Pathankot, Sep 18 (IANS): Saying Punjab faces an enemy that doesn’t wear a uniform and sneaks silently into villages and homes, BJP National President, Nitin Nabin, on Friday rolled out the 13-day-long ‘Drug-Free Punjab Journey’ from Pathankot, that will cover 4,000-kms across all 117 Assembly seats.
Nabin said he had come from Patna, the land of Guru Gobind Singh, to Punjab. “From there (Patna), I have brought just one message: That this drug-free campaign must be taken to every nook and corner of Punjab, and by joining hands with every single Punjabi, we must strengthen this campaign,” he said, while addressing a gathering at the launch of the party’s campaign in the election-bound state that shares a border with Pakistan.
“I have come with a call to make Punjab completely drug-free,” he said at the flag-off event of the first march from Ekta Sthal at Madhopur in Pathankot district.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address the concluding rally in Jalandhar on September 30.
Just hours before the launch, a convoy of senior party leader Ravneet Singh Bittu was attacked when he was on the way to attend the event.
BJP President Nabin said, “Today’s day is very special for me as well. I have come with that issue, on which the pain and agony is being heard in every home of Punjab. I have come to connect myself with that pain.”
“Our young Punjabis, whenever a threat loomed on the country’s borders, or looms even now, stand ready at the frontlines with rifles in hand. But today, Punjab faces an enemy that doesn’t wear a uniform; it sneaks silently into our villages and homes, gradually ensnaring entire families in its grip.
“This enemy is none other than addiction, and its mafia, the ones we must resolve to eradicate.”
He added that he had come to the heroic land of Pathankot not “just to embark on a journey, but to begin a new battle for Punjab with a resolve”.
“Just now, I was offering floral tribute at the statue of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. This very place in Pathankot is where, when he was on his way to oppose Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, he was arrested. After that, the BJP fought a long battle. I, too, got the opportunity to go to Kashmir in 2012,” he said.
The BJP chief further asserted that he was saying “this today because if a BJP worker or leader takes any resolve, they also possess the strength to take it to fruition and complete it. We struggled for a long time, but throughout our entire struggle, resolve was tied to us. That was the reason we freed Jammu and Kashmir from Article 370 in 2019”.
Without mincing words, Nabin, who was sporting a saffron coloured turban, said, “I have come to stand in solidarity with the people amid this suffering. We must take this ‘Nasha Mukt’ campaign to every corner of Punjab and strengthen it by uniting with every Punjabi and every community in the state. When the BJP, its workers and its leadership, undertake a pledge, it possesses the determination and capability to see it through to fruition.”
