allowed to remain open after it permitted resumption of industrial and business activities in non-coronavirus hotspots. Liquor shops are closed in the state since last month when the coronavirus-enforced lockdown was implemented Jaleel, who is the Lok Sabha member from Aurangabad and president of the Maharashtra AIMIM unit, expressed his views on this in a Facebook post along with an image of Tope's tweet on rules for liquor shops. "If the government is planning to open liquor shops in the state, then it should not consider Aurangabad in this. We will not allow the shops to open even if police security is provided to these shops," Jaleel said.

The government has fairly handled the situation, but if liquor shops are opened, it will be a "stupid" decision, the parliamentarian said. He said women are already facing so many problems in this lockdown period and if liquor shops are opened and men take to drinking, it will add to their troubles.