The drug menace in Punjab is emerging as a major rallying point for political parties. The issue has begun finding space on billboards along the state highways at several places before the Assembly elections early next year.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken the lead in reaching out to the people directly, by getting the affected to speak out in public. Addressing a party press conference last week, a 40-year-old Abohar resident, Baljeet Kaur, who lost her son to drug abuse, said, “We do not want free atta-dal, free travel or free electricity. We want freedom from ‘chitta’ (heroin).” She is not alone.Sensing the expected public reaction to the sensitive subject, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has accused the Opposition of deliberately portraying Punjab to be plagued by drugs. DGP Gaurav Yadav pointed out that as many as 7,582 FIRs have been registered under the NDPS Act since March 1, 2025. Showcasing the success of “Yudh Nasheyan Virudh” campaign, the conviction rate was 89 per cent.Taking on the BJP, Mann said the Centre was making a big issue about the recovery of a small quantity of drugs in Punjab but was silent on 3,000 kg of drugs recovered from Mundra port in BJP-governed Gujarat. Kicking off the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) election campaign in Ludhiana on Saturday, he said, “How can the BJP claim that it will get rid of the drug menace when it was very much a part of the system under which the menace prospered?”Earlier, the Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), during the August 29 Rakhar Punia festival at Baba Bakala pledged to bring out a comprehensive white paper on Punjab’s drug crisis if voted to power.Sachin Pilot, the AICC general secretary in-charge of Punjab, took on both AAP and the BJP-led Centre over the drug crisis in the state. Pilot said the AAP government had come to power in 2022 on the promise of making Punjab drug-free within three months, but drugs were still easily available.Reacting to the government’s figures showing that nearly 45 per cent of inmates in the state’s jails were registered for opioid-assisted treatment, former Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal said, “Four-and-a-half years later, their own government’s figures have completely exposed the grim ground reality.”The chorus against drugs gained renewed momentum after the 50-year-old Gulzar Singh’s suicide on September 7. He was allegedly harassed for questioning Finance Minister Harpal Cheema about the supply of drugs in the area during an event a day earlier.By way of a mention, Assembly speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan was recently quoted as saying, “Drugs cannot be completely eradicated from Punjab”. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, addressing the ‘Badlav’ rally at Moga in March earlier this year, has already asserted that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP could free the state from the menace.Cycle of allegations, counter-allegationsDrugs have featured prominently in the political script for Punjab, particularly, over the past nearly two decades.Former DGP Shashi Kant, a week ahead of the parliamentary polls in April 2014, levelled allegations against Congress leaders as well as SAD ministers for being involved in the drug trade. At the same time, Shashi Kant had failed to substantiate his allegations with any evidence.Sensing public support, former CM Capt Amarinder Singh addressing a rally in Bathinda in December 2015 had proclaimed that he would rid Punjab of drugs within four weeks of assuming power.Former SAD minister Bikram Singh Majithia’s name did come up in a report by the Special Task Force formed by the Congress government in 2017. The STF report, submitted in 2018 under a sealed cover, had concluded that “there is sufficient evidence on record to further investigate the role of Majithia.” The case is still sub judice.Daily media clippings splashed with images of youths dead with injections stuck in their arms continue to haunt the public. In such a scenario, allegations and counter-allegations by political parties have done little to allay the concerns of the public.