Close X
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
ADVT 
India

Now, drugs take a toll on Akali Dal

Jaideep Sarin Darpan, 28 May, 2014 11:02 AM
  • Now, drugs take a toll on Akali Dal
It is Punjab's best kept secret and yet is talked about in virtually every household in the state. The rampant drugs racket and substance abuse in the state have now come to haunt its political elite, the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal.
 
Having been dismissive of all allegations that its senior leaders, including ministers, had links to the state's multi-million dollar drugs racket, the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had to face embarrassment last week when a senior minister was forced to resign after his son's name figured in the racket.
 
Swaran Singh Phillaur quit as jails and tourism minister after his son Damanvir was named by drug kingpin Jagdish Singh Bhola during interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Rs 6,000 crore ($1 billion) international synthetic drugs racket.
 
Phillaur's resignation has increased the clamour of the opposition parties to remove Punjab's powerful revenue minister, Bikram Singh Majithia, the brother-in-law of Deputy Chief Minister and Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal.
 
Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar described as "drama" the Punjab government's latest drive against drugs - a raid on a village last week in Moga district known for substance abuse - initiated after the Lok Sabha elections.
 
"Badal must display political will to teach a befitting lesson to those who have benefited enormously at the expense of a drug-ruined Punjabi generation. Accepting the resignation of one minister is hypocrisy of the highest order when the anti-incumbency verdict (May 16) in the Lok Sabha elections against Akali-BJP government is on record," Jakhar said.
 
 
The Akali Dal, which won only four of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the polls, had to face an anti-Akali Dal sentiment from the electorate. Much of this is being linked to people being fed up with the indifferent manner in which the Badal government has been taking the drugs menace.
 
"(BJP leader) Arun Jaitley has himself seen the plight of Maqboolpura basti in Amritsar, where every single house has lost its kith and kin to drug abuse. He had to suffer an inglorious defeat due to the wrath of the people against the Akali-BJP government as being patrons of the drug business in Punjab," Jakhar pointed out.
 
But the Akali Dal seems to be in no mood to oblige the opposition on the drugs front.
 
"The Punjab Congress leadership should stop the political blame game on the issue. Serious deliberations are the need of the hour to save youth from the clutches of this menace," was the cliched response of Akali Dal spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema.
 
A recent sample survey indicated that 70-75 percent of the population, especially in rural areas, indulged in substance abuse.Punjab has a population of 28 million.
 
The Badal government, in an obvious move to draw away attention from drug trade in Punjab, has been blaming the central government and the Border Security Force (BSF) for not curbing smuggling of heroin and other drugs from the Pakistan side into India.
 
 
The BSF had recovered over 322 kg of heroin valued at Rs.1,610 crore on the international market along the 553-km long international border between India and Pakistan in Punjab. This year, till May 25, the BSF has already recovered over 245 kg of heroin valued at Rs.1,225 crore.
 
During the election campaign that kicked off March 5 when the model code of conduct came into force till the 10-phased poll ended May 12, the Election Commission has revealed that 156 kg of heroin worth nearly Rs.780 crore was recovered in Punjab.

MORE India ARTICLES

AAP to think small again: Focus on Delhi, may not contest Haryana

AAP to think small again: Focus on Delhi, may not contest Haryana
Stung by its rout in the general election, where it won only four out of 440 Lok Sabha seats it contested, all of them from Punjab, the AAP is now back to thinking small and may not contest assembly elections in Haryana scheduled for this October.

AAP to think small again: Focus on Delhi, may not contest Haryana

History will be made Monday as Narendrabhai Damodardas Modi takes oath

History will be made Monday as Narendrabhai Damodardas Modi takes oath
It would be history in the making, in more senses than one. A man who once helped his family make ends meet by vending tea at a railway station in between his classes, and who once wandered around the country to find his spiritual moorings, will take his oath as India's 14th prime minister

History will be made Monday as Narendrabhai Damodardas Modi takes oath

Shazia Ilmi, Capt.Gopinath quit AAP, hit out at Arvind Kejriwal

Shazia Ilmi, Capt.Gopinath quit AAP, hit out at Arvind Kejriwal
 In a double whammy for the Aam Aadmi Party, two of its key leaders - Shazia Ilmi and G.R. Gopinath - Saturday quit the party and lashed out at its chief Arvind Kejriwal's policies and attitude.

Shazia Ilmi, Capt.Gopinath quit AAP, hit out at Arvind Kejriwal

Sonia asks partymen not to bicker in public, learn lessons from rout

Sonia asks partymen not to bicker in public, learn lessons from rout
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, re-elected chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP)Saturday, asked party leaders not to indulge in "public acrimony" over the party's worst Lok Sabha results for which appropriate lessons need to be learnt.

Sonia asks partymen not to bicker in public, learn lessons from rout

India's Muslims welcome Modi's gesture to Pakistan

India's Muslims welcome Modi's gesture to Pakistan
India’s Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi’s gesture of inviting Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to his swearing-in ceremony has raised hopes of a long-lasting peace between the arch rivals among Muslims of this country.

India's Muslims welcome Modi's gesture to Pakistan

Modi's gestures: Willingness to make a new beginnin

Modi's gestures: Willingness to make a new beginnin
There are indications that Modi may move rapidly in the matter of concluding a treaty on the Teesta river waters with Bangladesh which was blocked by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the Manmohan Singh government's tenure.

Modi's gestures: Willingness to make a new beginnin