Punjab Minister Harpal Cheema slams Kangana Ranaut over drug remarks

Punjab Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday hit out at BJP MP Kangana Ranaut over her remarks that drugs coming from Punjab were adversely impacting the youth of Himachal Pradesh.

Speaking to reporters here on the sidelines of a Cabinet meeting, Cheema said, “Kangana Ranaut should keep herself in control because she has the habit of making absurd and irrelevant statements to hog media headlines.”

“She does not have a basic understanding of things, that is why she makes such statements towards society and women. I condemn her statement,” Cheema added.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader questioned why the Mandi MP was silent on the issue of the drug menace in BJP-ruled states as well as her home state Himachal Pradesh.

“There is a greater incidence of drug menace in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan (BJP-ruled states) and even in Himachal Pradesh (Congress-ruled state) than in Punjab. Maximum drugs are pushed into the country via Gujarat,” he alleged and asserted that Punjab was taking steps to eradicate the drug scourge, he said.

Speaking to reporters outside parliament in Delhi, Ranaut had said, “The situation of drugs in Himachal is so serious that if strong steps are not taken immediately, then like in Punjab, where you have some villages with only widows and young women, Himachal will face the same situation.”

She claimed that drugs coming from Punjab were ruining the future of the youth of Himachal Pradesh, as many of them have become addicts and were stealing their parents’ jewellery or cars to buy drugs.

“They lock themselves in rooms, break furniture, scream and cry for help. This is worse than death for them,” she said, referring to the condition of addicts.

She also supported Himachal Pradesh Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla’s statement that if immediate action is not taken to eradicate the drug menace, the state would become ‘Udta Punjab’ in the next five years. The Himachal Governor had also emphasised the urgent need for the state government to establish a new state-of-the-art de-addiction and rehabilitation centre.