Chandigarh/Phagwara, Jan 8: The Aam Aadmi Party on Wednesday launched the second phase of its anti-drug campaign ‘Yudh Nashean Virudh’, with AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann asserting that public participation would now drive the fight against narcotics.
Addressing a gathering at Lovely Professional University in Phagwara, Kejriwal said Punjab had shown the country how a serious battle against drugs should be fought. “In ten months, 28,000 cases were registered against drug traffickers. Courts sent the accused to jail in 88 per cent of these cases. No state has ever seen action on this scale,” he said.
Kejriwal claimed that around 42,000 smugglers had been arrested, including 350 major players, and properties built with drug money had been demolished. “For the first time, even the biggest traffickers, whose names people feared to utter, were sent to jail,” he said.
He said Phase II would focus on converting the crackdown into a people’s movement through Village Defence Committees (VDCs). “One and a half lakh volunteers are now part of this mission. Anyone can join by giving a missed call on 9899100002,” he said, adding that statewide padyatras would be held from January 10 to 30, followed by a mega VDC gathering on February 13.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said drugs were a social problem that could not be solved by police action alone. “Only a mass movement can uproot this menace. The sins committed by previous regimes in ruining Punjab can never be forgiven,” he said.
Mann said drug addicts should be treated as victims. “We are strengthening de-addiction centres and rehabilitation facilities. Phase II will be even more successful than Phase I, and Punjab will be made completely drug free,” he said.
Senior AAP leaders, cabinet ministers and top state officials were present at the event.
