All is not well in the north Indian state of Punjab. At least 14 people have died of drug overdose in just two weeks in the state with 300 others reportedly succumbing to addiction in the past 3 years alone. Without exception, every political party that forms a government in Punjab comes with the promise of cleaning up the state and taking it out of the clutches of drugs. The Aam Aadmi Party was no different. However, two years since it took control, the party seems to be struggling with the state’s biggest nemesis.
From an only child of his parents to a policeman, the drug net has tightened across towns and villages of Punjab with the most vulnerable by and large belonging to the economically weaker sections of society. Recently, three middle-aged men died of overdose, one of the deceased had syringe marks on his body. What is perhaps alarming is how deaths are no longer only among the state’s youth as previously believed.
Nor is it just men, even young women in the state are part of the tragedy that is playing out. A video of a 21-year-old woman lying unconscious has ruffled the state but an endgame — despite claims to the contrary by AAP — does not seem to be in sight.
During the 2022 election campaign, AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal promised to clean the state within four months. In what seems to be a classic case of gaslighting political promises, a state minister recently extended that deadline to the end of 2024, two years later than the promised goal. On its part, the Bhagwant Mann government blames political opponents for defaming them.
A daunting challenge
But both anecdotal and official data speak a thousand words. Addicts in narrow lanes of nondescript villages can be found barely in their senses and surrounded in many instances by used syringes. In the first half of 2024, the state police have reportedly registered a whopping 4,373 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and more than 6000 people have been arrested. Deaths from drug overdose in 2022-23 during the AAP rule have been almost double from the previous year.
As a border state, the easy availability of narcotics coupled with joblessness has pushed Punjab into an abyss, a sad trajectory of a state that was once the green basket of the nation. It is estimated that more than two-thirds of families in the state have at least one member who is an addict.
While the political will and road map to tackle the crisis are unclear, resistance in both cities and Punjab’s hinterland too is multifold. Harbhagwan Singh, an anti-drug action committee member was shot dead allegedly by drug smugglers last year. He was killed when he went to the house of a suspected drug smuggler to persuade him to stop selling drugs. Despite the AAP government transferring 10,000 police personnel, the police-smuggler nexus as well as the conduit net remains a daunting challenge to crack.
Plug a vacuum
Jang Singh, the father of a 24-year-old who passed away from drugs alleges that police tried to pass his son’s death as a ‘heart attack’ and he insisted they state the truth. Singh is among a handful who have spoken up. A big deterrent is also the silence of families who need adequate protection and incentives to speak up. Rehabilitation for both those in the grip and those who watch them helplessly can only begin when the problem is no longer swept under the carpet.
Development in the state remains stalled and with the ruling BJP not having any stake in the state hardly any new projects are allotted to Punjab. That the state is being ignored was seen publicly when Mohali- with its world-class cricket stadium — was bypassed for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
On the other hand, Bollywood and its movies like Udta Punjab may have made the state’s battle with drugs a national issue but frankly, it has been counterproductive. The gritty glamorising of drug addiction and its sensational headlining takes away from the depth of the crisis in the state which has become a subject of ridicule. Not many outside the state understand how it is eating away at the very core of Punjab.
While the problem is not new and cannot be fixed overnight, recent reports of deaths are worrying. Bhagwant Mann’s AAP government has its hands full; it needs to plug a vacuum in multiple places, urgently.
