“I do not want free atta-dal, free travel or free electricity. We work hard to support our families. We do not want free schemes; we want freedom from ‘chitta’ (heroin).”These were the words of the mother of a young man from Abohar who lost his life to drugs. She was among nearly 50 families from across Punjab brought before the media by Punjab BJP state president Kewal Singh Dhillon and former state president Jattvibeil Jakhar at a press conference held under the banner “Mavan Mangdian Jawab” (Mothers Demand Answers).The families demanded concrete action against drugs instead of free government schemes, as well as justice in cases involving the deaths of their family members.Chief Minister should resign: DhillonDhillon said several times more innocent people had fallen victim to drugs in Punjab than had been killed in 1984, and claimed that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s government had no moral right to remain in power.He appealed to the people of Punjab to remove the government immediately and demanded Mann’s resignation. He announced four “Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatras” (Drug-Free Punjab Marches), beginning September 18, citing the BJP’s record of eliminating Naxalism and gang violence in Uttar Pradesh and Kashmir.“On the basis of this record, we promise the people of Punjab that we will eliminate drugs from Punjab within two years of forming the government,” he said.CM Mann is embracing gangsters, says JakharPointing towards the empty chairs kept at the press conference to represent those who had died, Jakhar said the pain of the families could not be expressed in words. He said their objective was to ensure that “no other mother loses her son.”Taking a jibe at the government’s “Yudh Nasheyan Virudh” campaign, launched in March 2025, he noted that DGP Gaurav Yadav had claimed 8,344 FIRs and over 13,000 arrests within three months—a figure Yadav now puts at 79,000.“Who will take responsibility for what has happened to these people?” Jakhar asked. He also recalled Yadav’s May 2025 pledge to fix accountability on officers in cases where drugs were recovered and demanded that he disclose how many officers had actually faced consequences.He alleged that prisons had become safe havens for smugglers and that Mann was inducting gangsters into the party.Case studiesA woman from Abohar said that after she reported her brother’s drug use to the police, she was told: “You buy the drugs and we will reach the spot and catch them.” She said this left her, as a woman, unsure how she was expected to do so herself.Her mother said of her son’s death: “He was my only son. He was beaten and thrown away. The police officers said they could not pick up the body for four hours because they did not have a vehicle.”Another woman said both her sons had died of addiction and that she now cleans houses to survive. A man from Morinda said his son was battling for his life in hospital. A young man from Gharuan admitted to his own addiction and appealed for help. A family from Nawanshahr said the police told them: “Buy the drugs in front of us, and then we will catch them.”(Identities withheld given the circumstances following the Gulzar and Mohanjeet incidents.)