Amritsar/Sangrur: Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday visited the families of victims of drug-related violence in Punjab, sharpening his attack against the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over the state’s law and order situation.
Hours before Shah’s visit, chief minister Bhagwant Mann announced that the state government had decided to hand over the investigation into the October 13 murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The growing web of drugs in Punjab and the emboldened drug traffickers have raised serious questions about the functioning of the AAP government. In the Bhagwant Mann government, on one hand, Punjab’s youth is falling prey to drugs, while on the other hand, those who raise their voices against it are not safe. Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon and senior party leaders accompanied the home minister. At the daily-wager worker’s house, Shah also met Mohanjit Singh Sheron—who alleged he was subjected to custodial torture after displaying a black flag during chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s Lok Milni programme—and the mother of another local youth who recently died from a substance overdose.
Shah travelled to Toor Banjara village in Sangrur to meet the family of a Dalit daily-wage worker who died on September 7 after allegedly consuming pesticide.
His family alleged he took the extreme step following harassment and casteist slurs after he publicly questioned Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema about illegal drug sales during a public event a day earlier. In a post on X, Shah targeted the ruling state government: “Today, at the residence of the family of late Bikramjit Singh ji, who lost his life for raising his voice against the unchecked drug trade in Punjab under the AAP government, I met them in Gurdaspur and expressed my condolences…
