Pathankot: BJP national president Nitin Nabin is set to launch the party’s statewide ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’ from Pathankot on Friday, beginning a 13-day campaign that will take the party’s anti-drug message across all 117 Assembly constituencies of Punjab.
The first yatra will begin from Ekta Sthal at Madhopur in the Pathankot district, a location associated with Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee. The BJP has planned four separate routes that will collectively cover nearly 4,000 km before converging in Jalandhar on September 30.
The campaign comes months ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly election and is expected to place drugs, crime and law and order at the centre of the BJP’s political outreach.
The party has described the programme as an effort to create a mass movement against drugs. At the same time, the scale and political timing of the campaign make it an important part of the BJP’s preparations for the next Assembly election.
The other yatras are scheduled to begin from Fatehgarh Sahib, Fazilka and Talwandi Sabo at intervals during the campaign. Senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers and Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, are expected to participate at different stages.
The four campaigns will eventually converge in Jalandhar, where Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to address a concluding rally on September 30.
Punjab BJP leaders have accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of failing to adequately address the state’s drug problem. Those allegations are part of the BJP’s political campaign and have been rejected by the ruling side, which has pointed to its own anti-drug enforcement measures.
The BJP has sought to broaden the campaign beyond drug seizures and arrests. Party leaders have spoken about rehabilitation, employment for young people, tracing financial networks connected with narcotics and strengthening coordination between law-enforcement and other agencies.
The campaign also follows a BJP event in Chandigarh where families spoke publicly about the impact of drug addiction. The party has sought to use such personal accounts to highlight the social consequences of substance abuse.
For the BJP, the yatra provides an opportunity to establish a statewide presence well before the Assembly election. Covering all 117 constituencies also gives the party a structured platform for direct contact with voters at the grassroots level.
The AAP government, meanwhile, faces the challenge of responding to the BJP’s political narrative while demonstrating the results of its own anti-drug campaign.
The central question as the yatra begins will therefore be whether the campaign remains primarily a public-awareness drive against drug abuse or develops into a wider political contest over Punjab’s record on drugs, policing, employment and governance.
The first leg begins in Pathankot on September 18, with the campaign scheduled to continue across Punjab before the four routes meet in Jalandhar at the end of the month.
