AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday, June 15, 2026, launched a sharp attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging that party functionaries were caught selling drugs in Punjab and that the previous alliance government facilitated house-to-house distribution of the hard drug chitta (heroin-based synthetic narcotic) under official protection. Kejriwal credited incumbent Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann with reversing this trend and restoring hope for Punjab's youth.

Context

Posting in Hindi on June 15, Kejriwal referred to the BJP as the 'ED Party' — a political epithet AAP has long used to link the party to Enforcement Directorate actions against opposition leaders. He alleged that BJP functionaries were 'caught selling drugs themselves in Punjab,' asking pointedly: 'Are there links between the ED Party and the drug trade?'

He further claimed that 70 per cent of drugs currently entering Punjab pass through Gujarat, a BJP-governed state. He also alleged that during the previous alliance government's tenure, chitta was distributed door-to-door in government vehicles with official backing — charges he directed at what he called the 'ED Party' and the 'chitta party.'

Policy Backdrop

Punjab has battled a severe drug crisis for over a decade, with opioid and synthetic narcotic addiction devastating large sections of its youth. The issue became a defining theme in the 2022 Punjab assembly elections, which the Aam Aadmi Party won with a historic mandate, partly on the promise of eradicating the drug menace.

Successive state governments — including Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal–BJP alliance — have faced persistent allegations of inadequate enforcement and, at times, political complicity in drug networks. The AAP administration under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has positioned anti-narcotics enforcement as a signature governance priority since assuming power in March 2022.

Stakeholders and Impact

Kejriwal's post frames the drug issue as a direct contest between AAP's governance record and the BJP's alleged culpability. By naming Gujarat as a transit corridor, the post draws a line connecting central-government-aligned politics to Punjab's street-level drug supply — a politically charged claim ahead of any future electoral cycle in the state.

Punjab's youth remain the central stakeholder: addiction rates in the state have historically been among the highest in India, affecting both rural and urban households. Any credible shift in enforcement outcomes would carry significant social and political weight.

What's Next

The Punjab government is expected to continue publishing drug-seizure data and enforcement reports as evidence of progress under the Mann administration. Formal responses from the BJP or central agencies to Kejriwal's specific allegations — including the Gujarat transit route claim — will be closely watched.

If opposition parties or investigative bodies respond to the claims about past government complicity, the exchange could intensify political scrutiny of Punjab's drug enforcement record across multiple administrations and widen the debate into a national conversation about inter-state narcotics trafficking routes.