Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday took the lead in making drugs a poll issue in Punjab by claiming that the Akali government was not willing to accept the truth. Read: SAD says Punjab govt will not ban ‘Udta Punjab’; but wants EC to interveneRead: Udta Punjab: Facts, figures and falsehoods of state’s drug problemBesides drugs, he said, lawlessness and unemployment were other problems the state faced. Not 70%, but 78% of Punjab’s youth is hooked to drugs,” Gandhi claimed while addressing a well-attended Congress dharna in Jalandhar. (Pardeep Pandit/HT Photo)“The Punjab government is not ready to accept that there is a drug problem and then it wants Udta Punjab, a film that highlights the issue, banned,” he said amid cheers. They (the Akalis), particularly deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, mocked me for highlighting the problem among youth in 2012.

Source: Hindustan Times June 13, 2016 09:27 UTC