Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal has accused BJP leaders of spreading false information after a viral video presented as evidence of Punjab’s drug problem was traced to neighbouring Rajasthan.
Kejriwal stepped up his attack on Tuesday after Punjab Police said the footage circulating on social media was filmed in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, and not Punjab. The clip showed two turbaned men appearing disoriented and struggling to remain upright on a roadside.
The video had been widely described on social media as depicting users of a so-called “zombie drug”. There has, however, been no independent confirmation of what substance, if any, the men shown in the footage had consumed.
BJP Rajya Sabha MP and former cricketer Harbhajan Singh was among those who shared the clip while raising concerns about drug addiction in Punjab. Singh, who left AAP and joined the BJP in April, used the footage to question the situation in the state, bringing the video into an increasingly sharp political dispute.
Punjab Police responded publicly, saying the footage originated in Sri Ganganagar and urging responsible sharing of material on social media. The clarification prompted AAP leaders to accuse their political opponents of attempting to damage Punjab’s image by attaching an incorrect location to the video.
Kejriwal questioned whether the sharing of the footage by several BJP figures had been coordinated. “Many BJP people spread this lie together yesterday. Did the order come from the PMO? Does the PMO spread lies in the country?” he said in a post on X.
No evidence has emerged establishing that the Prime Minister’s Office directed BJP politicians to distribute the video. Kejriwal’s remarks represented a political allegation rather than a substantiated claim about the PMO’s involvement.
The controversy has placed Harbhajan Singh at the centre of a confrontation with his former party. The former international cricketer entered the Rajya Sabha in 2022 as an AAP nominee from Punjab before switching to the BJP with several other AAP parliamentarians earlier this year.
After the location of the first clip was challenged, Singh continued to highlight Punjab’s drug problem. He subsequently shared another video that he said illustrated the seriousness of substance abuse and argued that the debate should focus on making Punjab drug-free rather than on personal attacks. He also criticised people he described as paid trolls who had targeted him over the first post.
AAP, which governs Punjab under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, has sought to turn the episode into a wider argument about misinformation and political campaigning. Party leaders said criticism of the government’s performance on narcotics was legitimate but maintaining that material from another state was filmed in Punjab distorted the debate.
The dispute is especially sensitive because drug addiction has been a major political issue in Punjab for years. Successive governments have faced pressure over narcotics trafficking, addiction, rehabilitation and allegations of networks operating across the state. AAP made action against the drug trade one of its important governance commitments after taking power in 2022.
The Mann government has intensified enforcement operations and public campaigns against narcotics while maintaining that the problem requires a combination of policing, treatment and community participation. Opposition parties have continued to argue that drug availability and addiction remain serious problems despite government action.
The viral clip has therefore become part of a much larger political contest over who can credibly claim to be addressing Punjab’s narcotics problem. For AAP, the incorrect geographical description provides evidence that political attacks can outpace verification on social platforms. For the BJP, the broader question is whether the state government has done enough to combat drug abuse regardless of where the disputed footage was recorded.
