Harsimrat Kaur Badal Urges Women to Fight Punjab's Drug Menace

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Wednesday, 11 November 2026

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and Bathinda Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal has urged women across Punjab to lead a mass movement against drug abuse, drawing inspiration from the farmers' agitation, or Kisan Andolan. She called for sustained grassroots participation, arguing that communities most affected by the drug menace must take charge of efforts to eliminate it.

Key Highlights:

• Harsimrat Kaur Badal calls for a women-led anti-drug agitation on the lines of the Kisan Andolan
• Her ‘Mai Bhago Maawan-Dheeyan Di Fauj’ campaign aims to identify drug traffickers and their alleged patrons
• SAD proposes a women-led task force, stricter punishment and rehabilitation programmes if it returns to power in 2027

Addressing gatherings of women at Attari and Raja Sansi in Amritsar district on 10 November 2026, Harsimrat encouraged women to organise themselves into ‘jathas’ (groups) to confront drug traffickers and prevent their activities in villages. She also urged communities to revive ‘thikri pehra’, a traditional system of community night vigils, to restrict the entry of drug traffickers.

Emphasising the importance of collective action, Harsimrat said, “The senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader said only a large-scale, sustained campaign by those most affected by the menace could eradicate it once and for all.”

Her appeal follows the launch of ‘Mai Bhago Maawan-Dheeyan Di Fauj’ in October 2026, a women-led initiative aimed at identifying drug traffickers, peddlers and their alleged patrons across Punjab. Through the campaign, she seeks to mobilise women to gather information and strengthen community-level action against drug networks.

Harsimrat criticised both the previous Congress government and the incumbent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, alleging that neither had fulfilled its promises to eliminate drug abuse. She claimed that successive administrations had instead allowed the problem to expand across the state.

Highlighting Punjab's drug-related challenges, Harsimrat alleged that the state ranked first nationally in drug smuggling and second in drug overdose deaths. She also claimed that Punjab had fallen to 18th position in national education and health rankings, attributing the situation to governance failures.

Looking ahead to the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, Harsimrat said the SAD would prioritise eliminating drug abuse if it returned to power. She proposed establishing a special task force headed by a woman Director General of Police (DGP) to investigate information gathered through the women's campaign and ensure strict punishment for drug offenders.

She further outlined plans for a rehabilitation programme to support individuals recovering from drug addiction through skill development and financial assistance in the form of loans. Additionally, she proposed introducing a new law that would deny bail to drug traffickers for 10 years and allow authorities to seize their properties to compensate victims.