Sachin Pilot, serving as AICC general secretary with responsibility for Punjab affairs, responded on Friday to a post Union Home Minister Amit Shah had placed on X concerning the killing of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota and the AAP-led state government's handling of the matter.
Bhagwant Mann, the Punjab Chief Minister, responded to Shah's post by characterising it as a verbatim copy of an earlier message. Mann also pointed out that under existing rules, a 50-kilometre belt along the border falls under Border Security Force authority, and separately noted that a 3,000-kilogram consignment of chitta had been intercepted at Kandla port, located in Gujarat. In a Punjabi-language post on X responding to Shah's message, Mann directed him not to pass off content composed by his aides as his own.
In a Punjabi-language post, Shah stated that the region was contending with pressures from narcotics, gang activity, and organised criminal networks. Two separate incidents have put Punjab's public safety record under scrutiny — a resident of Dirba reportedly died by suicide amid reported pressure, while Parvinder Singh Jhotta, who had openly spoken against drug trafficking in the area, was shot dead during daylight hours in Mansa — prompting questions directed at the Bhagwant Mann administration over the extent to which authorities are fulfilling their duty to protect people living across the state.
Parvinder's father has put forward a series of complaints directed at the AAP administration and one of its sitting legislators. The Union Home Minister's written statement noted that narcotics trafficking in Punjab has been expanding, that organised criminal networks pose a growing threat, and that concerns have been raised about the safety of individuals who speak out against drug activity. The ministry also indicated it would request responses from the Punjab government on both matters.
Addressing the chief minister of Punjab directly, Shah called on the state government to move beyond announcements and deliver tangible outcomes — including action against drug networks and an impartial inquiry into any links between criminals and political figures — before going on to pledge that, if his party formed the next government in Punjab, it would pursue a state free of drugs, gang activity, and insecurity. The statement outlined objectives centred on countering narcotics networks, safeguarding younger generations, enforcing accountability for those who break the law, and establishing conditions where residents can live without intimidation. Separately, Mann raised doubts about whether Shah could read Punjabi, contending that the content attributed to him had been supplied by the Punjab BJP unit rather than composed independently.
Midway through a five-day tour of households in the state that had reported extortion demands linked to organised crime networks, Pilot spoke to reporters, asking whether the central government had remained passive on the issue across the previous four-and-a-half years and arguing that concerns over drugs appeared to draw attention from the Centre only as election periods drew near. Pilot additionally put forward the view that unlicensed firearms flowing into Punjab may have origins outside the state, while urging the central government to account for what he characterised as a tendency to engage with the narcotics problem primarily when assembly polls draw near.
He raised the question of whether the central government had taken note of revenue streams tied to narcotics, extortion, unlicensed weapons, and the financial networks sustaining organised criminal groups. Pilot also raised questions about the federal government's inaction, pointing to the range of agencies at its disposal, including intelligence bodies. Separately, when asked about the BJP's assertion that it had ended Naxalism and its pledge to make Punjab free of drugs, Pilot noted that the party had itself been part of a coalition government in the state alongside the Shiromani Akali Dal, during which time the drug issue remained unresolved.
Partap Singh Bajwa, who leads the Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and holds the Congress seat from Qadian, put forward a written statement posing the question of what the BJP-led central government had done about drug trafficking, gang activity, and organised crime in Punjab over the preceding four years — given that the Union home minister had himself raised those same issues as problems the state faces — and maintained that Congress stood as the only viable political alternative in the region. Bajwa argued that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who also holds responsibility for the home portfolio, faces questions regarding the state of law and order in Punjab, adding that posting a message expressing concern falls short of accountability or tangible action.
Bajwa further argued that pointing to AAP's governance record did not release the central government from its own responsibilities, and that Bhagwant Mann had yet to explain to Punjab residents why their sense of personal safety had deteriorated on his watch. Questions about what the Union home ministry has done to address drug trafficking networks and organised crime operating in Punjab have yet to receive a clear public accounting.
Posting on X, BJP national president Nitin Nabin argued that Punjab's drug problem had grown to a level warranting attention, and questioned whether a party that had governed the state across four years of that deterioration held the standing to position itself as the solution through a single social media message. Two deaths in Punjab — Bikramjit Singh, 40, in Gurdaspur and anti-drug campaigner Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa — unfolded within a 48-hour window, prompting questions about the protection afforded to those working against narcotics networks, with Nabin among those calling for those responsible for such safety to be held to account.
Warring, who previously led the Punjab Congress, wrote on X that while the state administration continues to attribute the spread of chitta to cross-border sources, capsule-form substances are now reportedly making their way into rural areas and reaching students at the school level. A fatality and two non-fatal injuries were recorded in Sri Hargobindpur among individuals who, according to community members, had voiced opposition to narcotics trade activity taking place in the locality.
Batala SSP Mehtab Singh told reporters that the killing in Maari Pannuan village, near Sri Hargobindpur, stemmed from a dispute over a mobile phone rather than any connection to narcotics — a characterisation that stood in contrast to the demands for accountability and action against drug networks put forward by other figures in the public debate.
