Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today said the latest PGIMER survey listing drug addiction in Punjab at less than one per cent had yet again nailed the lie of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and exposed the conspiracy of anti-Punjab forces who had maligned the State and its people for their petty political goals. In a strongly worded statement here, the SAD president said the comprehensive survey which was carried out in all 22 districts as well as 22 villages in each district had exposed the anti- Punjab conspiracy of Rahul Gandhi and his team as well as that of AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal. "Both leaders and their parties should now tell Punjabis why they branded them as drug addicts and tender an unconditional apology to the people of the State". Stating that the entire conspiracy was hatched to counter the development narrative of the previous SAD- BJP government, he said though the Congress had succeeded in its goal of achieving power in Punjab, it had caused incalculable damage to its people and and its economy. "Both Congress and AAP played with the lives of the youth and made them virtually un-hirable. The image distortion also dented the image of Punjab and Punjabis worldwide".
Speaking about Rahul Gandhi's nefarious role in this sordid chapter of Punjab politics, the SAD president said the former was definitely the villain-in-chief. "Rahul uttered an utter lie to reap political mileage for his flagging party by claiming in October 2012 at a NSUI function in Chandigarh that 70 per cent of the State's youth were drug addicts. "This despite the fact that he knew well that he was reading out a sample survey of drug addicts of which youth formed a big share". The SAD supremo said Rahul did not stop at this calumny. "During the Punjab assembly campaign this year he insisted he was speaking the truth and even had the gall to ask Punjabis to admit they were drug addicts. Such behaviour coming from the chosen scion of the Gandhi dynasty is shameful", he added.
Speaking about AAP, Mr Badal said Arvind Kejriwal and his gang of outsiders had also tried to doom the future of the youth by claiming 40 lakh youth were drug addicts. "The PGIMER report today puts the entire number of addicts in the State at 2.7 lakh. Other reports, included that conducted by AIIMS, have come out with even lower figures than this", he added.Asking both the Congress and AAP to close this sordid defamation campaign immediately, he said they should learn a lesson from successive reports and surveys which had exposed their lies and proved their only aim was attract votes through fraud and deceit. He said a detailed survey by AIIMS, Delhi had put the drug addiction at 0.84 per cent. "The Punjab government also got a dope test conducted on 3.76 lakh youth who presented themselves for police recruitment. The test, which was conducted by the Baba Farid Health Sciences University, saw only 1.27 per cent candidates testing positive". The SAD president said the Indian Army had conducted regular drug tests on thousands of candidates appearing for army recruitment during the last three years and reported negligent incidence of drugs among Punjab youth. "The army top brass has even gone on record to state that this issue was being hyped", he added.Meanwhile the SAD president asked the Congress government to continue with the drug rehabilitation programme initiated by S Parkash Singh Badal with the same earnestness so that drug incidence could be lowered further.