JALANDHAR (GURPREET SINGH): Political tensions were visible across Jalandhar on the day Union Home Minister Amit Shah was scheduled to visit the city, with hoardings carrying questions for the BJP on Punjab’s drug crisis and long-standing water-sharing disputes appearing at several prominent locations.
The posters have been placed along key roads leading into the city, including routes connecting Jalandhar with Amritsar, Pathankot, Ludhiana and Kapurthala. They have appeared alongside BJP banners welcoming Shah, who is scheduled to address an anti-drug rally.
One set of hoardings questions the BJP-led Centre over the movement of narcotics into Punjab and refers to alleged trafficking routes through Gujarat. A message written in Punjabi asks why drugs are allegedly being trafficked from Gujarat into Punjab under the BJP’s watch.
Another set focuses on the contentious distribution of Punjab’s river waters. Featuring Shah’s photograph, the posters question the BJP’s position on sharing Punjab’s water resources with Haryana and Rajasthan.
No person or political organisation has publicly claimed responsibility for the posters so far. The hoardings remained in place despite their political messaging, with no immediate action reported from the municipal authorities or police.
The development has drawn a sharp response from Punjab BJP general secretary Anil Sarin, who alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party could be behind the campaign. Sarin acknowledged that no organisation had officially taken responsibility for the hoardings.
Sarin said the AAP should clarify its own position on the interstate water dispute instead of directing questions at the Union government. He also criticised the Punjab government over the availability of narcotics, asking why it had not been able to prevent what he described as the “home delivery” of drugs.
The accusations from the BJP leader were not accompanied by evidence establishing who installed the hoardings, and the AAP’s involvement has not been established.
Shah’s visit has brought the issue of drug trafficking into sharp political focus, with the BJP highlighting its anti-drug campaign while opponents have used the occasion to raise questions about both the Centre’s role in tackling narcotics and its position on Punjab’s water concerns.
The competing messages have turned several of Jalandhar’s major approach roads into a visible display of the political contest surrounding issues likely to remain prominent in Punjab’s electoral discourse.
