Chandigarh, January 10: Paramjit Singh Kainth, Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Party Scheduled Caste Morcha, Punjab, said that the “Yuddh Nasha Viruddh” of the Aam Aadmi Party–led Punjab government under the leadership of Bhagwant Singh Mann has proven to be a failure, and that the government’s policies are far removed from ground realities. He said that over the past nearly four years, around 280 people have lost their lives due to drugs. The continuously rising deaths caused by overdoses and spurious medicines clearly indicate that the government has neither been able to effectively control the drug supply nor establish a concrete system to save lives.

Paramjit Kainth said that the deepest and most direct impact of the drug problem is being borne by Punjab’s youth and the poor and marginalized sections of society. Unemployment, economic hardship, and the lack of education and employment opportunities have pushed young people toward drugs.

The BJP leader alleged that there is a wide gap between policy formulation and implementation on the ground. Despite tall claims and multiple campaigns by the government, it has consistently failed to break the drug supply chain at both rural and urban levels. Action has largely remained limited to small-time traffickers, while major drug smugglers and organized networks have mostly escaped.

Paramjit Kainth said that the government has also completely failed on the front of treatment and rehabilitation. Drug addicts have been viewed as criminals rather than patients. The number of government de-addiction centers is limited, their quality is inconsistent, and the follow-up mechanism is extremely weak, resulting in persistently high relapse rates.

Paramjit Kainth emphasized that the Aam Aadmi Party government’s “Yuddh Nasha Viruddh” has remained confined to slogans and publicity. Until drug supply networks are completely dismantled, treatment and rehabilitation systems are strengthened, administrative accountability is ensured, and employment-based social reforms for youth are implemented simultaneously, no campaign against drugs can be effective. He appealed to the Punjab government to move beyond slogans and take concrete, transparent, and genuinely ground-level effective steps.