Bathinda: Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday hit out at the AAP government in Punjab, alleging that it has failed to curb the drug menace and promised that if the BJP was voted to power in the state, it would dismantle the entire drug network within six months.
Chouhan was in Talwandi Sabo where he flagged off the BJP’s fourth statewide ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’ on Monday. The state is expected to go to polls early next year.
Earlier, he and other BJP leaders, including Punjab BJP chief Kewal Singh Dhillon, the party’s Punjab in-charge Satish Poonia and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh, offered prayers at the Takht Sri Damdama Sahib here.
Union Agriculture Minister Chouhan also met families affected by the drug menace.
Addressing a gathering, the minister said the Bhagwant Mann government has failed to meet deadlines on ending drugs in Punjab.
“Today I want to ask Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann: what promise did you make to (AAP chief) Arvind Kejriwal? Before coming to power in Punjab, you used to say you would finish it within three months, within six months. You gave deadlines, didn’t you? But your deadline ended once, ended again, and ended yet again,” said Chouhan.
“You are drowning Punjab in the river of drugs. Who is protecting these drug dealers today? Whose protective shadow is over them? Who is giving them shelter? Under whose protection are they flourishing?” he asked.
Targeting Mann, he alleged that the chief minister was running a government of “crime, corruption and commission”.
Chouhan said he came here today to share the messages of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and said that the BJP had resolved to eliminate the drug menace from the state if it comes to power.
“After coming to power, the BJP will destroy and eliminate the entire drug network within six months. This is our resolve. We will strike at the roots of drugs.
“Where do drugs come from? Where does the trade happen? We will destroy that channel. The drug mafia will be identified. We will destroy and ruin the drug traders. This is our resolve. We will not spare them at any cost,” said Chouhan.
Recalling his time as Madhya Pradesh CM, Chouhan said his government had taken decisive action against dacoits and claimed that the menace was eliminated within six months.
“Listen, Bhagwant Mann. Look at my record when I became chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in 2005. I called a meeting of the DGP and police and clearly said it will either be the dacoits that prevail or Shivraj Singh Chouhan will prevail on the soil of Madhya Pradesh. Both cannot exist together and this is history.
“Within six months, all the dacoits were eliminated; either they were killed, or they surrendered, or fled Madhya Pradesh. The BJP does what it says,” he said.
The Union minister also referred to the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, saying the state government has eliminated all criminals.
“No one believed that Naxalism could ever end. By March 31, 2026, we will eliminate Naxalism from the soil of India (BJP government promised). Naxalism ended one month before that,” he added.
Calling AAP leaders “incompetent”, Chouhan said they failed to wipe out drug supply as they “joined hands with the drug mafias”. “AAP is another name for sin,” he alleged.
It is the resolve of Modi and Shah that “until we make Punjab drug-free, we will not breathe easy,” Chouhan said.
Chouhan said BJP leader Sunil Jakhar told him that policemen were being attacked and an advisory had been issued to them to “not go out alone or on a two-wheeler”. If the police of a state reach this condition, who will save that state, he asked.
“‘Chullu bhar pani mein doob ke mar jao Bhagwant Mann’ (Bhagwant Mann, you should die of shame). Today your police is not safe,” he said.
He said the BJP is running a “Nasha Mukti” campaign in Punjab. “We are also putting pressure on the government. We have launched a campaign against the drug mafia, opium mafia, ‘charas’ mafia, ‘chitta’ mafia and all such mafia.”
“And you show black flags to the yatra,” he said, referring to the AAP’s protest against BJP’s yatra.
Earlier, Chouhan met the family of those who were victims of drug addiction.
“Today, when I spoke with affected families in Punjab, my heart was filled with pain. How can a government be so useless that it cannot see the anguish of these mothers?” Chouhan said.
