Drug Menace Takes Centre Stage as Rahul Launches Punjab Poll Campaign

Kick-starting the poll rally at Sangrur in Punjab on Wednesday, LoP Rahul Gandhi targeted the AAP government mainly on the issue of the drug menace.

Addressing the ‘Insaaf Rally’, he recalled his interaction with slain singer Sidhu Moosewala. Rahul said, “Many years back, I had said that drugs are spreading in Punjab. The BJP and the Akali Dal at that time said Rahul Gandhi does not know anything about Punjab, downplaying the drug menace. Today, ‘chitta’ (adulterated heroin) is a major issue in the state.”

Rahul began his speech by asking the gathering, “How's your mood today?”

He said he had a plan for his speech but changed it following the meeting he had with the slain singer Sidhu Moosewala’s father, Balkaur Singh. He then recalled his meeting with Moosewala years back, when he did not know much about him.

“A few years ago, I had met Sidhu Moosewala when he had come to see me in my office. I did not know him at the time. He came across as an impressive young man. He had a tattoo. I had not listened to his songs then. I was told that he was a good person, a musician, and wanted to join the Congress. He was a dynamic, talented young man and we made him join the party,” Rahul said.

“I felt that he ought to be made to feel comfortable as he was a newcomer to politics. He was probably Punjab’s most talented singer, who could also one day make a mark in politics,” the LoP said.

Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popular as Sidhu Moosewala, was shot dead in Punjab’s Mansa district on May 29, 2022.

“Punjab’s voice used to come out in his songs, which I listened to later,” he added.

Rahul said, “His security was removed one day he was killed in broad daylight.” Gandhi said when he visited Moosewala’s residence later, his father told him that there cannot be a greater pain than seeing the death of one’s son.

“People need a government that works for Punjab. Not like AAP, which is run from Delhi,” the Lok Sabha leader of the opposition said.

“Tell me, which poll promises did it fulfil?” Rahul asked the crowd, urging them to vote for Congress for jobs and a drugs-free Punjab.

Reiterating his challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an open debate on the latter’s charge that Congress is anti-national. He said Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the government was ready to hold a special session of Parliament for discussion on all issues. “But you switch off my mic; you let me speak in Parliament,” he asked Modi to come anywhere, sit with him and debate.