CHANDIGARH — The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Punjab on Sunday, November 8, marked Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas by lighting special lamps at the party's state office in Chandigarh in memory of young people who lost their lives to drug abuse, IANS reported. Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon participated in the ceremony and lit the lamps, including one specifically dedicated to the youths who fell victim to drug addiction.

Source: IANS via Nation Press

The party said the gesture was a tribute to families whose lives have been devastated by drugs — particularly mothers who lost their sons and sisters who lost their brothers — and described the initiative as dedicated to 'households whose lights had been extinguished by the drug menace', remembering families struggling with the irreparable loss of their loved ones.

Source: IANS via The Freedom Press

Bandi Chhor Divas linked to liberation from drugs

The BJP linked the occasion of Bandi Chhor Divas with its resolve to fight drug addiction. Bandi Chhor Divas commemorates the release of the sixth Sikh Guru, Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji, from Gwalior Fort along with 52 kings. Dhillon prayed for Punjab to be freed from the drug scourge and expressed hope that peace, prosperity and happiness would return to every household in the state, the reports said.

Source: IANS via hi INDiA

The party reiterated its commitment to stand with families affected by drug abuse and vowed to continue its fight against the menace 'until the state is free from the problem'. It also extended greetings on Diwali and Bandi Chhor Divas. No specific new policy proposals were detailed at the ceremony.

Source: IANS via Nation Press

Drugs at the centre of the 2027 fight

The ceremony is the BJP's latest move to keep Punjab's drug crisis at the centre of its campaign ahead of the 2027 assembly elections, in a state currently governed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). On November 4, at the party's 'Zakhm 84 De' conclave in Chandigarh, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad named the drug addiction crisis one of the two deepest wounds on Punjab's soul, alongside the wounds of 1984. The AAP government, for its part, says its 'Yudh Nashian Virudh' anti-drug drive is under way across the state; the BJP alleges the government has failed to curb the menace. Both positions are the parties' own, stated here as they stated them.

Source: IANS via Nation Press

At the BJP's November 4 conclave in Chandigarh, the party put the drug crisis alongside 1984 in its Punjab campaign. Read the earlier story

Punjab has long been among India's most drug-affected states, with concerns spanning heroin, synthetic drugs and pharmaceutical misuse, and the issue has become a major flashpoint between the AAP, the Congress and the BJP as the 2027 contest takes shape. What happens next: whether the BJP converts symbolic moments like Sunday's ceremony into a sustained policy campaign on drugs, and how the AAP government answers the charge, will be watched as campaigning intensifies.

Source: IANS via The Freedom Press