Punjab has heard promises to end its drug menace for years. The governments have announced crackdowns, released arrest and seizure figures and assured families that the battle is being won. Yet addiction has proved stubbornly resistant to political slogans.
The latest political storm began with the alleged suicide of Gulzar Singh in Sangrur, but quickly grew into a wider confrontation over how the Aam Aadmi Party government is handling Punjab’s drug crisis.
Gulzar Singh, from Toor Vanjara village in Sangrur district, allegedly died after consuming a poisonous substance on 8 August. A video subsequently surfaced in which he purportedly accused local panchayat representatives of mentally harassing him after he questioned Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema about the drug menace.
The Punjab Police have arrested the accused and constituted an SIT to investigate the case. The government, however, questioned the video’s authenticity and context, in which Cheema was named. That was the point at which a local tragedy became a state-level political controversy.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi moved quickly to demand Cheema’s resignation and an independent and impartial investigation. He presented the case as evidence of a more disturbing pattern, alleging that people who questioned the government over drugs were being threatened and tortured.
Rahul Gandhi also referred to Mohanjit Singh, another Sangrur resident who had protested against the drug menace and later alleged that he was tortured in police custody.
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann responded sharply.
“Rahul Gandhi ji, don’t do politics over dead bodies,” Mann said, accusing Congress leaders of trying to exploit Gulzar Singh’s death for political purposes. He said Congress leaders had attempted to politicise the matter when they visited the village and claimed that local residents had opposed their presence.
Mann also pointed to the police action in the case, saying the accused had been arrested after being identified by Gulzar’s family. He argued that previous Akali, BJP and Congress governments had allowed Punjab’s drug problem to grow and maintained that his government would not spare anyone involved in drug smuggling.
The AAP then sought to reinforce that defence by releasing a video of Gulzar Singh’s son. In it, he said the family had no grievance against the government and that his brother had been assured a government job. He also said the police had acted against those accused, while one of them was absconding and had reportedly left the country.
The competing claims left the central question unresolved. What actually happened before Gulzar consumed poison? Were the allegations in the video genuine? Was he under pressure? And was his death connected to the complaints he had made?
Those questions cannot be settled through political statements, press conferences or social media videos. They require evidence. Then came the second controversy. On September 2, during Mann’s Lok Milni programme in the Sangrur area, Mohanjit Singh allegedly displayed a black flag and raised slogans over the continuing drug menace. He later alleged that he had been tortured in police custody, including being subjected to electric shocks and other forms of abuse.
The allegation immediately intensified the political pressure on the government.
Four police personnel, including a DSP, were transferred after the Opposition raised the matter. But a transfer is not a finding of guilt, just as an allegation is not proof of wrongdoing.
Once again, the answer has to come from a credible investigation.
The cases have given the Opposition something it has long lacked, a way to challenge AAP not merely on its record of arrests and seizures, but on the conduct of the state itself.
The BJP has been the most aggressive in seizing that opportunity.
BJP national president Nitin Nabin has described drugs as a major issue in Punjab and accused the AAP government of corruption and anarchy. He has said the BJP will take the issue to the people through a mass campaign.The party’s plans are extensive. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Nabin are among the senior leaders expected to participate in a 12-day BJP yatra across Punjab from 18 to 30 September. The BJP plans anti-drug yatras across all 117 assembly constituencies.
The political calculation is hardly subtle.
The BJP wants drugs, law and order and governance to become defining issues of the 2027 assembly election. Congress is also seeking to make the drug issue politically costly for AAP, while the Shiromani Akali Dal has joined the attack.
For the ruling party, this is a more difficult challenge than a conventional argument over government statistics. The AAP came to power promising to do things differently. Its anti-drug campaign became one of the important measures by which it wanted its government to be judged. That makes allegations involving people who say they were punished or mistreated after raising the issue particularly damaging, even before their truth has been established.
The government cannot simply dismiss every allegation as opposition politics. But neither should the Opposition be allowed to convert allegations into established facts. There is a straightforward way out of this political trap.
Investigate.
If the allegations against officials, political representatives or police personnel are false, an impartial investigation should establish that. If wrongdoing occurred, those responsible should face the law.The same standard must apply to everyone.
Punjab has lived with the drug crisis for decades. Families have lost children to addiction, young people have been drawn into criminal networks and communities have repeatedly demanded that the state do more. Every government has promised action.
The problem is that political campaigns often reduce the crisis to numbers.
How many arrests? How much contraband seized? How many cases registered?
Those figures matter, but they do not tell the whole story.
The state government can point to thousands of arrests and still face crisis of confidence if citizens believe they cannot safely complain about drugs. Equally, the Opposition party can raise legitimate questions while still exploiting individual tragedies for political gain.The test, therefore, is not whether AAP can defeat the BJP or Congress in the next round of political accusations. It is whether the state can establish facts when allegations are made against those exercising power.
That is particularly important because the drug issue is already becoming one of the defining themes of the 2027 election.The BJP is preparing a statewide campaign. Congress is demanding accountability. The SAD is returning to an issue that has shaped Punjab politics for years. AAP is defending its record and accusing its opponents of exploiting the crisis.
Punjab does not need another election campaign promising to eradicate drugs. It needs a sustained response that combines effective policing with treatment, prevention and accountability.
And it needs citizens to believe that raising the alarm will not put them at greater risk. That is why the Gulzar Singh and Mohanjit Singh cases matter beyond the individuals involved. They have brought the relationship between citizens and the state into the centre of Punjab’s drug debate.
The AAP government should welcome a thorough and independent examination of both cases rather than treat scrutiny as an attack.If the allegations are false, let the evidence clear the government.If they are true, let the law take its course.
Either way, Punjab deserves the truth.
The coming election will produce plenty of speeches about ending the drug menace. What Punjab needs now is something harder to manufacture, accountability that survives the political campaign.
Dr Kiran Deep
