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.
Haryana 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.
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. 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. 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 While the BJP is promising voters in Punjab that it will eliminate drugs.
Because of the widening political contrast between Haryana and Punjab, the exchange assumes significance. 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.
Leave ChatGPT aside and put the officers to work to get the correct figures,” he said.
