Jalandhar: Four deadlines set by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to rid Punjab of drugs — one before the 2022 assembly elections and three after coming to power — have passed without the promised result. Now, with just months left to the 2027 assembly elections, the issue has returned to the centre stage with a bang.Anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhotta was shot dead by a chemist shop owner in Mansa on Tuesday, after the former accused the latter of selling habit-forming pharmaceutical drugs.Before the 2022 polls, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal promised to eliminate drugs from Punjab within six months. In a TV interview, he even claimed that the menace could be eradicated within three-four months.The problem, however, persisted under AAP’s watch.Reports of drug deaths, accompanied by videos and images widely circulated on social media, continued to fuel public anger.Facing mounting criticism, chief minister Bhagwant Mann announced a fresh target on Aug 15, 2023, while addressing the Independence Day function in Patiala. He said a blueprint was ready to make Punjab drug-free by the following Independence Day. “We are ready with a big plan, and you will start seeing the results. I assure you that before next Aug 15, we will be successful in washing away the stigma of ‘chitta’,” he said.That deadline, too, passed. With the issue looming over the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the then Punjab minister and AAP candidate from Amritsar, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, told people in April 2024 that Mann had set Dec 31, 2024, as the new deadline to make Punjab drug-free.That date also came and went without the desired results, drawing sharper criticism from opposition, activists and social media users.In early March 2025, the Mann govt launched its ‘Yudh Nasheyan Virudh’ campaign, or what meant a war on drugs, setting May 31, 2025, as the deadline for eradicating the menace. The campaign was widely publicised through major public events, and Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav repeatedly cited the target.Four days after the deadline expired, Yadav announced that Punjab Police had prepared a fresh roadmap to eliminate drugs through a two-pronged strategy: dismantling narcotics networks by targeting major suppliers and peddlers, while separating drug users from traffickers and encouraging users to undergo de-addiction treatment.Yet the problem persisted, even as the state govt publicised the number of drug cases registered and accused arrested.The BJP has since entered the contest with its own deadline. Addressing a rally in Jalandhar on Sept 30, Union home minister Amit Shah urged Punjabis to give the BJP ‘Ik Mauka’ (one chance) in the next assembly election to make the state ‘chitta mukt’ (drug-free). He set Dec 31, 2029, as the target and said the BJP would contest the election “only and only” on this issue.Shah also accused AAP of allowing thE open sale of drugs in Punjab.With the assembly elections approaching, Jhotta’s killing threatens to turn the drug menace into a major political flashpoint. The murder has put the spotlight back on the gap between successive promises and ground realities, potentially undermining the state govt’s claims as parties prepare for the electoral battle.
