A day after Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh indicated his government was hooked to a drug-free state by making dope test mandatory for all government employees and police officials, demand for putting the elected representatives, including the Chief Minister, under scanner gained momentum on Thursday with a former Congress Minister mooting the idea.
Grabbing the salvo fired by the senior Congress leader Manish Tewari, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MlA Aman Arora underwent a dope test daring Capt Amarinder for the same. To counter the opposition’s criticism, the state Cabinet Minister Tirpat Bajwa too went for the test, but was denied owing to his continuing medication.
SAD president and the former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal too supporting the idea of conducting dope test of all MPs and MlAs. Sukhbir’s Union Minister wife Harsimrat Badal dubbed the move as “nothing more than a gimmick to deflect people's attention from Congress’ failure” while demanding dope test of Congress national president Rahul Gandhi.
That was not all! The Punjab Civil Secretariat Staff Association, though welcomed the government’s decision of conducting dope test, demanded that every single person, getting salary from the state exchequer, should undergo the check right from the Chief Minister or the Ministers, MlAs, among others.
At the same time, the Association has warned the State Government that if only the employees would be “targeted” and the proposed notification did not include the names of all those getting salaries from state treasury, “we would opposed the same with the cooperation of all district level associations and it will be difficult for the government to withstand it”.
“We welcome the move but it should not only be limited to the government civil and police employees. Every person, right from the top to the bottom level of the government, be it the Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers, MlAs or even the party presidents and office bearers, their district presidents, circle or block heads, and party workers should undergo this test,” the Association president Sukhchain Singh Khaira told The Pioneer while accusing the powers-that-be of making the “honest” employees the “scapegoats” to save their face.
In a fight against the deadly drug menace in the state, Capt Amarinder on Wednesday issued orders making it mandatory for all government employees, including both civil and police, to undergo mandatory dope tests from the time of their recruitment through every stage of their service — impacting no less than 3.5 lakh employees.
Already, the government has made such tests mandatory for the recruitment of constables and sub-inspectors, who are analyzed for drugs like morphine, amphetamine, marijuana and propoxyphene.
Welcoming the move, the political leaders, cutting across the party lines, has been demanding inclusion of the MlAs and MPs.
“Dope tests on government servants for recruitment or promotions as proposed by the Punjab government is a welcome step. Must be made mandatory for all MlAs and MPs from the state...It would not only set an example but also remove any unreasonable classification between two classes of public servants,” the former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Manish Tewari in the morning.
Soon after, AAP MlA Aman Arora underwent a dope test at Mohali Civil Hospital and dared Capt Amarinder to lead by example and get such a test done on himself, his Cabinet members and the ruling Congress MlAs.
“AAP will support any progressive steps by the state to curb drugs problem in Punjab. But it would have been better if the Chief Minister had started the dope test with himself, his Ministers and legislators,” said Arora after the test.
“Youngsters of Punjab have lost everything due to police, leaders and drug mafia. Be it Capt Amarinder Singh, Sukhbir Badal or Bikram Majithia, everyone should get it done,” he said.
Arora said that it was a matter of shame that elected representatives have to undergo ethical challenges like dope testing just because there is a big-time nexus between the politicians and police officers with the drugs mafia. “I appeal to everyone — from panchayat members to the Chief Minister — to undergo the dope test,” he added.
Taking on Capt Amarinder, Arora said: “When he had to seek votes, Amarinder Singh held a ‘Gutka Sahib’ in his hand and took a pledge to wipe out drugs and drug mafia from Punjab within four weeks of coming to power. But even after over one year, nothing has been done by his government to curb the drug rackets.”
He said that the drugs problem will not be curbed till the Congress government show the commitment to deal with politicians and police officials involved with the mafia behind these activities.
In unison, AAP’s state co-president Balbir Singh also asked the Chief Minister, and SAD president Sukhbir Badal to take the lead and get their dope tests done.
Supporting the same demand, senior BJP leader Harjit Singh Grewal asked why the government limits the dope tests to the police and other employees only. “The government should also conduct dope tests of the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues…If drug-tainted politicians are in the government, they will continue to aid and abet the drug smugglers and peddlers,” he said.
SAD president Sukhbir Badal, while backing the demand for conducting the dope test of all MlAs and MPs, asserted that parties should not indulge in politics over the issue of drugs.
“The Chief Minister should call an all party meeting on the drugs issue, and the Akali Dal will fully cooperate the Government on this issue,” said Sukhbir.
Harsimrat, SAD’s MP from Bathinda, said: “Before implementing such an order, the chief of the Congress party, which is ruling the state, should himself undergo one.”
Harsimrat said: “Capt Amarinder and Congress have completely failed to eliminate drugs from Punjab…In fact, the problem had become more rampant since the party came to power 1.5 years ago.”
Saying that the new move is “very good”, Harsimrat demanded that before the government employees, “Gandhi, who came to take political mileage and declared 70 percent of Punjabis ‘druggies’, should undergo one”.
The state Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tripat Rajinder Bajwa also reached the Mohali Civil Hospital to undergo the test, but was denied permission due to health issues. It has been learnt that he was asked to come for the tests on Monday.
Bajwa, who was among the first one in the state government to demand the dope test of all police officials, and also of the elected representatives besides the candidates of all elections, has maintained that he would make attempts to introduce dope testing in the ensuing panchayat polls.