“MY TWO sons died because of drugs. My wife has also passed away, and I have lost my eye-sight. There is no one left for me. I spend nights at a gurdwara and I don’t even know who will light my funeral pyre.”Ramesh, a resident of Bilga village in Jalandhar district, broke down as he recounted the years in which drug addiction claimed one member of his family after another. His was among more than a dozen accounts shared by families affected by drugs in Jalandhar Monday – stories of deaths, broken homes, lost savings and the struggle to get loved ones into treatment.The families spoke during the press conference of Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon accompanied by state media head Vineet Joshi during the BJP’s ongoing Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra. The four yatras, launched on September 18, will cover all 117 Assembly constituencies and nearly 4,000 km before converging in Jalandhar on September 30.Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address the concluding rally.Before recounting their stories, several families affected by drugabuse wore black masks over their faces, carrying the message on a sticker passed on the mask, “AAP ne lokan Di awaj Nashe De mudde te dabba Ditti” (AAP has Press the voice of people on the issue of drugs)” – alleging that the Punjab government was not allowing them to speak about drugs and “chitta”.They removed the masks after a few minutes and then spoke about the loss and distress they had faced. BJP leaders said the brief mask protest was meant to express resentment against what they described as the state government’s attitude of discouraging people from questioning it over the drug menace.Shama, who works in people’s homes to make a liv-ing, said her son Vansh was addicted to “chitta”. Her husband, she said, was an alcoholic and had never worked.“My son used to spend hundreds of rupees every day on drugs. I have approached the police and asked them to pay attention to the problem. We hear that drugs are also being sold by people living in big houses, but action is not taken against them. Ionly want this menace to end,” she said.Story continues below this adIn Tilak Nagar, a woman said she had lost both her sons to drugs. After their deaths, she said, their wives and children left, while the family’s savings and property were gradually exhausted. Satya Devi, also from Tilak Nagar, said she feared another member of her family could fall into addiction.“We may go without food, but we want to be free from drugs,” she said, urging authorities to stop the supply of drugs.Pushpa said she handed her son over to the police in the hope that he would receive treatment. He is now admitted to a hospital in Amritsar and has also developed tuberculo-sis, she said. “I do not want property or money. I only want my son to get well.”For Gyan Kaur, the loss was both financial and personal.Story continues below this adHer son Ravi Kumar, she said, gradually sold whatever the family had built, while her hus-band, who was addicted to al-cohol, also died. “Our family has been completely ruined. At least today, someone has raised our voice,” she said.Dhillon said the accounts showed the “ground reality” of Punjab’s drug problem. He alleged that instead of curbing drugs, attempts were being made to silence those raising their voice against the menace.He also said the BJP would seek to eradicate drugs from Punjab within two years if voted to power. The BJP’s anti-drug campaign comes ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections and has become part of the wider political contest over the drug crisis in Punjab.Earlier Monday, Dhillon and other BJP leaders also paid tribute to Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Khatkar Kalan on his birth anniversary. Dhillon said the party’s campaign for a drug-free Punjab was in keeping with the ideals of sacrifice and service associated with the revolutionary.