CHANDIGARH: An ex-serviceman was attacked by drug peddlers at Bhai Bakhtaur village in Bathinda district of Punjab on Sunday forcing the villagers to put up a sign declaring, "Our Village Is for Sale" (Saada pind vikau hai).
The handwritten banner was pasted on a wall at the entrance of the village by a farmer named Lakhbir Singh, a day after ex-serviceman Ranbir Singh was brutally thrashed by two men namely, Kuldeep Singh and Gurpreet Singh, who were involved in drug cases.
On top of that, Lakhbir posted a video on social media denouncing the attack. He accused the police of failing to protect the villagers from drug violence.
According to the Superintendent of Police of Bathinda, Amneet Kondal, Ranbir Singh has been urging the local youths to quit drugs and take up sports. This was not to the liking of the local drug peddlers who attacked him. Singh is presently admitted to a hospital in Bathinda.
Meanwhile, police arrested the two drug peddlers Kuldeep Singh and Gurpreet Singh. They have been booked for charges including attempted murder, unlawful restraint, and causing grievous hurt, the SP said.
Vineet Joshi, media head of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Punjab alleged that on June 1, three people died of drug overdoses in different villages across the state—Deharka (Ludhiana district), Rodikpura (Faridkot district), and Senia (Fazilka district). Meanwhile, in Bakhtaur village in Bathinda, frustrated residents put up a sign reading, "Our Village is for Sale", as a mark of protest against unchecked drug menace.
“This reflects the grim reality behind the so-called 'War Against Drugs' and exposes the failure of the AAP government’s May 31 deadline to make Punjab drug-free. The message 'Sadda Pind Bikau Hai' is not a political slogan—it’s a cry of anguish from a village gripped by fear and helplessness. Today, shopkeepers, labourers, and even women in rural Punjab feel unsafe. While farmers and protesters are swiftly arrested—sometimes along with their mothers and sisters—drug traffickers continue to roam free, even with multiple cases pending against them,” Joshi said.
Punjab’s situation is now worse than Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Villagers live in fear of "Chitta" (heroin) smugglers, who openly threaten them. We are not political workers, nor affiliated with any party, but things have gone too far now," said a youth in a viral video, where he praised UP CM Yogi Adityanath for his crackdown on criminals.