FEROZEPUR: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the SAD was committed to wiping out the menace of drug trafficking and gangsters in Punjab once it formed the government in 2027 even as he appreciated the initiative taken by Governor Gulab Chand Kataria to lead a campaign to make Punjab drug free.
Talking to newsmen after joining the Governor in a walk held as part of the Nasha Mukt campaign started by the latter, the SAD president said “the Governor has understood the pulse of the people and is travelling from village to village and city to city to create a movement against this menace”.
He said drugs had become a scourge in the State and were affecting the future of an entire generation. He also asserted that it was even more laud worthy that the Governor had taken on the responsibility to lead this campaign in the face of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s failure to tackle it. “I also thank the Governor for inviting leaders from all parties and social organizations and educational institutions to make this a mass movement”.
Sukhbir Badal explained that a genuine effort could not be taken to eradicate the menace of drugs during the last nine years because both the Congress party and Aam Aadmi Party played politics on this issue. “Capt Amarinder Singh took a false oath on the holy ‘gutka sahib’ to eradicate this menace in four weeks while Arvind Kejriwal said he would take a few months”.
Asserting that both governments had failed the people, Mr Badal said the main reason for this was collusion of their political leaders with drug traffickers. “I have been told that presently AAP leaders are taking monthly payments from the drug mafia due to which they not only shelter its members but also prevent their arrests. Peddlers are getting arrested while the main kingpins continue to run their operations with impunity”.
Badal said once the SAD formed the government in 2027 it would completely eradicate the menace of drugs as well as gangsters. “We will study the chain of command of both the drug mafia and gangsters which are sometimes intertwined. We will remove all members of the command from bottom to top”.