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Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday launched the Bharatiya Janata Partys Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra in Talwandi Sabo and accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of failing to curb the drug menace in the state.
Addressing a public gathering after paying obeisance at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, Chouhan said that instead of the development model promised by AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab had witnessed what he described as the MOD model or Model of Drug Development. Kejriwal promised a development model, but Punjab got MODModel of Drug Development, Chouhan said. The Union Minister said his interaction with families affected by drug abuse had left him deeply concerned. He said several families had lost their sons to drugs, while many women had lost their children and husbands. Chouhan said he met women whose sons had died at young ages due to drug abuse. One woman lost her 18-year-old son, another her 21-year-old son and another her 27-year-old son. There was also a woman whose husband died at the age of 31, he said. Targeting the Punjab government and AAP leadership, Chouhan said the party had promised before coming to power that it would eliminate drugs from Punjab. He said the party had initially given a three-month deadline and later extended it to six months, but the situation remained unchanged. He questioned who was providing protection to drug traffickers in Punjab and under whose patronage they were operating. Chouhan also alleged that women who were raising their voices against the drug crisis were being taken to police stations and attempts were being made to intimidate them. The Union Minister said the BJP believes in fulfilling its commitments and cited actions taken against criminals and Naxalism. Appealing to people to join the campaign, Chouhan said collective efforts were needed to address the drug problem in Punjab and urged the youth to support the movement for a drug-free state. Talking about the Nasha Mukt Punjab, Chouhan said the campaign was aimed at creating awareness against drug trafficking networks involved in substances including opium, charas and chitta. We will go from village to village, raise awareness and take the message of a drug-free Punjab to the people. Do not try to provoke us. When we change, history changes, he said. During his visit, Chouhan also visited the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Bathinda, where he interacted with farmers and women members of Self-Help Groups. Earlier, on September 18, with the Punjab Assembly elections approaching next year, addressing a public gathering in Pathankot on Friday, BJP National President Nitin Nabin officially launched the statewide "Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra". The BJP said four yatras will travel across Punjab, covering all 117 Assembly constituencies as part of a wider awareness campaign against drugs ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections The campaign comes closely following the tragic death of Gulzar Singh, a Dalit labourer from Sangrur who died by suicide after allegedly facing harassment and casteist slurs for publicly questioning a state minister over the unrestricted circulation of synthetic drugs (chitta) after losing his own son to addiction. (ANI)
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