Demon of drugs expanding across villages, cities in Punjab: Delhi CM

PUNJAB: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday said the "demon of drugs is expanding across villages and cities" in Punjab, accusing the Bhagwan Mann-led AAP administration of failing to control the situation.

Gupta was flagging off the second of the BJP's four statewide anti-drug yatras from Fatehgarh Sahib. BJP president Nitin Nabin launched the first yatra in Pathankot on Friday.

Earlier in the day, Gupta paid respects at Gurdwara Jyoti Saroop Sahib, linked to the martyrdom of the younger Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh.

Addressing the gathering, Gupta launched a blistering attack on AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, saying that he first carried out "scams worth thousands of crores of rupees" across various departments in Delhi. She accused him of taking control of Punjab with money from Delhi and using Punjab's resources for his national political ambitions.

Speaking on the drug issue, Gupta said she met the families and spoke to mothers whose children had been pushed into drugs.

"Families get destroyed; they lose their respect in society. The burden of suffering weighs heavily, as they think about how to save their children trapped in drug use," she said.

"Today, this demon of drugs is spreading from village to village and city to city. When the government took office in 2022, they promised that within three or four months, they would eliminate drugs. Did they fulfil that promise? This government keeps making empty promises, and it is deceitful," she said.

Calling Kejriwal "a hypocrite and a fraud," Gupta said she went to Punjab specifically to reveal the truth about the AAP leader.

"When we drove him out of Delhi's Sheesh Mahal, he moved to Punjab and started living by building Sheesh Mahal 2. He travels around here in a private plane. He lives in royal luxury with servants and attendants. Consider this: by what right does he exploit Punjab's resources and property? Is your tax money not being misused?" she asked.

The entire AAP team that was involved in alleged conspiracies and corruption in Delhi has settled in Punjab over the last five years, she alleged.

The Delhi chief minister claimed that the situation in Punjab has turned from bad to worse under the Mann regime.

"As it approaches the end of five years, is this what you hoped to see? The situation has worsened significantly; Punjab is drowning in debt. Who will repay this debt of Rs 5 lakh crore?" she asked, warning, "Kejriwal will flee again, and if he doesn't, you will chase him away, but the debt will remain right here."

Gupta accused the AAP leaders of being hand-in-glove with the drug mafia.

"Which mafia do they apprehend? Which 'dalal' do they go after? Do they even attempt to catch them? They don't, because they are complicit. They have their own share in it. Forget MLAs and ministers. When the chief minister himself is involved, along with a 'super chief minister', the chief minister's wife and the administration, what can you expect from such a government?" she asked.

Claiming that every single person in the government is complicit, Gupta asked, "Otherwise, why would drugs remain rampant in Punjab after five years?"

On the rehabilitation centres in Punjab, Gupta alleged that they were "dens of drugs".

"A mother was crying while talking to me just now. She said, 'I sent my son to a rehabilitation centre. Even there, he was provided with drugs'," Gupta claimed.

She asked if people wanted such a government, chief minister and "super chief minister".

"I often think when I see this photo where Kejriwal is standing right in the middle of the vehicle, and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is hanging on the door: what kind of chief minister is this? He moves around like a bus conductor," Gupta said.

The Delhi chief minister said the time has come to break the drug problem in which the entire Punjab is shackled.

"We will break it. Narendra Modi will break it, Amit Shah will break it. That Narendra Modi, who abolished Article 370 from the country and eliminated terrorism, and that Amit Shah, who wiped out Naxalism from the country, today they all stand with the people of Punjab," she said.

Those who were driven away from Delhi will be chased out of Punjab this time, Gupta added.

BJP state in-charge Satish Poonia, MLA Ashwani Sharma, MP Satnam Sandhu and party leaders Manpreet Singh Badal, Avinash Rai Khanna, H S Phoolka, Parminder Brar and Rajesh Bagga were present at the event.