Why an AAP MP’s anti-drugs campaign is turning heads in Punjab

The development places Seechewal in the unusual position of being an AAP MP publicly flagging law-and-order concerns under his own party’s government. It also comes at a time when the Opposition has kept up its attack on the Bhagwant Mann government over drugs and policing.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Seechewal, however, said the campaign should not be viewed as an attack on the government, the police, or any political party. “I am not doing this against anybody, nor am I doing it to give any tool in the hands of the Opposition,” he insisted.

Seechewal said the campaign is not about turning villagers into policemen. “My emphasis is on mobilising communities, strengthening village-level vigilance, and ensuring that young people trapped in addiction are taken to de-addiction and rehabilitation centres,” he added.

Remove my security: When Seechewal wrote to DGP

The campaign follows another unusual move by Seechewal. Days before launching it, he wrote to Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav, asking that the six police personnel deployed for his security be withdrawn and sent to police stations, particularly Sultanpur Lodhi and Lohian Khas, which he said were facing staff shortages.

In his letter, Seechewal pointed to thefts in his own village, where eight incidents were reported in a single night, including the theft of electricity wires. He also raised concerns about increasing crimes, including incidents at religious places, and the growing drug menace in the region.

The two initiatives—surrendering his security personnel and now mobilising villages against drugs—are linked by a common concern that Seechewal has repeatedly raised: that the fight against drugs and crime cannot be left entirely to an overstretched police force.

First launched in 32 villages, the campaign has begun to show results, according to Seechewal and police officials. At an August 18 meeting at Nirmal Kutiya in Sultanpur Lodhi, attended by representatives of more than 50 villages, Seechewal said that around 150 grams of heroin and eight motorcycles allegedly linked to drug trafficking had been recovered at the village and handed to the police.

At public meetings, residents have openly flagged the easy availability of drugs and rising thefts linked to addiction. In Lohian, villagers urged action to break the supply chain, arguing that rehabilitation alone would not work unless the narcotics source was targeted.

No politics involved?

An AAP village sarpanch, who joined Seechewal’s campaign, said Punjab’s drug problem has been one of the state’s most politically sensitive issues for more than a decade, with successive governments blaming each other for failing to curb trafficking. “The AAP government, which came to power in 2022 with a promise to eliminate drugs, has repeatedly maintained that action is being taken against smugglers and the supply network. The government programme, Yudh Nashyan Virudh, is also on,” the sarpanch added.

In such a scenario, Seechewal’s campaign highlights how serious Punjab’s drug problem remains, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, chief spokesperson, Shiromani Akali Dal, said. “An AAP MP’s decision to launch a parallel grassroots campaign—and his repeated references to chitta (referring to heroin), thefts, police shortages and the need to identify compromised officials—underlines the persistence of the problem on the ground,” he said.

Seechewal, however, said he had no political intention. “I have raised such issues earlier as well, irrespective of which party was in power. These are the real issues facing the people of my area and Punjab. I see them from that angle only. There is no politics involved in it,” he added.

Seechewal said if every village took responsibility for its own surroundings, drug peddlers would find it hard to operate openly. The campaign has also revived an older model of community vigilance, with the AAP leader urging villagers to strengthen traditional watch systems, install CCTV cameras, and ensure suspicious activity is promptly reported to the police.

Whether ‘Apna Pind Sambhalo’ remains a local campaign centred around the Sultanpur Lodhi-Lohian belt or develops into a wider Punjab-wide movement remains to be seen. But the larger question it raises is difficult to ignore politically, a senior AAP leader said.

“When a ruling party MP feels compelled to give up his own security cover to highlight police shortages, and simultaneously mobilises villages against drugs and thefts, what does it say about the pressure on Punjab’s policing and the persistence of its drug problem?” the leader asked.

For now, Seechewal said, the answer should not be sought in politics. “It should be seen from the point of view of the issues. Saving our youth and our villages is the concern. That is all,” he said.