Chandigarh: Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit has again locked horns with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for its failure to check the illicit flow of drugs and allowing its jails to become safe havens for mafias.
He also challenged detractors to prove that his interventions in the functioning of the state government were “unconstitutional”, a claim that led to the AAP accusing him of trying to run a parallel government and “forgetting the dignity of his chair.”
“My interventions are not political. I am the executive head of the state and all orders are given out in my name,” Purohit said Thursday, a day after he asserted that he was not a “dummy governor”.
Purohit was on a two-day tour of Punjab’s border districts beginning Wednesday and spoke extensively with the media. He was in Pathankot and Amritsar on the first day and reached Ferozepur and Fazilka the next day.
Flanked by Punjab chief secretary V. K. Janjua and police chief Gaurav Yadav, Purohit said Wednesday that the drug situation in the state was a grave concern and he was “worried”.
He pointed out that policemen themselves were struggling with drug addiction. “If the state government is unable to deal with the situation, it should openly ask for help from the Centre.”
“I am also getting complaints that some of the youngsters are so severely addicted that they start stealing in their own houses (to feed their habit). Parents are feeling helpless. Such youngsters then get involved with (criminal) mafias. Villagers tell me that drugs are easily available just like any other item in a grocery store. The police might not know about it but the villagers do,” he said Wednesday.
During his interaction with the media in Amritsar, Purohit said that massive improvements were needed in jails. “Jails are being used by criminals to run their mafias. Mobile phones are easily available in jails.”
‘Governor running parallel govt’
On Thursday, Punjab Cabinet minister Aman Arora said that the Governor was openly indulging in politics and that he had forgotten the dignity of his position. “Drugs are coming into Punjab either from the international border, or through the neighbouring state of Haryana, or through the ports of Gujarat, all of which are controlled by the BJP. It does not behove of the Governor to make such statements,” he told the media.
“It is a clear case of the selected (few) trying to run the elected (representatives). The Governor is trying to run a parallel government in the state.”
A day earlier, AAP state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the Governor should desist from making political statements. Keeping a tab on illicit drug trade in the border districts was responsibility not just of the Punjab government but also of the Centre, he said, adding that the Governor should try to improve the situation by intervening at the level of the Centre.
Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) latched on to the Governor’s statement to hit out at the AAP and Mann regarding Punjab’s struggles with drug cartels.
“Drugs have increased in Punjab to such an extent that it is easily available in schools. The governor has advised PbGovt to get help from the center govt to stop drug addiction. BhagwantMann. Please take concrete steps, so that the youth do not fall prey to drugs (sic),” BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa tweeted Thursday.
Sirsa’s colleague Shehzad Poonawalla mentioned how drugs claimed 190 lives in the past eight months in Punjab.
“AAP promised doorstep delivery of ration but the Governor says it’s drugs that are available like ‘grocery items at general stores’ in Punjab. Does the CM have any moral right to continue in office after such an indictment by the constitutional head of the state?” SAD spokesperson Parambans Singh Bunty tweeted and shared two news clips about the AAP government’s announcement and Purohit’s statements.
Third public outreach
Meanwhile, the Punjab governor notched his third public outreach programme after his visits to the border districts in April and September last year.
“My earlier visit was to meet people and understand the situation. These border districts are the most important areas in Punjab because they are next to Pakistan. Punjab has a glorious past. This is the land of the gurus. But I’m worried,” Purohit said Wednesday.
The octogenarian asserted that his tour was not aimed at blaming anyone but to generate awareness among the people.
“Drug smuggling is happening in all the border districts of Punjab which percolate into Punjab and even go out of the state. I appreciate the work of the state administration and the BSF as they are recovering a lot of drugs. But a lot is also not being recovered and that is how it finds its way into schools and villages. It is a matter of grave concern,” he said. “There is a need to strengthen the police stations. Drug addiction has spread among the police force as well.”
Noting that Punjab’s drug problem was “not a small matter”, the governor said that it was an indirect war waged by Pakistan. “They cannot have a direct war with us so they have found a way of sending in drugs through smuggling using drones. The only solution is to strengthen our border districts, and the people have to be aware. We cannot leave a crippled drug addicted legacy for the future,” he said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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