Navjot Singh Sidhu has backed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Dharamvir Gandhi over the latter’s demand for legalisation of opium cultivation.
Speaking to news agency, the Congress leader said that opium had helped his uncle live a long life.
Sidhu said opium was better than “chitta” (heroin), which Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia “introduced in the state, due to which parents have to see bodies of their children”, according to Hindustan Times. He was speaking on the sidelines of a function in Ludhiana on Sunday.
Punjab has a history with opium because of its proximity to Afghanistan’s poppy fields. The consumption of opium in small quantities was socially and culturally acceptable in the state. The connection emerged because of the state’s proximity to the poppy fields in Afghanistan.
Dharamvir Gandhi is doing a very good thing, I support him. My uncle used to take opium as a medicine and lived a long life: Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on being asked about AAP MP from Patiala Dharamvir Gandhi's demand for legalising opium cultivation #Punjab pic.twitter.com/NoZ2RU6eVN
— ANI (@ANI) October 1, 2018
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh told ANI he was happy that the matter is being discussed again. “I hope that this is going to be looked at seriously and this matter is resolved for once and for all,’ the chief minister said.
In July, Gandhi, who was suspended from the Aam Aadmi Party and formed the Punjab Manch, submitted a memorandum to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on legalising poppy cultivation.
