Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Sunday maintained that the latest PGIMER survey listing drug addiction in Punjab at less than one per cent had yet again nailed the lies of Congress’ national vice-president Rahul Gandhi, besides exposing the conspiracy of anti-Punjab forces who had maligned the State and its people for their petty political goals.
SAD president Sukhbir Badal said that the comprehensive survey which was carried out in all 22 districts as well as 22 villages in each district had exposed anti- Punjab conspiracy of Rahul Gandhi and his team as well as that of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal.
“Both leaders and their parties should now tell Punjabis why they branded them as drug addicts and tender an unconditional apology to the people of the State,” he said.
Stating that the entire conspiracy was hatched to counter the development narrative of the previous SAD- BJP government, he said that though the Congress had succeeded in its goal of achieving power in Punjab, it had caused incalculable damage to its people and its economy.
“Both Congress and AAP played with the lives of the youth and made them virtually un-hireable. The image distortion also dented the image of Punjab and Punjabis worldwide,” he said.
Terming Rahul Gandhi as “villain-in-chief”, Sukhbir said that he uttered an utter lie to reap political mileage for his flagging party by claiming in October 2012 at a NSUI function in Chandigarh that 70 per cent of the State's youth were drug addicts.
On AAP, Sukhbir said that Kejriwal and his gang of outsiders had also tried to doom the future of the youth by claiming 40 lakh youth were drug addicts.
“PGIMER report today puts the entire number of addicts in the state at 2.7 lakh. Other reports, included that conducted by AIIMS, have come out with even lower figures than this,” he added.
Asking both the Congress and AAP to close this “sordid defamation campaign” immediately, Sukhbir said that they should learn a lesson from successive reports and surveys which had exposed their lies and proved their only aim was attract votes through fraud and deceit.
A detailed survey by AIIMS, Delhi had put the drug addiction at 0.84 per cent, he pointed.
SAD president said that the Indian Army had conducted regular drug tests on thousands of candidates appearing for army recruitment during the last three years and reported negligent incidence of drugs among Punjab youth. “The army top brass has even gone on record to state that this issue was being hyped,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sukhbir asked the Congress government to continue with the drug rehabilitation programme initiated by Parkash Singh Badal with the same earnestness so that drug incidence could be lowered further.