BJP’s Punjab Poll Campaign To Revolve Around ‘Nasha-Mukt Punjab’ Slogan

Ahead of the assembly elections in Punjab, the threat of drug menace is back to haunt the Bhagwant Mann government as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) plans to challenge the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in its last remaining bastion.   

With just four months left for the state elections in Punjab, the BJP leadership has decided to build its poll campaign on the issue of the growing drug menace in the state. Setting the tone of the BJP’s election campaign, Home Minister Amit Shah has already promised that by December 2029, Punjab would be free of drug menace. 

“The Home Minister has committed to the people of Punjab, and the BJP government will fulfil it. We are asking the people of Punjab to give us one opportunity to form a BJP government. The people of Punjab have tried the AAP government and the Congress government and both parties failed to fulfil the promise of ending the drug trade in the state. So now we are asking the people to give a chance because we will be able to end this drug menace in Punjab,” Dr Narinder Singh Raina, senior BJP leader involved in the Punjab campaign, told Outlook. 

Punjab’s Persistent Drug Crisis

The problem for the AAP government under chief minister Bhagwant Mann is that it came to power after accusing both Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) of not being soft on anti-drug operations. 

The menace of drugs has come back to trouble the AAP government after Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Speaker of the Punjab Assembly and senior leader of AAP, admitted at a public meeting that the state government was able to fulfil all its promises but could not eradicate drugs from Punjab.                

The problem of drug abuse can be understood from the fact that out of the 2,595 Kgs of Heroin recovered in India in 2024, 1,150 Kgs were recovered from Punjab. The data provided by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) suggests that over 3,000 Kgs of Heroin was recovered in Punjab if the recoveries of 2022 and 2023 are combined. 

BJP Promises A Helping Hand  

Even though the BJP has not made up its mind whether it wants to join hands with SAD in the upcoming assembly polls or not, the party is clear in its strategy that the entire campaign would revolve around ending the drug menace or Chitta-free Punjab. 

Senior leaders of the BJP explained that the strategy announced by Home Minister Amit Shah can help the BJP reach out to youth, women, and families because the drug problem impacts society, families and especially students who are the most affected. 

“Heroin trade or Chitta is not just a security issue or a law-and-order issue, but it impacts the lives of people. A person consuming Chitta would ruin his own family, create law and order issues in society by stealing or robbing people, and ultimately cause further problems by working for different gangs. It is for this reason that BJP has promised that we will end the problem of Chitta in Punjab. The first step in this direction is to end the problem of Chitta in schools and colleges,” Raina said. 

Just as the Home Minister announced that ending drug menace would be the central theme of BJP’s election campaign, the state unit of the BJP has organised a ‘nasha-mukt’ in all the 117 assembly constituencies in the state before the announcement of election dates later this year. 

To further consolidate its poll campaign, the BJP leadership is also mulling over the possibility of announcing a monthly dole for women who have lost their fathers, brothers or an earning male member to drug abuse. 

Senior leaders of the BJP said that there are many cases in Punjab where women are alone because the male member of the family either died because of a drug overdose or is not earning enough because of drug consumption. 

“Since women are the most affected, and they have to suffer a lot because of the drug menace, it is important for the BJP to announce some monthly money scheme that will be provided to women who have lost their family members,” Raina added.         

Although the BJP has started working on its election manifesto for Punjab, the BJP leadership is also planning to promise a substantial increase in the total number of de-addiction centres in Punjab.