Four years before Udta Punjab made the debilitating narcotics problem in Punjab common knowledge, the then Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Quraishi drew the latter’s attention to the “seriousness of the drugs problem” – and how political parties used them to “entice voters’’.
In a letter dated 3 May, Quraishi said that the Election Commission’s attempt to institute a “strict regulatory mechanism in the state” revealed the extent of the Punjab’s drug problem. The large volume of drugs seized during the previous assembly elections in the state ought to have been matter of concern.
Quraishi’s letter to Manmohan Singh ominously added that “every conceivable drug is being abused in the state.” This ought to be a sobering reminder to Central Board of Film Certification Chairman Pahlaj Nihalani, who has been instrumental in suggesting cuts to Anurag Kashyap’s Udta Punjab. It should also serve as a wake-up call to the Narendra Modi government, which hasn’t yet woken up to the political consequences of the menace.
Punjab has emerged as a hub of drug trafficking due to its proximity to the golden crescent and about 40 percent of the high potent drugs are transiting through the state to destinations as far as Europe and North America, Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Muktsar and Ferozepur, on the borders with Rajasthan and Haryana, are the worst affected.Quraishi’s letter
The menace is ruining (the) health, well-being and future of the youth in Punjab, who were particularly found falling prey to free supply/distribution of these substances as inducement during the polls. The problem has the potential to spread…to other parts of the country as well.
The letter should serve as a warning: Punjab could lose a generation of its youth to drugs.
The BJP has maintained a strategic silence over the issue. However, Intelligence Bureau sources are of the opinion that Punjab Congress president and former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh himself has not made enough effort to end drug trade in the state.
Congress sources reveal that the Captain has been chary of openly speaking out against drugs, especially at a time when the Aam Aadmi Party has proactively campaigned against it. In the last assembly election in 2012, no candidate from any of the contesting parties raised the drug problem or its damaging social impact.
However, at a time when the problem is no longer a poorly kept secret, but national news, a failure on the part of political parties to admit to the crisis could have political consequences.
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