‘Never said I will finish drugs from Punjab,’ says former CM Captain Amarinder Singh

“I had gone to Bathinda for a rally and the venue was near Takht Sri Damdama Sahib. I had held Gutka Sahib in my hand and said “main nasheyaan da laq tod dunga” (I will break the back of drug supply). “Laq todan da matlab eh nahi ki main khatam kar dunga (Breaking the back does not mean I will completely finish the drugs),” said Amarinder.

Addressing a press conference in Moga, Amarinder said that he took several steps during his second tenure as the chief minister (beginning 2017) to break the drug supply chain.

“Senior IPS officer Harpreet Singh Sidhu was handling anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh and I got him back to Punjab to head the anti-drug special task force. Over one lakh drug peddlers were arrested in our special anti-drug drive. My jails minister had told me that prisons were full and there was no space left to keep more drug peddlers. I told him to release pickpockets, but keep drug peddlers in jail,” said Amarinder.

He said, “When I was the CM in 2002, drug peddlers used to operate from across the border by jumping fence and crossing river and entering inside by 7 km. Then we had to deploy Border Security Force (BSF) in 7-km radius. Then came drones, which started entering 40 kms. Recently, Punjab Police confiscated 35 kg heroin. It’s all coming from Pakistan which has only one motive: to finish our side of Punjab and our youths”.

Amarinder, who had earlier accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of ‘targeted harassment’ of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia, currently lodged in Nabha jail after being arrested in an alleged disproportionate assets (DA) case arising out of probe into the old drugs case, also sought to clarify his stand on the issue.

“This country has a rule of law. The High Court had directed (then STF chief) Harpreet Sidhu to probe drug allegations against Majithia and put them in sealed over before the court and that is what Sidhu did (in 2018). So now when one investigation was done, who is (current Punjab CM) Bhagwant Mann to get the investigation done again? It is the court which should decide if that probe was right or wrong. In the US, it is called double jeopardy, which means one crime and two investigations is not possible,” he said.

The findings in Sidhu’s 2018 report served as the foundation for the FIR against Majithia under the NDPS Act in December 2021.

The senior BJP leader also targeted the AAP government over the law and order issue in the state. “Gangsterism is at its peak in Punjab. Main taan karte si seedhe (I had made gangsters fall in line). Tell me which gangsters were active during my tenure? We had put all of them behind the bars. Now all of them are roaming free again,” said Amarinder.

Announcing that he was now fit to campaign for BJP in coming days, Amarinder said that he has come out in public after a long time due to his “spinal cord issues” which were now sorted after “surgery.”

“I had got injuries in spine during Army days and later got operated. It took time to settle down but now I am in Chardi Kalan and will rest only after we win. The BJP will form the next government in Punjab. We will work for the party at the ground level. I will soon visit Tarn Taran also where bypoll is scheduled,” said Amarinder.

After parting ways with the Congress on bitter note in 2021 without completing his tenure as CM, Amarinder had formed his own party Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) which contested the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls in alliance with BJP. However, the party drew blank, failing to win a single seat, including Amarinder’s loss from his bastion Patiala. He later merged his party with the BJP and joined the saffron party along with his wife and former Patiala MP Preneet Kaur and daughter Jai Inder Kaur.

Asked if he had left the Congress due to his bete noire and former cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, Amarinder said: “Who is Sidhu to decide if I had stayed in Congress or not? He was a minister. He was given culture and sports portfolios. For seven months, he would not clear his files. I called him (Sidhu) and asked and he had no explanation. Then I gave him power portfolio as he used to give a lot of statements on Punjab’s power problem. He refused to work in that department too and resigned. That is what Navjot Sidhu was.”

Commenting on his former party colleague and now state Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring who has repeatedly criticized Amarinder’s tenure as CM and also called him a “liability on Punjab”, Amarinder said: “I better not say anything on Warring. He should first see his own actions and past.”