CHANDIGARH: Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, sharply criticized the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab Government's "Yudh Nashian Virudh" (War Against Drugs) campaign following the hooch tragedy in Majitha, which claimed 17 lives.
While holding CM Mann directly responsible for the tragic incident, Bajwa said, “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has publicly stated that such a tragedy could not have occurred without political, bureaucratic, or police support. I agree with him. If the liquor mafia is flourishing under his nose, he is either complicit—or incompetent.”
"This is not the first incident in the three-year regime of the AAP. In March last year, eight people died after consuming illicit liquor in the Dirba assembly segment of Sangrur district. Notably, the Dirba assembly segment is being represented by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Sangrur is a home district of CM Bhagwant Mann, " Bajwa stated.
Bajwa said that the deaths of the Punjabi youth due to drug overdose have become the new normal. The AAP government's insincerity in making Punjab a drug-free state has been unmasked by the same incident now.
"DGP Punjab Gaurav Yadav has set a May 31 deadline for eradicating the drug menace from the state. Earlier, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal had also set deadlines-in vain. Would the AAP government bother to let the Punjabis know what happened to those deadlines?" Bajwa asked.
This is not a time for hollow statements. The people of Punjab don’t want sympathy—they want justice. And justice starts with fixing responsibility. The Excise Department, which oversees liquor trade in the state, has clearly failed. The Excise Minister Harpal Cheema must resign immediately. Anything less would be an insult to the lives lost, added Bajwa.
Bajwa demanded a judicial inquiry monitored by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Guilty should be bookled—no matter how powerful. The Majitha hooch tragedy has once again exposed the thriving nexus between the liquor mafia and the political-administrative system in Punjab. The loss of innocent lives is not just a result of toxic liquor—it is the direct outcome of toxic governance.