BJP home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday vowed that the party would make Punjab “chitta razhiya” that is free from the sale of synthetic drugs by December 31, 2029, if elected to power in the next Assembly polls in 2027.
Shah had made the statement during a rally in Jalandhar to mark the end of the BJP’s protracted “Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra” that had campaigned for the last 13 days for the party’s campaign to clear drugs from the state. The campaign began on 18th September and covered all the 117 Assembly constituencies in the State with a total distance of 4000 km.
Delivering the message in the gathering, Shah declared the BJP would make the drugs issue at the heart of its campaign to the people of Punjab for the upcoming elections. He said, while all the issues of farming, industry, law and order and safety of women contributed but the party’s main concern would be the transformation of Punjab into a drug-free region.
Shah also lashed out at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government and alleged it had been facilitating the smuggling of drugs in the state. These were his political shot at the AAP government ahead of the elections in 2027.
Home Minister predicted that the BJP will not tolerate the smuggling of drugs into Punjab and transportation from there to other parts of the country. He also pointed out that the Narendra Modi government has shown its promise of fighting terrorism, insurgency and Naxalism and fighting the drug trade should be a priority for Punjab.
The BJP, which has been on a string of anti-drug moves, now has it as a key element of its political outreach ahead of the Assembly elections. The party’s mass mobilisation was strategic in terms of its statewide ‘yatra’ aimed at sensitising people about drug abuse and getting people to vote in Punjab.
If the BJP gets the government in Punjab after the 2027 elections then the given timeframe of Amit Shah (December 31, 2029) is being touted as a specific promise by the party. The pledge follows as a promise in the focus of the upcoming election, with drug policy and the state’s response to drug abuse being taken center stage.