Amit Shah Vows Drug-Free Punjab by 2029

Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Jalandhar on September 30, 2026, to lead the Bharatiya Janata Party's Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra rally in Paragpur village. During the event, Shah pledged that the BJP would ensure there is not "a single chitta trader in the state" by December 31, 2029, if the party wins the upcoming Assembly election. He asserted that the BJP would make the drug menace the central issue of its campaign and claimed the party could wipe out the trade within two years of taking office.

Shah accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of allowing the trade of synthetic drugs to flourish openly. He further criticized the current administration, stating that "someone who gets intoxicated and insults the gurus cannot free Punjab from the scourge of drugs." To support his position, Shah cited national narcotics seizure statistics to contrast the performance of the current government against the Congress administration from 2004 to 2014.

The visit occurred amid security concerns, including email bomb threats sent to private schools in Jalandhar and Amritsar. Punjab Police also detained members of the Muslim Organisation Punjab, including general secretary Mazhar Alam, to prevent protests. Meanwhile, Congress MP Sukhjinder Randhawa criticized the Home Minister via social media, questioning why the Border Security Force has failed to break the supply chain of drone-based smuggling into the state.