Don’t blame Punjab, Centre should stop narcotics supply from other states: Sukhbir
Lashes out at BJP-ruled Goa & Rajasthan for drug culture, calls it national conspiracy
Don’t blame Punjab, Centre should stop narcotics supply from other states: Sukhbir
Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal at the ‘awareness rally’ against drugs at Attari. photo: Vishal Kumar
Don’t play politics on drug issue: BJP
With the SAD opening up a front against the Centre, of which it is also a part, the BJP today counselled it saying that drug abuse and drug mafia were “serious issues on which politics should be avoided”.
Jupinderjit Singh & PK Jaiswar
Tribune News Service
Gharinda (Amritsar), January 5
Adopting a tough posture on the drugs issue, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today said labelling Punjab as a state of drug addicts was a national conspiracy, akin to the spread of terrorism in the state, to defame the residents, especially Sikhs.
The dharna-cum-awareness rally organised by SAD here against the inflow of drugs also became a platform for the Akalis to reclaim the status of numero uno for the state which had led in making sacrifices in the freedom struggle, post-Independence wars and for being the food bowl of the country.
Speakers also used the impressive rally to highlight the alleged victimisation of the state for generations by claiming that injustice was meted out to Punjab as Punjabi-speaking areas in other states were not given to it and Sikhs were labelled terrorists. Speakers also underlined that the state, and especially the Akalis, have turned out stronger after countering such conspiracies.
Sukhbir led the party leaders in demanding complete sealing of the international border with Pakistan, special allocation in the national Budget for the BSF for use of technology to man the borders, and to include the issue of cross-border smuggling on the agenda for talks with Pakistan. In an indirect attack on the BJP, Sukhbir Badal, Bikram Majithia and other speakers asked if states like Gujarat (home state of PM Modi) or Maharashtra suffered losses due to Partition or wars before and after Independence. Sukhbir specifically mentioned Goa, which has a BJP government, for being the most-drug infested state where all kinds of drugs were available openly. He also accused Rajasthan (again a BJP-led state) for its failure to prevent smuggling of drugs into Punjab. He, however, blamed the past Congress governments in the Centre and Rajasthan for the mess.
While refraining from blaming Narendra Modi, who had talked about the problem as a Lok Sabha poll promise of the party and recently in his radio programme, for the conspiracy, SAD president and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal accused Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi specifically and the Congress party in general for hatching a conspiracy to defame the state.
"Rahul started all this a few years ago when he claimed that 70 per cent of the state's youths were addicts," said Sukhbir. He, in response to a media query, said he welcomed Modi's drive against drugs but it should be a national drive.
"It is tragic that while Punjab grows food for the rest of the country, the other states are growing drugs for sending those to Punjab," he said.
The party leaders, barring Sucha Singh Langah, stayed clear of blaming the Border Security Force (BSF) in their speeches or targeting the BJP, which is launching a drive against drugs from January 22.
They insisted that the BSF needs to be empowered further with latest technology to deal with smuggling from across the border.
Langah sought control over the BSF arguing that the state should have the power to transfer BSF officials and jawans. But other speakers lauded the role of the security agencies while underlining that it was Punjab that fed food to the jawans and Punjabis who faced enemy tanks.
Langah also took a pot-shot at the BJP saying it hurts (the Akalis) when friends (BJP) injure them while attacks of the Congress could be handled.
Majithia, who drew a huge response from the rally held in his home district, took on Congress state president Partap Singh Bajwa saying his family was involved in drug smuggling.
He said the label of drug addiction was a challenge to the state but those who have hatched the conspiracy know that Punjabis respond in equal measure when their self-respect is challenged. He said linking him with drug smugglers was a part of the conspiracy.
first published : http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/don-t-blame-punjab-centre-should-stop-narcotics-supply-from-other-states-sukhbir/26756.html
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