Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Punjab on Tuesday to meet the families of three people whose deaths have renewed the debate over drug trafficking and law and order in the poll-bound state. He will also attend a Dussehra event in Ludhiana where organisers plan to burn an effigy described as the “Ravan of Chitta”, a local term for heroin.
Shah is expected to land in Amritsar before travelling to Mari Panwan village in Gurdaspur district at noon. There, he will meet the family of Bikramjit Singh, who was allegedly hacked to death on October 15 after opposing drug sales, according to the report. The circumstances of the killing remain part of the wider public and political debate around the drug trade in Punjab.
At 1.30pm, the Union minister is scheduled to travel to Toor Banjara village in Sangrur district to meet the family of Gulzar Singh. Singh died by suicide on September 7 after allegedly facing harassment for questioning Punjab finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema over drug sales in his village. The report attributes these allegations to the account surrounding the case and does not provide details of any completed investigation.
Shah will then travel to Mansa at 2.30pm to meet the family of Parminder Singh Jhota, an anti-drug activist who was killed on October 13. A protest seeking justice in the case is under way in the town. The visit places three separate cases involving alleged resistance to drug activity or anti-drug activism at the centre of the Union government’s public response in Punjab.
The schedule also includes a media interaction at Punjab Agricultural University in Ludhiana at 3.30pm, followed by the Dussehra programme at Ramlila Ground at 4.30pm. Ludhiana deputy commissioner of police (headquarters) Paramjit Singh said 2,500 personnel had been deployed for the visit, while another 2,000 personnel had been sought as additional force. Several roads leading to the venues will be declared no-vehicle zones, he said.
The visit has triggered a political confrontation over responsibility for Punjab’s drug supply chain and law-and-order situation. Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, without naming Shah in a post on X, said the BJP could not manage law and order in its own states. Cheema accused the BJP-led Centre of failing to address gangsterism, drug trafficking and extortion, and questioned why criminal activity and threatening calls allegedly linked to jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi continued despite his incarceration in Sabarmati Jail.
Cheema said cases involving murder, extortion and kidnapping had been registered against Bishnoi in different parts of the country. These statements represent political claims and criticism; the supplied report does not establish the extent of any operational link between the cases in Punjab and Bishnoi.
Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal has written to Shah seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Jhota’s murder and a broader investigation into what she described as a “politician-police-drug mafia nexus” in Punjab. Punjab Congress in-charge Sachin Pilot said the visit would have little significance without concrete action to improve law and order. He also said the Centre had a responsibility to prevent illegal arms and drugs from entering through the Pakistan border.
Shah’s meetings and scheduled media interaction are expected to set the immediate official focus on the three cases, drug trafficking and the division of responsibility between the state and Union governments. The day’s programme will also test how public movement and traffic are managed around the venues, with thousands of police personnel deployed and multiple roads designated as no-vehicle zones.
