Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday met families affected by drug addiction in Punjab and heard their accounts of loss and suffering before addressing a gathering in Kot Kalan village in Jalandhar district.
Before his address, Shah met several aggrieved families and listened to them for nearly half an hour. The Union minister alleged that the AAP government in Punjab had failed to control the drug trade and claimed the problem had increased under the present government. He also assured farmers that the BJP would address their concerns and work towards improving Punjab’s financial condition. Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon also targeted the AAP government over the drug situation, alleging that it had failed to eradicate the menace. He also linked the continuing drug problem to issues such as gangsterism and deterioration in the state’s law-and-order situation.
Shah’s visit marked the culmination of the BJP’s 13-day Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra, which the party president Nitin Nabin launched from Pathankot on September 18 as part of the party’s campaign against drugs in the state.
Describing their accounts as “shocking and painful”, he said their experiences reflected the extent of the drug problem in Punjab. He said Punjab’s development was not possible unless its youth were freed from drugs. “If chief minister Bhagwant Mann had made Punjab drug-free despite doing nothing else, the people of Punjab would have forgiven him,” Shah said, while accusing the state government of failing to address the issue. Referring to the BJP government in neighbouring Haryana, Shah said the party had delivered on its promises there and would do the same in Punjab. Seeking public support, Shah said both the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party had been given opportunities to govern Punjab but, according to him, had failed to meet people’s expectations.
