With its sights firmly set on Punjab ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is preparing to make the state’s drug menace a central plank of its electoral campaign. The party’s four-pronged ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’, beginning September 18, will traverse nearly 4,000 km across all 117 Assembly constituencies before culminating in Jalandhar on September 30.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to address a mega rally in the city on the final day, marking his first pre-election rally in Jalandhar as Home Minister. The campaign is being positioned by the BJP as more than a conventional political roadshow. Party leaders say the objective is to turn the fight against drug abuse into a mass movement and tap into growing public concern over narcotics, gangsterism and law and order in Punjab.
The BJP national president Nitin Nabin is expected to flag off the first yatra from Ekta Sthal at Madhopur in Pathankot on September 18. Three other yatras will originate from Fazilka, Talwandi Sabo and Fatehgarh Sahib on September 19, 20 and 21, respectively. Together, the four campaigns will criss-cross the state and converge in Jalandhar.
Senior party leader Tarun Chugh said making Punjab “drug-free and fear-free” was the BJP’s primary agenda. He alleged that drugs such as chitta, smack and heroin were destroying the state’s youth and linked the narcotics problem to concerns over cross-border smuggling, gangsterism and law and order. “This is not just a health crisis, it is a crisis of law and order, family and state security,” Chugh said, accusing the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government of failing to effectively tackle the problem.
The BJP has promised that, if voted to power, it will seek to eradicate drug addiction within two years. The party says its strategy will include greater focus on sports, education and employment to provide young people with alternatives to drugs.
The campaign will also feature testimonies from families affected by drug addiction. BJP workers have been asked to reach out to such families, youth groups, NGOs, rehabilitation centres, sports organisations and village-level anti-drug committees. Pledge campaigns against drug abuse will also be organised along the yatra routes.
The party is preparing a “drug abuse chargesheet” listing its allegations against the AAP government’s handling of the narcotics problem. It plans to distribute the document during the campaign.
Around 42 central BJP leaders, including Union ministers and senior organisational functionaries, are expected to participate in the yatras. Among those named by party leaders are Union ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Arjun Ram Meghwal, Nitin Nabin and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.
The BJP is also planning women-centric outreach under its Nari Shakti programme, visits to rehabilitation centres and interactions with youth. Party leaders are reportedly exploring engagement with youth icons, including singer Yo Yo Honey Singh, to broaden the campaign’s appeal.
The party has set an ambitious outreach target of nearly three crore people through physical events, grassroots mobilisation and social media. The BJP leaders have repeatedly accused successive Punjab governments of failing to fulfil promises to eradicate drugs. Manoranjan Kalia said the forthcoming yatra and Shah’s rally represented the party’s formal political call for a “drug-free Punjab”, while claiming that the Congress, AAP and Shiromani Akali Dal had failed on the issue.
The BJP’s campaign comes as it seeks to expand its organisational footprint in Punjab following its electoral gains elsewhere, including West Bengal. While the 2027 polls are still months away, the party’s statewide mobilisation indicates that it has begun shaping its electoral narrative well in advance.
With the yatra logo expected to be unveiled soon, the BJP is betting that ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab’ can become both its grassroots campaign and its battle cry for the 2027 Assembly elections.
