The BJP’s decision to choose Jalandhar to culminate its four statewide ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab’ yatras and hold a rally of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on September 30 is not just about its central geographical location. It is more about socio-political messaging.The four yatras, covering all 117 Assembly constituencies and nearly 4,000 km, have been designed to put drugs, crime and corruption at the centre of the BJP’s campaign for the 2027 Punjab elections.Jalandhar occupies a particularly important place in the scheme of things of the saffron party. It is the political nucleus of Doaba, a region of 23 Assembly seats spread across Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr.With its sizeable Scheduled Caste population and strong NRI links, Doaba is being seen as a good launch pad by the party that already has a good cadre and leadership strength in the region.The BJP’s increased attention to Jalandhar has already been noticed, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited here twice this year. He was here on February 1 on the occasion of Guru Ravidas Jayanti at Dera Sachkhand Ballan and again on July 17 for the inauguration of the redeveloped Jalandhar Cantonment Railway Station, from where he had also flagged off a train from Amritsar to Varanasi.Choosing the Devi Talab Mandir as the culmination point adds to the political symbolism that the party wants to give. The nearly 200-year-old shrine is dedicated to Goddess Durga and is regarded as one of the prominent Shakti Peethas.BJP Punjab general secretary Anil Sarin said, “We chose Jalandhar for a number of reasons. It is a central place of Punjab and it will be best suited for workers and supporters from across Punjab to make it to the event.“It is one of the four important cities of Punjab with a good trader and industrial base. Since the anti-drug yatras carry a sankalp, we feel that culminating them at the Shakti Peeth Sri Devi Talab Mandir too will send across the right message.”Sarin added that since he was yet to receive the programme of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he was not sure about his visit to the temple.In February 2022, ahead of the last Assembly elections in Punjab, PM Modi had expressed his desire to visit the Shri Devi Talab Mandir during a public address in Jalandhar. He had stated that he could not go because the local police and administration had expressed its inability to make security arrangements.Party’s Punjab media head Vineet Joshi said, “The exact venue of Amit Shah’s rally is yet to be finalised. It will be along a connecting highway so that the public is able to reach comfortably and there is no parking issue. We also intend not to disturb the internal traffic of the city.”“Picking Jalandhar as our rally venue has an added advantage for we have a good worker strength for allocating duties and handling all arrangements locally,” he added.