Punjab’s drug crisis is rapidly turning into a major political mobilisation issue ahead of the next year’s assembly election.
After the BJP took out a statewide anti-drug yatra and the AAP launched a door-to-door report-card campaign, the Shiromani Akali Dal has entered the contest with its own grassroots strategy – a women-led “Maawan-Dheeyan Insaaf” campaign under the leadership of Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
The SAD campaign is significant not only because of its focus on drugs, but also because of the way it is being organised.
The party has launched a door-to-door exercise involving booth-level workers across Punjab. This gives the SAD campaign a clear Malwa-centric footprint. These are not merely party meetings. Women from families affected by drugs are being brought into the campaign, while memorandums are being submitted to the administration demanding action and rehabilitation. The campaign also allows the SAD to widen the issue beyond drugs. Harsimrat has linked the drug crisis with women’s welfare, ration, unemployment, inflation and social-security benefits. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also taken the government’s report card directly to voters, beginning from his Dhuri constituency.
Because of its focus on drugs, but also because of the way it is being organised, the SAD campaign is significant not only.
For the Akali Dal, therefore, the “Maawan-Dheeyan Insaaf” campaign serves multiple purposes: putting the AAP government under pressure on drugs, creating a women-focused political constituency, taking the party organisation deeper into rural areas and strengthening its presence in the Malwa belt.
She has also revived the SAD’s earlier welfare schemes, including Aata-Daal, Shagun and old-age pensions, as part of the party’s pitch to rural voters.
