A viral video of two drug addicts triggered a war of words between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the BJP Rajya Sabha member Harbhajan Singh on Tuesday, with finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema accusing the cricketer-turned-politician of defaming Punjab and its youth by sharing the ‘clip shot in Rajasthan.’
It all started after Harbhajan shared a video on X showing two men behaving like “zombies” and expressed concern over the devastating impact of drugs on Punjab’s youth.
“The evil eye has struck, my friend, on our Punjab...The governments have ruined Punjab and its Punjabi youth. It makes me want to cry seeing all this. Forgive my Punjab...Excuse Punjab. Where have they brought Punjab to? The Punjab that was once known for its rising fortunes, courage, and bravery — today, that same Punjab’s youth is besieged by addictions. There’s still time—save my Punjab. Save Punjab’s youth,” he posted.
As Harbhajan’s post rapidly went viral on social media, Cheema called a press conference in Chandigarh to debunk his video clip and mount a counter-offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The ‘zombie drug video’, the minister insisted, was shot in Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan and had no connection with Punjab. “Harbhajan, who was sent to the Rajya Sabha by the AAP to represent Punjab’s interests and work for the state’s youth, is now amplifying the BJP propaganda. He should not have shared misleading content that tarnishes the image of Punjab,” Cheema said, alleging a “conspiracy” to malign Punjab.
{{/usCountry}}The ‘zombie drug video’, the minister insisted, was shot in Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan and had no connection with Punjab. “Harbhajan, who was sent to the Rajya Sabha by the AAP to represent Punjab’s interests and work for the state’s youth, is now amplifying the BJP propaganda. He should not have shared misleading content that tarnishes the image of Punjab,” Cheema said, alleging a “conspiracy” to malign Punjab.
{{/usCountry}}The minister further claimed that instead of checking the facts, the BJP’s IT machinery was picking up videos from other states and presenting them as incidents from Punjab. “People of Punjab will not be misled by the BJP’s propaganda,” he added, while highlighting the state government’s ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’ campaign. The cricketer-turned-politician was among the seven AAP Rajya Sabha members who switched to the BJP in April this year.
Punjab Police fact-checks clip
Harbhajan’s video, which garnered around 1.2 million views within hours, was fact-checked by the Punjab Police, which issued a clarification stating that the video was from Rajasthan and had no connection with Punjab. “A Punjabi audio track does not make an incident a Punjab incident. We urge users and social media accounts to verify the facts and location before posting misleading content or tagging Punjab Police,” it posted on social media.
Replying to these statements, Harbhajan Singh posted another video, asking whether this too was a picture from Rajasthan, and urged them to pay attention to the drug menace in Punjab. He said the discussion was about Punjab’s drug problem, and paid trolls would not be able to bury the issue. “Work will have to be done on this. Running away from responsibilities won’t yield a solution. The matter isn’t about targeting any specific individual. For anyone in Punjab and across the entire country who consumes narcotic substances, whatever efforts are made to free them from addiction should be carried out,” he wrote. The BJP also posted that the scourge of drugs in Punjab was increasing day by day, and videos of youth swaying under the influence of drugs were coming to the fore every other day.