WITH the Punjab Assembly polls just a few months away, the issue of drug menace has taken a centre stage in political discourse with Opposition parties mounting a sustained attack on the AAP Government for allegedly failing to wipe out the scourge. The Bhagwant Mann dispensation, however, highlighted its anti-drug drive ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’, claiming that it resulted into nearly 80,000 arrests of drug smugglers and heavy recovery of narcotics while hitting back at the rival parties for trying to “defame” Punjab for “narrow political gains”. It is not the first time that the issue of drug scourge came up before the Assembly polls.

 

The drug menace has been among one of the major issues being taken up by the Opposition parties for over a decade to target the Government of the day despite the successive Governments promised to rid the State of the scourge. Ahead of the 2027 polls, Opposition parties have once again sought to bring the issue to the forefront, citing videos and pictures circulating on social media of addicts and alleged drug overdose deaths to underline the severity of the crisis. The rival political outfits have been trying to corner the Bhagwant Mann Government over the drug menace, accusing it of having “completely failed” to curb it. Punjab Assembly polls are due early next year.

 

The BJP has made the drug menace a central plank of its campaign, rolling out its 13-day ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’, which covered 4,000 km by travelling through 117 assembly constituencies. The BJP’s senior leadership, which is eyeing to contest all 117 Assembly seats on its own, also interacted with the drug-affected families during the yatra, many of whom spoke about their sons and husbands to ‘chitta’, a term commonly used for synthetic drugs. Many families claimed that ‘chitta’ was openly available in their areas and sought immediate steps to check its sale. The political significance attached to the campaign was underlined by its launch by BJP national president Nitin Nabin in Pathankot on September 18 and its culmination at a rally addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Jalandhar on September 30.