Talwandi Sabo (Punjab), Sep 21 — Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday said that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s deadlines to make the state drug-free had repeatedly expired without achieving the promised goal.

“Whatever time is left for this government, it should stop patronising the drug mafia and start working against it,” said the minister while addressing a public gathering in Talwandi Sabo during the flagging off of the fourth Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra.

Before addressing the rally, Chouhan offered prayers at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib for a drug-free Punjab.

After addressing the gathering, he flagged off the Yatra along with BJP national General Secretary and Punjab in-charge Satish Poonia, state BJP President Kewal Singh Dhillon, BJP national Vice-President Manpreet Singh Badal, Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh, former state president Sunil Jakhar, state General Secretary Anil Sareen and other party leaders.

Questioning the Punjab government’s claims of eradicating drugs, Chouhan accused the Aam Aadmi Party of pushing Punjab towards destruction through the drug menace.

He said that while paying obeisance at the fifth Takht of the Sikh community had filled him with renewed energy, seeing the plight of mothers who had lost their sons and women who had lost their husbands to drugs had left him deeply saddened.

“AAP has committed the grave sin of pushing the heirs of Shaheed Bhagat Singh towards drugs. The drug menace is destroying the youth who should have been leading Punjab towards progress,” he said. The BJP, he said, has resolved to make Punjab drug-free, and we will not back down.

“Remember, I am the same Shivraj Chouhan who, after assuming office in Madhya Pradesh, eliminated dacoits from the Chambal region within six months. “If the BJP forms the government in Punjab, we will uproot the drug menace,” Chouhan said, while criticising the AAP-led government for showing black flags against the drug-free Punjab yatra.

He said the message from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for Punjab was clear: the BJP would not rest until the state was made drug-free. “Just as gangsterism has been tackled in Uttar Pradesh, violence in Kashmir and Naxalism in the country, drug traffickers in Punjab will also be eliminated,” he said.

Concluding his speech, Chouhan appealed to the youth of Punjab to join the Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra. He called upon the people to take a pledge that they would not rest until Punjab was made drug-free.

Punjab BJP President Kewal Singh Dhillon said that the party is committed to eradicating drugs from Punjab. He said that anyone who raised their voice for their rights in Punjab was treated as an enemy by the Aam Aadmi Party government. He said that only the BJP could pull the people of Punjab out of this quagmire. He appealed to the people to vote the BJP into power if they wanted to save their children and see Punjab become economically stronger.

Speaking on the occasion, former Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar said that an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) had been murdered in Amritsar two days earlier. A few days before that, ASI Harjit Singh had been killed, while ASI Joga Singh had also been murdered previously.

Jakhar said that under the Mann government, a state of lawlessness was spreading across Punjab and gangsters were operating without fear. He said that before coming to power, the Aam Aadmi Party had promised the people of Punjab that drugs would be eradicated from the state. However, the exact opposite was happening.

Referring to the recently released Punjabi film Satluj, which premiered on an OTT platform, Jakhar challenged Chief Minister Mann to collect records from crematorium registers and inform the public how many young people had died due to drugs, if he dared to do so.

BJP leader Manpreet Singh Badal said the BJP was taking a pledge from the sacred land of Talwandi Sabo to destroy the drug network in Punjab. He said the Mann government had failed on every front and that expecting anything from it would be dishonest. He added that if the BJP came to power, Punjab would be freed from its hardships and would become economically stronger.

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