States » NorthPosted at: Sep 16 2026 10:05PM


SPECIAL | Can BJP turn AAP’s unfinished drug promise into a road to power in Punjab?

Neeraj Bali
Chandigarh, Sep 16 (UNI) Punjab’s unresolved drug crisis, an issue that helped propel the Aam Aadmi Party to a historic mandate in 2022, is threatening to become one of its most uncomfortable political vulnerabilities ahead of the 2027 Assembly election.
The BJP, long a junior player in the state, is trying to turn that vulnerability into the foundation of its most ambitious independent bid for power in the run up to the 2027 Assembly election.
The political contrast is becoming increasingly difficult to miss. AAP entered office in 2022 with 92 of Punjab’s 117 Assembly seats after campaigning heavily on drugs, corruption and a promise of a different model of governance, while Arvind Kejriwal had projected the party as capable of tackling Punjab’s drug problem within months.
Four years later, Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan has publicly acknowledged that the government has not been able to fulfil its guarantee of eliminating “chitta”, a commonly used term for synthetic drugs. “Standing among mothers and sisters, I must confess that we could not fulfil our guarantee to eliminate chitta,” Sandhwan said during a public interaction in Kotkapura.
For the BJP, the admission has provided a ready-made campaign argument. From September 18, four “Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatras” are scheduled to travel roughly 4,000 km, taking the BJP’s anti-drug message through all 117 Assembly constituencies, concluding in Jalandhar.
BJP national president Nitin Nabin is due to flag off the first yatra from Madhopur in Pathankot district. Other routes are planned from politically and religiously significant locations.
“The BJP will contest elections from 117 seats on its own strength and capability,” BJP in-charge Poonia told reporters recently.
That is an important shift. During the BJP-Akali alliance era, the BJP largely contested urban constituencies while the Akali Dal provided the alliance with its broader rural and Sikh base.
The BJP has proposed closer coordination between Punjab Police and central agencies such as the Narcotics Control Bureau, Border Security Force and Customs, alongside religious organisations, educational institutions, doctors and civil society. The argument is that trafficking, addiction and rehabilitation require coordinated responses.
The NCB’s increased focus on trafficking networks and drug finances, and any convergence in their public emphasis on networks, finances and cross-border supply, should not be confused with the central agency participating in a party campaign.
Another element of the BJP strategy is Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who has become an increasingly visible political presence in Punjab. His repeated visits, meetings with political and community leaders and attacks on the AAP government over drugs, unemployment and governance suggest a sustained. Saini’s role also allows the BJP to offer Haryana as a comparison.
The larger BJP challenge remains organisational and to become a serious standalone contender, expansion cannot stop with its traditional urban Hindu support. It needs greater penetration into rural Punjab, credible Sikh leadership and an organisation capable of competing across Malwa, Majha and Doaba.
AAP can say it inherited a decades-old crisis and has been fighting it; the BJP can ask why the problem remains. But the Congress will complicate that binary. It remains a significant force and has been aggressively attacking the Mann government, while the Shiromani Akali Dal continues to compete for rural and Panthic political space.
Punjab also cannot simply be treated as another state into which a national electoral template can be imported. Agriculture, federal relations, Sikh political sensitivities, memories of the farmers’ agitation and the state’s distinctive regional politics can all influence how voters receive the BJP’s expansion.
UNI NB MCR
Tags: #SPECIAL | Can BJP turn AAP’s unfinished drug promise into a road to power in Punjab?
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