The Union home ministry on Friday sought reports from Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on the recent deaths of three men who took on the drug trade, a development that was prefaced by Union home minister Amit Shah and chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann trading blame over the issue earlier in the day.
Soon after Shah’s remarks, Chief minister Bhagwant Mann gave a riposte, also on X, targeting the Centre over border control and maritime security. AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal joined the debate. “What has Punjab come to when leading voices in society fighting against drugs must fear for their lives?
Meanwhile, facing sharp criticism following the murder of Parvinder Singh Jhota, the Punjab government on Friday launched a targeted 60-day plan to dismantle drug networks in the state, primarily focusing on 435 identified hotspots.
In three separate letters to the state chief secretary, the home ministry sought reports from the Punjab government over three cases: the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh “Jhota”, who was shot dead in a pharmacy in Mansa; the death by suicide of a 50-year-old man in Dirba, Sangrur, after facing allegedy harassment and casteist slurs for questioning the state finance minister about local drug supplies; and the killing of a 40-year-old man who objected to drugs being peddlled in Madi Pannwan village near Sri Hargobindpur in Batala. “Punjab is today grappling with a rising threat of drugs, gangsterism, and organised crime,” Shah posted on X earlier, adding that Jhota’s father had levelled grave allegations against the ruling AAP government. “If you care even a tiny bit about Punjab, then stop the drugs coming into the country through Gujarat’s Mundra and Adani ports,” he said. He said that the drug problem grew under previous regimes and argued that a vast majority of illicit substances entering Punjab flow through ports controlled under central oversight. The exchange between the BJP -led Centre and the AAP government came a day after Reinforcing the BJP’s attack, party president Nitin Nabin said that the drug crisis has reached an “alarming level”. The people of Punjab deserve accountability and a government that can keep them safe,” he said.
