"Not A Single Word": Rare Mention Of Drugs In Haryana Assembly Triggers Row

The drug menace found a strikingly limited mention in the Haryana Assembly on Thursday, even as the BJP is making "drug-free Punjab" a prominent plank of its political pitch in the neighbouring state.

Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has been campaigning in Punjab, promising that a BJP government will end the drug menace if voted to power in 2027. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, launched a 100-week nationwide anti-drug campaign on August 2. Against this backdrop, the conspicuous absence of drugs from the Haryana government's main response during a discussion on law and order has given the Opposition a fresh line of attack.

Raising the issue, INLD MLA and legislature party leader Aditya Devi Lal Chautala questioned why the Chief Minister did not address the drug problem while responding to the law-and-order debate.

"The Chief Minister did not utter a single word about the rising menace of drugs. Does the issue of drugs not come under law and order?" Chautala asked.

He further alleged that the reach of drugs had become so widespread that "there is no village or city left in the state where chitta is not being sold", while seeking details of drug seizures and action against traffickers.

Chautala also alleged serious lapses in the handling of seized narcotics, citing an incident in Sirsa where, he claimed, police officials allegedly removed opium from a seized consignment and sold it.

INLD MLA  Arjun Chautala questioned the government's presentation of crime data, arguing that percentage reductions alone did not establish whether crime had actually declined.

"The Chief Minister has given a reply written by ChatGPT. Leave ChatGPT aside and put the officers to work to get the correct figures," he said.

The exchange assumes significance because of the widening political contrast between Haryana and Punjab. While the BJP is promising voters in Punjab that it will eliminate drugs, the same issue was raised only by the Opposition during a Haryana law-and-order discussion - and not prominently in the Chief Minister's response.

The BJP's anti-drug messaging has also acquired a national dimension following PM Modi's launch of the 100-week 'Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat' campaign earlier this month.

For the BJP, therefore, the Haryana Assembly exchange throws up an uncomfortable political question: If drugs are a defining law-and-order and governance challenge in Punjab, why did the issue find so little space when Haryana's own law-and-order record came under scrutiny in the Assembly?

With both states heading towards politically charged contests, the Opposition is likely to use this contrast to question whether the BJP's anti-drug campaign is a broader governance agenda or a Punjab-specific electoral pitch.