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Nabin to kick off 13-day anti-drug campaign from Pathankot on Sept 18
‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’ to cover 4,000km in all 117 assembly segments before converging in Jalandhar on Sept 30, where Shah will address concluding rally
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The Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will launch its much-publicised “Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra” on Friday, September 18, with party national president Nitin Nabin scheduled to flag off the first of four statewide ‘yatras’ from Ekta Sthal at Madhopur in Pathankot’s Sujanpur.
The 13-day campaign will see the four ‘yatras’ collectively cover nearly 4,000 km in all 117 assembly constituencies before converging in Jalandhar on September 30, where Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address the concluding rally.
The campaign, held under the slogan “Bhajpa Da Naara, Nasha Mukauna Saara”, is projected by the BJP as a statewide movement against drug abuse. Its timing and extensive political outreach also underline the party’s effort to make the drug menace a key issue ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.
Why Madhopur?
The choice of Madhopur for the launch carries both ideological and national-security symbolism for the BJP. The flag-off ceremony will take place at Ekta Sthal, associated with the memorial of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, founder of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the political predecessor of the BJP. Mookerjee had attempted to enter Jammu and Kashmir without a permit from this area in 1953. The memorial was inaugurated in 2010.
Political observers see the selection of the border district of Pathankot as a deliberate attempt to combine the BJP’s social messaging on drugs with its broader narrative around national security and Punjab’s border with Pakistan.
Four routes across Punjab
The first yatra, to be flagged off by Nabin on September 18, will cover 34 constituencies in Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Kapurthala and Jalandhar districts. Nabin is scheduled to return to Delhi after the launch, while the yatra will continue along its designated route.
The second yatra will begin on September 19 from the Fatehgarh Sahib Gurdwara and cover 24 constituencies across Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Mohali, Rupnagar, Hoshiarpur, SBS Nagar, Jalandhar and Kapurthala. Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta is scheduled to flag it off.
The third yatra will start on September 20 from the Asafwala 1971 War Memorial near the Sadiqi border in Fazilka. It will cover 22 constituencies across Fazilka, Muktsar, Bathinda, Faridkot, Moga, Ludhiana and Malerkotla.
The fourth yatra will be flagged off on September 21 from the Damdama Sahib Gurdwara in Talwandi Sabo. It will cover 23 constituencies across Bathinda, Mansa, Barnala, Sangrur and Patiala before heading towards Jalandhar.
BJP seeks statewide mobilisation
Punjab BJP general secretary and yatra in-charge Rajesh Kumar Bagha said all arrangements for the campaign had been completed. He said the objective was to take the party’s anti-drug message to every part of the state and mobilise people against substance abuse.
According to BJP functionaries, the party’s high command has concluded from at least five internal surveys that drugs remain among the most emotive issues on the ground in Punjab. The assessment has prompted the party to move beyond conventional awareness programmes and build a sustained political campaign around the issue.
The BJP has also linked the drug menace with law and order and corruption, seeking to broaden the political discourse around narcotics and trafficking.
Punjab BJP chief Kewal Singh Dhillon described the initiative as a movement aimed at turning the fight against drugs into a mass campaign.
“This is a watershed movement against the fight against drugs. It is a social movement started by the BJP and we expect all Punjab to be united to fight this menace,” Dhillon said.
The campaign comes amid heightened official attention to the drug problem. The Centre has identified Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Fazilka and Ludhiana as “ultrasensitive” districts in connection with the drug menace, according to the ministry of home affairs’ recent data.
BJP highlights plight of families affected by drugs
The state unit of the BJP on Thursday organised “Mawan Mangdian Jawab” (mothers demand answers), bringing nearly 50 families affected by drug-related deaths in Punjab before the media and demanding stronger action against the drug menace.
Families from different parts of Punjab shared their experiences, with several alleging police inaction and seeking action against drug suppliers and justice in cases concerning the deaths of their relatives. The identities of the families were withheld.
Addressing the gathering, Punjab BJP chief Kewal Singh Dhillon, along with former state BJP president Sunil Jakhar, accused the state government of failing to control the drug menace and demanded chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s resignation.
Box
BJP’s ‘yatra’ a ‘political nautanki’: AAP
Chandigarh
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab general secretary (organisation) and chief spokesperson of the Nasha Mukti Morcha Baltej Pannu on Thursday slammed the BJP for its ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’, calling it “political nautanki” and questioning the party’s silence when it was a partner in power in Punjab during 2007-17, the period, he said, when “’chitta’ (heroin) emerged and spread across the state”.
Pannu questioned why the BJP is selectively targeting Punjab while remaining silent on “drug-affected” states, including neighbouring Haryana.
He said all sensitive districts of Punjab are border districts under the Border Security Force (BSF) and the BJP must explain what it is doing to stop drugs from entering the state, instead of using the issue to defame Punjab.
The reality on the ground is reflected in Punjab’s growing sporting culture, with more than 25,000 youth participating in the Bathinda run and 3,100 sports grounds built across the state, around 750 of which have already been dedicated to the people, he said.
Pannu said, “Every effort against drugs is welcome, but the BJP must first answer for its own record. The BJP was a partner in the Punjab government from 2007 to 2017, precisely during the period when the menace of ‘chitta’ (synthetic drugs) emerged and spread across Punjab.
“A recent report mentions 73 ultrasensitive districts, of which six are in Punjab. Several other districts mentioned in the report are located in other states, but the BJP continues to focus its political narrative only on Punjab,” he alleged.
