Ferozepur, Feb 10 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday said that the party is committed to wiping out the menace of drug trafficking and gangsters in Punjab once it forms the government in 2027.
Appreciating the initiative by Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria to lead a campaign to make Punjab drug-free, the Akali Dal chief told the media here, “The Governor has understood the pulse of the people and is travelling from village to village and city to city to create a movement against this menace.”
He said drugs had become a scourge in the state and were affecting the future of an entire generation. He also asserted that it was laudable that the Governor had taken on the responsibility to lead this campaign in the face of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s failure to tackle it.
“I also thank the Governor for inviting leaders from all parties, social organisations and educational institutions to make this a mass movement,” said Badal, alleging that a genuine effort could not be taken to eradicate the menace of drugs in the past nine years because both the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party played politics on this issue.
“Capt Amarinder Singh took a false oath on the holy ‘gutka sahib’ to eradicate this menace in four weeks, while Arvind Kejriwal said he would take a few months.” Asserting that both governments had failed the people, Badal said the main reason for this was the collusion of their political leaders with drug traffickers. “I have been told that presently AAP leaders are taking monthly payments from the drug mafia, due to which they not only shelter their members but also prevent their arrests. Peddlers are getting arrested while the main kingpins continue to run their operations with impunity.”
He said once the Akali Dal forms the government in 2027, it would completely eradicate the menace of drugs as well as gangsters. “We will study the chain of command of both the drug mafia and gangsters, which are sometimes intertwined. We will remove all members of the command from bottom to top,” he added.
–IANS
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