Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat has become the "gateway of drugs" to the country under his watch, the Congress alleged on Friday, questioning the "silence" of the PM and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said there has been a series of recoveries of drug consignments starting from July, 2017 right up to this week from several ports including Mundra and Pupavav in the state. Just on Thursday, 52 kilograms of cocaine, worth Rs 500 crore, was recovered from Mundra Port that had come from Iran, he alleged at the AICC Press conference.
When under "pressure from the Congress", the Mundra port had announced they will not handle cargos from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, then how the latest consignment of cocaine was recovered from there, he asked.
Khera said the Congress had to question the government on the post of Narcotics Control Bureau head lying vacant for 18 months, before the appointment was made under "pressure" from the opposition party.
He alleged Gujarat has become a "gateway of drugs" to the country under the watch of PM Modi and Home Minister Shah.
"This is a prime minister who talks more and does less. On this particular issue, (he has said) not a word. Why this silence?" Congress leader said drugs cannot be traded just at a retail level and this trade is always a part of larger global syndicates which enjoy active political patronage in whichever country they operate.
Under this government, Khera alleged, the NCB, Enforcement Directorate, CBI and other agencies have been reduced to dealing with "retail politics" and are being "misused" by the ruling dispensation against political opponents.
Instead of "forcing" these agencies to deal into "retail politics", the government should allow them to focus more on recovering the wholesale drug consignments that are coming, he said. He also referred to a major smuggling of drugs that allegedly happened in June, 2021 and "did not get caught". He said it involved consignments of 25 tonnes and costing around Rs 1,75,000 crore.