Ludhiana, October 20 — Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday participated in the Vijayadashami festival at Ludhiana's Daresi Ground and performed the burning of a symbolic Ravana of 'chitta' — the local name for the heroin-type drug at the centre of Punjab's drug crisis — news agencies ANI and IANS reported.

In his address, Shah said the burning of Ravana's effigy symbolises the victory of good over evil, and that Vijayadashami is a day for every person to eliminate ego, pride and greed within themselves. He said he had heard since childhood that if you want to see Ravana Dahan, you should go to Ludhiana, where the Ramlila Committee has been organising the programme for about 200 years.

"On this very Vijayadashami, we take this resolve that by 31 December 2029 we will free the entire Punjab from the drug trade and make it a drug-free Punjab," Shah said, adding that there could be no greater tribute to the three men who lost their lives fighting drugs. Earlier on Tuesday he had met the families of anti-drug campaigners in Gurdaspur, Sangrur and Mansa, and said their tears, questions and pain were enough to shake anyone.

Shah repeated that the Punjab government has handed over one murder investigation — that of Mansa activist Parvinder Singh Jhota — to the CBI, and urged it to hand over the remaining two cases as well. "Once the investigation is handed over to the CBI, no matter how big a person is involved in these murders, the Modi government will track them down and put them behind bars," he said. The Indian Express, in its report of the Daresi Ground event, reported Shah warning that if the other two cases are not handed over, the BJP will move court to get it done.

"Article 370 and 35A are gone, terrorism is on the verge of being eliminated, and we have ended Naxalism — now we will also eliminate the drug trade," Shah said, presenting the pledge as part of the Modi government's record of fulfilling its promises, IANS reported. He also appealed to the people of Punjab to pass information about the drug trade to the Narcotics Control Bureau's toll-free helpline, saying the Modi government would act on it.

The other side: Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, speaking earlier on Tuesday, hit back at Shah's visit, asking why the Centre remembers Punjab only when elections come and why drugs entering across the Pakistan border and through ports are not stopped first — his allegations, which Awaaz Punjab has reported in a separate story. The AAP government had announced on Tuesday morning that the Jhota murder case was being handed to the CBI on his family's demand.

The dated 2029 pledge now becomes a measurable public commitment in the run-up to the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, in which drugs and law and order have become the central battleground between the BJP, the ruling AAP and the Congress. Punjab BJP leaders had earlier this month also spoken of making the state drug-free by December 2029. Sources: ANI, IANS, Indian Express (via News89), Yes Punjab News.