- The interesting thing here is that Khaira was in the Aam Aadmi Party when he became the leader of the opposition in the assembly and now the government of Bhagwant Mann has put him in jail.

- Sukhpal Khaira was not a big leader in Punjab before he was jailed in a drug case. Earlier, former minister of Punjab and veteran leader of Akali Dal, Bikram Singh Majithia, has been jailed in a drug case. A case has been registered against Majithia under the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotrophic Substances Act (NDPS). Harpreet Singh Sandhu, the head of the Anti-Drug Special Task Force (STF) formed to fight drug corruption in Punjab, in a report given in 2018, blasted Majithia as the mastermind of the drug network. Majithia is the brother-in-law of Akali Dal president Sukhbirah Badal and brother of former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Along with the arrest of Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in the 2015 drug related case in Punjab, the political battle between Congress vs. Aam Aadmi Party on the one hand has intensified, on the other hand the issue of drug contamination in Punjab has again come under discussion.

Khaira is considered a big figure in the Punjab Congress and has also been the Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly. Interestingly, Khaira was an Aam Aadmi Party MLA when he became the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and now it is the AAP Bhagwant Mann government that has thrown him into jail.

The case against Khaira is very dramatic and always has film style twists. This case was registered in 2015 when Akali Dal and BJP were in government in Punjab. Khaira was accused of smuggling drugs from Pakistan into Punjab's Fazilka district, but Khaira was not named in the original charge sheet. In this case, the court has sentenced 9 people to jail, one of whom is Gurdev Singh, who is close to Khaira, so there were allegations against Khaira, but he was not the accused.

Dhilwan Market Committee Chairman Gurdev was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2018. At that time, the police claimed that Gurdev is Mahoru but the mastermind of this drugs racket is Sukhpal Khaira. Based on this submission, the court issued a non-bailable warrant. Khaira was beaten and jailed for 75 days. Khaira fought a legal battle against him and the Supreme Court stayed the court proceedings. Khaira was in AAP then, so the Aam Aadmi Party strongly defended him, but the Congress government formed a committee to investigate.

Khaira surrendered to the Congress as the committee felt that it would fit a loophole around itself, so the committee reported that all 17 cases against Khaira were wrongly registered. When AAP found out what was brewing between Khaira and Captain Amarinder Singh, he removed Khaira from the post of Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly. Khaira did not join Congress but created a new front to help Congress and harm you.

This strategy was successful in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and as the Congress managed to win 8 out of 13 seats, Captain and Congress dropped the investigation against Khaira. Due to this, Khaira was worried and before the 2022 elections, he joined the Congress and became an MLA again, but as the government did not belong to the Congress, he lost his temper. Bhagwant Maan Sarkar announced a fresh inquiry and started tightening the noose around Khaira's neck. For this, a special investigation team was formed, based on which Khaira has been jailed.

Sukhpal Khaira was not a big leader before he was jailed in a drug case in Punjab. Before this, former minister of Punjab government and veteran leader of Akali Dal, Bikram Singh Majithia, has been jailed in a drug case. A case has been registered against Majithia under the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotrophic Substances Act (NDPS). Harpreet Singh Sandhu, head of the Anti-Drug Special Task Force (STF) created to combat drug corruption in Punjab, in a report given in 2018, blasted Majithia as the mastermind of the drugs network. Majithia is the brother-in-law of Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal and brother of former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

In 2013, some of the accused mentioned Majithia's name in the statements given to the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the seizure of large quantities of drugs, but there was a BJP government at the center and the Akali Dal government in Punjab, so the central agencies and the Punjab police did nothing to Majithia. Majithia was let go after questioning for the sake of appearance.

After the Congress government came to Punjab in 2017, the investigation started again, Majithia's name was mentioned in it, but the government of Congress captain Amarinder Singh did nothing against Majithia. Navjot Sidhu made a lot of noise on this issue but the captain was listening from one ear and dismissing it from the other ear. Before the 2022 assembly elections, the Congress dismissed the captain and made Charanjit Singh Channi the chief minister and Sidhu the state Congress president, and it was Majithia's turn. As the Channi government dropped the case under the NDPS Act, Majithia went on the run.

As the Akali Dal withdrew its support to the BJP government during the farmers' agitation, the central government agencies also fell behind. A lookout circular was also announced so that Majithia does not flee the country. As violence grew from both sides, Majithia finally had to surrender and was imprisoned. Majithia later came out on bail but the case against him is still pending.

Majithia and Khaira are big heads but many other minor leaders are also embroiled in drugs scam. This is proof of how dirty Punjab politics is. Drugs are ruining the youth yet the leaders are involved in its business, it is said to be the height of ugliness.

These leaders make allegations of political cronyism when caught but their defense is political given the reality that the drug network in Punjab could not have flourished without the blessings of the leaders. It is clear that Udta Punjab has become due to the sin of the leader.

- Mane defended Khaira in 2017, now thrown in jail

The interesting thing about Khaira's arrest is that in 2017, Congress government jailed Khaira in the same case. At that time, the current Chief Minister Bhagwant Mane opposed it because Khaira was in the Aam Aadmi Party. Mane alleged that the Congress government is framing Khaira in a wrong case by pretending to be corrupt. Now when Mann's government jailed Khaira, the Congress is opposing it and accusing Mann's government of bribery. Both the AAP and the Congress have demonstrated their lack of principles by deviating from their respective positions.

Khaira was in the Congress when the Akali Dal-BJP government filed a case against Khaira in 2015. That time Congress defended Khaira. A few months later, after Khaira moved to the Aam Aadmi Party and became an MLA in 2017 on an AAP ticket, a non-bailable warrant was issued by the Congress government, setting the wheels in motion to jail him. At that time, Mane fiercely defended Khaira.

After the Aam Aadmi Party suspended Khaira in 2018, Khaira formed the Punjab Democratic Alliance with BSP and Punjab Lok Insaf Party, but after losing in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Khaira finally surrendered to the Congress. When Khaira joined the Congress in 2022, some Congress leaders objected to his hiring due to his involvement in a drug case. The Congress ignored the opposition and took Khaira and by giving the ticket, Khaira won for the third time and became an MLA. Unfortunately for him Congress lost so it is back to Tawai.

- In Punjab, 60 percent of the youth are addicted to drugs?

The problem of drugs is so serious in Punjab today that about three and a half hundred government and private de-addiction centers are being run to free the youth from the clutches of drugs. In the last five years, about eight and a half lakh people have received treatment in de-addiction centers. The population of Punjab is 2.80 crore. Considering that three percent of them have received drug addiction treatment, the estimate of how many people are actually victims of drug contamination is staggering.

According to the 2014 survey, 2.30 lakh youths were addicted to drugs in Punjab. According to some surveys, 60 percent of the youth in Punjab take drugs. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Social Empowerment of the Government of India, 250 people were addicted to drugs per lakh in India, while in Punjab this ratio was 883 people. The rate of drug arrests in Punjab was more than three times the national average. Punjab was the only state in the country where the government had to form a commission to formulate a program on the effects of drugs and how to protect the youth from them. Not only this, but a special task force had to be formed to combat the contamination of drugs.