Chandigarh, Sep 19 (IANS) Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday called on the people of Punjab to fight a decisive battle against drugs.
“Punjab is currently going through a serious drug crisis. Drugs have devastated many families and ruined the lives and futures of numerous young people,” Chouhan said in a video message posted on X.
Under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slogan “Eradicate Drugs”, the party is organising the ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’ across Punjab. The campaign began on September 18 in Madhopur, Pathankot. As part of the campaign, yatras are being taken out from four locations.
After offering prayers at Takht Sri Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo, Chouhan and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini will flag off the fourth yatra on September 21.
Expressing concern over the drug crisis ahead of his Punjab visit, Chouhan said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab had failed badly in addressing the problem. He said the time had now come for the people of Punjab to wage a decisive battle against drugs. With this objective, the BJP is organising its ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’ from September 18 to September 30.
Appealing to the people of Punjab, Chouhan said, “My sisters and brothers of Punjab, elders, sons and daughters, come forward and participate in this yatra in large numbers to make Punjab drug-free. Let us fight a decisive battle against drugs so that Punjab can be made drug-free.”
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday flagged off the second ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’ from Fatehgarh Sahib town.
She said, “When Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann came to power in Punjab, they promised to eliminate drugs from the state within three months. The deadline was extended, first by three months and then by four months, and has now been extended six times. A government that keeps giving new deadlines cannot be expected to eradicate drugs.”
Gupta added that the 13-day yatra would become a campaign to free Punjab from the AAP government. Before launching the yatra, she paid obeisance at a historic gurdwara located on the sacred land that witnessed the martyrdom of the younger Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh.
–IANS
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