The students’ wing of India's ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brought to a halt a beer festival in Chennai city, triggering criticism of their “moral policing”, a news report said today.

The students, part of the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), said the event, ‘Octofiesta-Drink Up’, modelled on Germany’s Oktoberfest, promoted the consumption of alcohol.

The BJP is in opposition in Tamil Nadu state, of which Chennai is state capital, but rules at the federal level.

ABVP protesters barged into a hotel that organised the beer festival on Sunday and stopped the event, the Times of India reported.

State BJP chief Tamilsai Soundararajan said the party “fully backed” the protest and that it had undertaken a campaign for total prohibition in Tamil Nadu.

While radical Hindu groups are notorious for holding protests and demonstrations during Valentine’s Day celebrations, which they say is a “western import” that corrupts Indian youth, this was the first time that ABVP acted as “moral police” in Chennai against drinking.

Hindu groups have been emboldened following the rise of Narendra Modi, who became prime minister in May. Indians took to social media networks to criticise ABVP.

“I’m sorry but adults drinking in a hotel bar is not ABVP’s business or anyone else’s,” one user tweeted. “We are not a Sharia country.”

South Indian Hotels and Restaurant Association secretary T Natarajan also criticised ABVP’s action, saying the festival should have been treated as a commercial event.

- dpa