Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Punjab senior spokesperson Neel Garg strongly condemned the recent statement by Punjab Congress President Raja Warring, in which he advocated for the cultivation of opium or bhukki as a supposed alternative to other drugs. Garg described this comment as a clear reflection of the Congress Party’s weak and regressive mindset.
In a statement issued today, Neel Garg said that no addiction can ever be an alternative to another addiction. He added that Raja Warring’s remark is proof of the same old flawed thinking that has long plagued the Congress Party, the very mindset that made it miserably fail to eliminate drugs from Punjab.
Reminding Congress of its past failures, Garg said that in 2017, then Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had taken an oath on the sacred Gutka Sahib to wipe out drugs from Punjab within four weeks. Yet, despite ruling for five years, Congress utterly failed to fulfill that promise.
Taking a jibe at the party, Garg remarked, “Since Congress couldn’t eradicate drugs, leaders like Raja Warring now seem to believe that drugs can never be eliminated at all.”Praising Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s determined war against drugs, Garg said that under his leadership, the AAP government has launched a systematic and multi-front war against the drug menace.
He explained that the Mann government is working on three major fronts simultaneously.Firstly, by tightening its grip on drug traffickers, the government has successfully disrupted the drug supply chain across the state.Secondly, on the demand side, the government is working to eliminate the future demand for drugs.
Under this initiative, mass awareness campaigns and seminars are being organized in collaboration with panchayats, clubs, schools, and colleges, and public participation in these efforts continues to grow steadily.Speaking about the third front, Garg said that the government has upgraded de-addiction centers across Punjab to ensure that those already trapped in addiction receive proper medical treatment and psychological support.
This approach helps rehabilitate the youth and reintegrate them into the mainstream, guiding them back towards sports, education, employment, and a healthy life.Neel Garg asserted that when a government works sincerely on all these fronts, the battle against drugs can indeed be won, and Punjab is beginning to witness this transformation.
He concluded by saying that Punjab’s history is proof that the drug menace flourished under Akali Dal and Congress regimes, but today, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s government is the one making historic progress toward eradicating it once and for all.