Opposition mounts pressure on AAP after spurious liquor deaths

The Hindu

16-05-2025

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab faced intensified criticism on Friday (May 16, 2025) following the deaths of 27 people due to the consumption of spurious liquor. Adding to the embarrassment, one of its own MLAs, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, openly criticised the government, alleging the flourishing of various 'mafias' under its watch.
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, a former IPS officer and AAP MLA from the Amritsar North constituency, took a sharp dig at his party leadership while addressing the media at Bhangali village in Amritsar. Referring to a similar tragedy in 2020 when 120 people died during the Congress regime, he said, 'Back then, Mr. Bhagwant Mann demanded a murder case against the then Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. Now, it is your government - live up to your words and take action against the guilty. Our government is a failure. Every kind of 'mafia' - land, sand, liquor - has become part of our party and is flourishing. I feel embarrassed.'
The Opposition seized upon the MLA's remarks to intensify their attack on the AAP government. Punjab Congress Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said that Kunwar Pratap has again exposed the hollow claims of the AAP government. 'The liquor mafia is part of this government and running the show,' he said adding, 'If Bhagwant Mann has any morals, he should file an FIR for murder against Excise Minister Harpal Cheema and himself, just as he once demanded of others.'
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Congress MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla criticised the government's 'war on drugs' campaign, stating, 'The Punjab government's war on drugs has no connection with ground realities, otherwise this tragedy would not have occurred.' He demanded that the Chief Minister take full responsibility for the deaths and called for a high-level committee, supervised by a sitting High Court judge, to investigate drug- and liquor-related fatalities over the years and dismantle the network behind them.
BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing, Ravneet Singh Bittu, said Kunwar Pratap's revelations exposed the government's sheltering of criminals and drug smugglers.
Meanwhile, AAP supremo and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with CM Bhagwant Mann, launched the Nasha Mukti Yatra (Drug-Free March) in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district. Speaking at Langroya, Mr. Kejriwal asserted that the government had 'cracked the backbone of drugs' in Punjab and expressed optimism that the state would soon be free from the menace.