Photo Source: Babushahi Bureau
Punjab not drug-free despite fifth govt deadline: BJP's Vineet Joshi
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, June 1, 2025: The promise to make Punjab drug-free has once again proven to be a farce. The fifth deadline set by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann—May 31, 2025—has passed, but the drug situation in the state has not improved. The ground reality is that Chitta (synthetic drugs) is now being sold openly and home delivery of drugs has become common.
Vineet Joshi, State Media Head, Bhartiya Janata Party Punjab said that in three years, the government set five deadlines, but the result has been zero. Drugs are being sold unchecked in every village and city, and even inside jails with impunity.
Joshi said that Sunny Deol's dialogue in the movie Damini perfectly applies to the Punjab AAP government and Bhagwant Mann—"Date after date, date after date, date after date, date after date has been given, but the drug menace has not ended. My Lord, the drug menace has not ended. All we have received from the Punjab government is yet another date."
The war against drugs is failing because the drug supply chain has not been broken. Only when the supply chain is crushed will drugs be eradicated.
During COVID-19, when the drug supply chain was disrupted, long queues formed outside de-addiction centers as addicts sought medicine. But no such scenes were seen during this campaign, proving that the supply chain remains intact.
The AAP government is presenting hollow statistics to gain applause. For instance, MP Malwinder Kang cited a case in Patiala, labelling a youth as a drug smuggler, when in reality, he was an addict undergoing treatment at a de-addiction center for a year. The FIR mentioned only a non-commercial quantity was found with him.
The seriousness of the AAP government and CM Bhagwant Mann in fighting drugs can be gauged from the fact that no state-level programs were held on the last three International Anti-Drug Days (June 26, 2022, 2023, and 2024).
Joshi questioned: "If AAP is in power, then who is selling drugs?" Arvind Kejriwal and Mann used to claim that the then-CM, ministers, and MLAs were responsible for drug trade. Now, the blame falls directly on their own people in power.
He also pointed out that while MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh accuses certain influential people of drug trade, Mann remains silent.
Joshi concluded by saying that the war against drugs has failed, and an example of this is when Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced it, the next day Minister Harpal Cheema and other ministers held a press conference to promote it, but when the campaign ended, the DGP of Punjab Police was pushed forward to address media because they knew that drugs had not been eradicated.