High on hyperbole, a new low

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 13

“Please stay on your words on ending drug menace. At least save future generations. Hollow promises will hurt us more.” Ex-serviceman Surinder Singh pleads before every leader visiting his village Akkuwala in border district of Ferozepur.

The promise of ending drug menace within days doesn’t find favour with him. Surinder has suffered the pain. His father, brother and a nephew died within a month in 2015 reportedly because of drug addiction.

“Reta aukha milda hai, nasha saukha (It is easier to get drugs than sand),” he claims. “In spite of the check, the problem persists. But I request politicians not to rake up the matter for votes alone.”

Far away in Gurdaspur’s Shoor village, the family of Jasbir Singh moans his death, blaming the lure of making fast money from the sale of drugs. He was one of the 17 persons (15 of them identified as Pakistani smugglers) killed by the Border Security Force (BSF) and Punjab Police on the International Border in 2015 when they were trying to smuggle drugs.

Jasbir was lured because every 1 kg of heroin smuggled attracts a commission of minimum Rs50,000. “For him, it seemed an easy way of making money. It seems to be the only ‘employment’ for the youth in the border belt,” Jasbir’s relative.

Whatever be the reason for deaths, drug menace is fast eating into the core of Punjab. Last year, 12 boys and a girl had died from drug addiction in Nawanshahr’s Jainpur village. In Roti Chhana village near Nabha, seven boys aged between 13 and 25 years have passed away in the past two years.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had triggered the debate on drug addiction while addressing students of Panjab University, Chandigarh, in October 2012. He had said that seven out of ten Punjab youths were hooked onto drugs. The claim was contested.

True or false, the drug menace has been finding mention in speeches of leaders. The SAD’s alliance partner, the BJP, had raised the matter during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, while AAP leaders led by Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann had made eradication of drugs a poll plank. It has been accusing Akali ministers of running drug trade. The party’s attack on the SAD sharpened after Jagdish Bhola, an accused in a multi-crore drug racket, accused Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia of patronising the drug mafia.

After elections, the BJP and SAD had a confrontation when Modi mentioned it in his “Mann ki baat”. Akalis staged rallies close to the International Border to drive home the point that the drugs was coming from across the border and the central forces were supposed to prevent it.

That followed a police crackdown on smugglers and addicts. From 11,715 persons arrested in 2012, the number rose to 17,001 in 2014. The number came down to 12,193 in 2015 and to 6,274 till December 15, 2016.

Armed with figures of crackdown on drugs, the BJP and Akalis are now on the same page. Leaving behind their differences, the alliance partners blame the Opposition for blowing the matter out of proportion for political gains.

Vineet Joshi, a spokesperson for the BJP, says, “It cannot be denied that Punjab faces the problem of drugs. But some parties have blown it out of proportion. If 70 per cent of Punjab youths are drug addicts, as claimed by the Congress and AAP, people in their parties will also be drug addicts in the same proportion.”

But the Congress disagrees. It talks about drugs as a burning issue confronting the state. In its manifesto, it has gone to the extent of promising to end the problem in four weeks if voted to power. It, though, has stopped short of accusing Akali leaders of patronising the drug trade.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has been the most aggressive. Led by Arvind Kejriwal, party leaders are promising to jail Akali leaders in connection with drug trade. In its manifesto, AAP has promised to cut the supply chain of drugs and focus on rehabilitation of addicts.

The parties are doing their job. Voters have one of their own on February 4.