Why badal is getting insulted and Humiliated by BJP on Drugs issue

The Bharatita Janata Party in Punjab seems to have made it a single point agenda to corner its alliance partner, the Shiromani Akali Dal, on the issue of increasing menace of drugs going by the developments during the last ten days. What happened on the stage in Hoshiarpur at the state level function to mark the International Day against Drugs yesterday is nothing less than public insult and humiliation of fifth time Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal by Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot.Ironically, Badal seemed to be on defensive going by his statement today while interacting with the media persons at Ranike village in Dhuri Assembly constituency in Sangrur district that the state was being maligned irrespective of the fact that not even a single ounce of drug was produced here. He said drugs opium, heroin, smack and the like were being smuggled in the state from across the border whereas other narcotics like poppy husk were coming to Punjab from states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and others where it was sold openly. However, he said that ironically the state’s image has been belittled just because Punjab was fighting the war against drugs from the forefront. “We have suffered earlier as the state fought national war against militancy to protect unity and integrity of the country and now we are being victimized for waging a direct war against drug menace” added Badal. However, during the turbulent days, he never claimed that the Akali Dal was fighting nation’s war against militancy. He used to share stage with the militants.
None would disagree with him so far as the source of these drugs is concerned. He should also point out that both opium and poppy husk have been in use, especially in the Malwa belt, for years. What he is not referring to are the synthetic drugs that are posing the biggest challenge and are locally produced. The name of his former cabinet colleague Sarwan Singh Phillaur did not surface in the smuggling or heroine but in the case of chemical drugs. Former police official turned drug lord Jagdish Bhola was arrested in Rs 6000 crore racket that again related to locally manufactured drugs. Punjab is on the transit route for heroine.
What is strange is that the drug menace has not posed that serious a problem in the states where poppy cultivation is legal and is for use in the pharmaceutical industry. Entire border with Pakistan is fenced but still the smugglers have managed to smuggle in heroine.
What should be more alarming for Badal is the severest indictment coming from another quarter and this is in relation to the intake of the Punjab youth in the army being down to just one per cent. “The decline in numbers is no longer restricted to the officer cadre, but the number of recruits has sharply fallen across all ranks. This is disappointing for Punjab which has a glorious martial legacy”, said Major General S C Meston, GOC, Golden Arrow Division in Ferozepur yesterday. What was all the more damning was his honest observation that poor standards of education at grassroots, deteriorating health standards and ever-growing menace of drugs and alcohol abuse were posing a serious challenge to the economic and social health of the states. No motives or politics can be attributed to this honest statement.
Badal should not feel guilty for all the ills afflicting the state as the roots of the deterioration in education and health services go deeper and can be traced to the fiscal management adopted in 2004 under “guidance” from the World Bank. Punjab was not the only victim of those policies. It is the World Bank policies introduced by the state governments in 2004 including Punjab that hit the education and health services hard with the state government curtailing capital expenditure under these heads. The vacancies were not filled up to meet the so called targets of fiscal prudence. Unskilled people were recruited on contract as education and health services providers. Teachers were recruited at a fixed salary of Rs 5000 per month and doctors at Rs 30,000 per month. The education and health sectors never recovered.
Now these same teachers have been agitating in their respective states to be absorbed in the regular category. It is the quality in the education and health sectors that became casualty. What is required is concensus on the path of development to be adopted in states like Punjab. Punjab at one time had one of the best infrastructure both in education and health sectors. The tragedy is that rather than improving the same, it came to be replaced by the private slowly.
What has happened over the years that the government “invited” specialised health care institutions, provided them land but the treatment these institutions provide is beyond the reach of the common man. It may be recalled that the medical college hospitals at Patiala and Amritsar used to provide the best of medical care but the neo-liberal policies that the government adopted has done total damage.The issue is not that of drugs alone as what is needed a holistic approach on the path of development and governance.BJP is going ahead with its agenda with the objective of chartering independent course in 2017 Assembly elections and it is with this aim that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh has intensified its activities.At test is the patience of Parkash Singh Badal as he has already faced public humiliation twice, first at Anandpur Sahib and now at Hoshiarpur.

By Jagtar Singh