PTI
Chandigarh
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday met the families of individuals who lost their lives due to drug-related issues in Punjab, saying he had never felt so deeply saddened in life as he did while meeting them and also called out the AAP government for failing to curb the menace.
After the state government decided to transfer the anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota’s murder case in Mansa to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Shah asked Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to hand over the investigations in Sangrur and Batala incidents also to the central agency, saying this is what the families were demanding.
“The BJP will also approach a court to seek a CBI probe into these cases. We are determined to ensure justice,” said Shah.
Gulzar Singh, a resident of Turbanjara village in Sangrur district’s Dirba, allegedly took his own life on September 7, with his family claiming that he consumed poison after being harassed and subjected to casteist slurs for questioning Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema about the supply of drugs in his locality.
In Batala, Bikramjit Singh (40) was killed on October 15, with villagers claiming that he was targeted for opposing drug peddling in his area. However, police said the murder was the fallout of a scuffle between two groups over a mobile phone.
Shah arrived in Punjab earlier in the day and visited Gurdaspur, Sangrur and Mansa, marking his second visit to the poll-bound state in 20 days. Later, Shah also attended Dussehra celebrations in Ludhiana.
Shah’s visit assumes significance as the BJP has made the drug menace a central plank of its campaign and it is eyeing to form government in Punjab on its own in the assembly elections due early next year.
Hours before Shah’s visit to Mansa, Chief Minister Mann announced that the government has decided to transfer the murder case of Jhota to the CBI. Jhota was killed last week by a medical store owner.
Labelling the Mann dispensation an “Aapda” (disaster) government, Shah said the growing drug menace in Punjab and the rising audacity of drug traffickers have raised serious questions about the functioning of the AAP regime.
Opposition parties, including the BJP, have been targeting the AAP government while highlighting the drug issue in Punjab.
In Ludhiana, Shah said he had come to Punjab to offer solace to grieving families and added he had no political agenda. Shah said he had come to remind the AAP government and its leaders that they promised to eradicate the drug trade within three months of coming to power, but it is growing.
Those who speak against the drug trade are either driven to suicide or killed, said Shah, attacking the AAP government. Shah launched a blistering attack on Mann, accusing him of lacking seriousness and intent to tackle the drug problem.
Slamming the AAP government for accusing the BJP of allowing drugs to enter through Gujarat’s ports, Shah said drugs worth Rs 20,000 crore have been seized at ports in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Highlighting the track record of the BJP-led government at the Centre, he said the Modi government delivered what it said. “Article 370 has been abrogated, and terrorism is nearing its end. We have eliminated Naxalism. We will not rest until the drug menace, too, is eradicated,” he further said.
“The symbol of evil before us today will soon be consigned to flames. Let us all resolve to burn the Ravana of drugs in Punjab as well and make the state drug-free by 2029,” he said.
