Jalandhar, September 30:The Bharatiya Janata Party will contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections on the issue of making the state drug-free and, if a BJP government is formed, will make Punjab drug-free before December 31, 2029. Union Home Minister Amit Shah made this announcement while addressing a massive rally at Paragpur in Jalandhar on the occasion of the conclusion of the Punjab BJP’s ‘Drug-Free Punjab Yatra’. On the occasion, Punjab BJP President Kewal Singh Dhillon, Ashwani Sharma, Vijay Sampla, Shwait Malik, Avinash Rai Khanna, Manoranjan Kalia, Sunil Jakhar, Preneet Kaur and Sushil Kumar Rinku also addressed the gathering.

➖Deadline Set for Making Punjab Drug-Free

Amit Shah said that Punjab faces several issues concerning agriculture, women, youth, industry and its poor economic condition, but the BJP is going to contest the elections on the issue of a drug-free Punjab. He said that he promises the women and youth of Punjab that the state will be freed from the drug trade before December 31, 2029. It was with this objective that BJP National President Nitin Nabin had started the yatra from Pathankot on September 18, which reached here after covering a distance of 4,000 kilometres in 13 days.

Amit Shah said that as far as the deadline he had set regarding drugs was concerned, he knew what Kejriwal and his party would say after him. He said that under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the BJP had delivered whatever it had promised. After ending Article 370 in Kashmir, terrorism in the Northeast and Naxalism, it was now time to make Punjab free from ‘chitta’. He said, “I promise the women and youth of Punjab that after December 31, 2029, there will be no one left supplying chitta in Punjab, and the BJP will put them behind bars.”

➖Questions to Bhagwant Mann Through Figures

Referring to the BJP-led Centre’s anti-drug efforts, Shah said the government had intensified its campaign against narcotics. “During the 2004–2014 period, when the Congress-led government was in power, approximately 26 lakh kg of heroin worth around ₹40,000 crore was confiscated, while between 2014 and 2024, under the BJP-led government, around 1.20 crore kg of heroin worth approximately ₹1.90 lakh crore was confiscated.”

He said that last year, 5,000 people were convicted and sent to jail under PIT-NDPS law in India, while large quantities of material linked to drugs and illegal assets were seized. But in Punjab, not even one person was convicted under this law. Can the Chief Minister answer this? He also asked why the Punjab government had not participated in N-CORD meetings for the past two years.

➖The Fight to Save Punjab

He said that under the BJP’s ‘Mavan Mangdian Hisaab’ campaign, he had met mothers who had lost their sons to drugs. A mother who had lost both her sons to drugs told him, “My sons are gone; make sure no one else’s sons are lost, so eliminate chitta.”

Amit Shah said that for the BJP, the fight for a drug-free Punjab was not for any political agenda but to save Punjab. Punjab cannot develop until it becomes drug-free, he said, adding that drugs are destroying generations. He promised that not even one gram of drugs would be allowed to be sold in Punjab, nor would even one gram of drugs be allowed to leave Punjab.

He said that the people of Punjab had seen all political parties, including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, but none had been able to make Punjab drug-free. He appealed to the people of Punjab to form a BJP government to make the state drug-free.

Amit Shah said that Punjab is the land of Gurus, saints and great martyrs and that Punjabis had made the greatest sacrifices, from the country’s independence to the security of India. He said that Punjab was once identified with its food-grain reserves and contribution to the country’s security, but today drugs have become a major challenge for the youth and families of Punjab.

➖Aam Aadmi Party Failed to Fulfil Its Promises

Amit Shah launched another political attack on the Aam Aadmi Party government, saying that the promises made by the government had not been fulfilled. He said promises had been made regarding

Mann made to promises related to 25 lakh new jobs, the establishment of 16,000 village clinics, an increase in widow pensions to ₹2,500, the establishment of 16 medical colleges and providing MSP on 23 crops and assistance to families of victims of the anti-Sikh massacre in Delhi, but none of these had been fulfilled. He said that if Bhagwant Mann had made Punjab drug-free, the people of Punjab could have forgiven him. Referring to cases related to Delhi’s liquor policy, he questioned how those who had been associated with liquor scams could make Punjab drug-free.

In conclusion, he said that the commitment to make Punjab drug-free by December 31, 2029, was not merely a promise but the BJP’s commitment. He called upon the mothers, sisters and youth of Punjab to support this campaign and form a BJP government in Punjab so that the state could be made drug-free.

➖AAP Government Responsible for Punjab’s Drug Problem: Kewal Singh Dhillon

On the occasion, Punjab BJP President Kewal Singh Dhillon said that the Aam Aadmi Party government in the state, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Kejriwal were responsible for the drug problem in Punjab. He said that the AAP government had failed to eliminate the drug problem from the state, resulting in the destruction of the youth and pushing the state towards ruin.

Dhillon said that the drug problem was giving rise to issues such as gangsterism in the state, due to which the law-and-order situation in Punjab was continuously deteriorating. He said there was a need to completely eliminate the menace of drugs from Punjab and provide employment to the youth so that Punjab could rise again.

Commenting on the poor performance of the AAP government, Dhillon said that today every section of society in Punjab, including farmers, youth and employees, was suffering. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah alone could eliminate drugs from Punjab. He said that the BJP government at the Centre had fulfilled every commitment it had made within the stipulated time.

Dhillon said that after coming to power, the BJP would eliminate drugs from Punjab and make Punjab the number one state.

➖Who Were Present

Those present on the occasion included Tarun Chugh, Sandeep Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Satnam Singh Sandhu, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Vikram Singh Sahney and Harbhajan Singh, all Members of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha; Anil Sareen, Sunil Jakhar, Manpreet Singh Badal, Vijay Sampla, Manoranjan Kalia, Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Shwait Malik, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Maharani Preneet Kaur, Avinash Rai Khanna, Som Prakash, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Vineet Joshi, Dinesh Babbu, Sushil Rinku and Jeevan Garg, Amanjot Kaur and Charanjit Singh Atwal, along with Punjab BJP leaders and a large number of party workers who had arrived from different parts of the state