Hoshiarpur, Punjab (June 20, 2014): Sikh Youth of Punjab (SYP) – the youth wing of Dal Khalsa – today took exception over the statement of Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal that no politician was patronizing the drug trafficking in Punjab.
SYP head Nobeljit Singh said “all parts of Punjab were in the octopus-like grip of different kinds of alcohol and drug abuse. It is a sad irony that the Punjabi is today leaning on loneliness, misery and stress”.
Stressing that without the politician-smuggler-police nexus, the trade of drugs was not possible, he asked Sukhbir Badal to explain as to how could this trade nourish and flourish without any political backing or patronization. He slammed Sukhbir Badal for taking the people of the state for ride. “Without naming any individual we would like to say that apart from police officials, political mafia of different shades was providing shelter to traffickers”, alleges youth leader.
“Taking a jibe at him, he said while we were reading the statement of Sukhbir in which he has given clean chit to his relative and colleague politicians of this Punjab, we were expecting he might end up in blaming politicians of West Punjab for the drug menace”.
Referring to certain measures taken up by Punjab government to tackle drug abuse, he said the government has come out of slumber after too much of damage and hoped that some positive results would come out if the government would pursue its plans in utter sincerity and seriousness.
He said the younger generation was a victim of manufactured drugs. Smack from neighboring states reaches Punjab through the complicity of the police, administration and politicians. Bogus pharmaceutical companies in Delhi and Gurgaon manufacture fake drugs and they are sold in bulk in Punjab without bill and prescription, in clear violation of the Drug and Cosmetic Act.
Coming down heavily on successive central governments he said the state machinery, either due to negligence or as part of a grand design, was ensuring the availability of drugs from other states. “We believe at one level, it was a part of the design to engage the Punjabi youth in drugs as a weapon to check their political consciousness and to counter the fighting spirit in them”.
Notably, SYP has organized a series of marches in different cities and towns to highlight the plight of youth affected by the rise of drug menace.