Capt Amarinder accuses Union Minister Harsimrat of trivialising Punjab's drug problem

By Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday lashed out at Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, saying the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) was using a grave issue like drugs to divert the public attention from their own responsibility in the matter.

Reacting Badal's charges that his government had failed to curb drugs menace in the state, Chief Minister Singh expressed shock over her statements and termed these as cover-ups for the misdeeds of the previous SAD-BJP government. "It is not the first time when I have urged the Prime Minister to come out with a national drugs policy to tackle the menace. Harsimrat's remarks expose her total ignorance of the ground realities in the state and her desperation to regain the confidence of Punjab's people, particularly the youth whose lives the Badal regime had destroyed by allowing the drugs mafia to flourish under their rule," Singh told reporters here.

Union Food Processing Industry Minister Badal on Monday had ridiculed Singh and accused him of being unable to eliminate the drug menace from Punjab, and that is why he sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's help in this regard. He said his government has done a commendable work which the SAD leader was not able to see because of her personal interests.

"Not only has our government broken the backbone of the drugs mafia in the state, but has also put the majority of the drug smugglers and dealers behind bars, while the remaining few had fled in panic." "But obsessed as she is with her own personal interests, Harsimrat had never bothered to find out how many drug peddlers have been arrested and how many youths are undergoing treatment in the OOAT clinics set up by his government," Singh said.

Terming drugs an "inter-state" problem and blaming Pakistan for pushing drugs from across the border into Punjab, he said the need for "collective efforts" by all states led by the Centre was important to address the problem of drug menace. "Is she (Harsimrat) so dumb that she does not know that drugs are an inter-state problem, with national repercussions? With poppy cultivation legal in some states and Pakistan also pushing drugs from across the borders, anyone with a little sense would have figured out the importance of collective efforts by all states, spearheaded by the Central government, to tackle the menace," Singh said. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)