Chandigarh
A 41-second video showing two turbaned men appearing disoriented and swaying helplessly has triggered a sharp political confrontation in Punjab after BJP Rajya Sabha MP and former cricketer Harbhajan Singh shared it as a grim picture of the state’s drug problem. Punjab Police, however, said the viral clip was shot in Rajasthan, not Punjab, prompting the AAP led Punjab Government to accuse Harbhajan and the BJP of deliberately maligning the state. Harbhajan has since hit back by sharing more images and videos, insisting that the larger issue was Punjab’s drug crisis while challenging the government to say whether such scenes did not exist in the state.
The video, which garnered millions of views, shows two young, turbaned men standing on a roadside in an apparently intoxicated and zombie-like state. Social media users linked the visuals to the so-called “zombie drug”, referring to xylazine allegedly being illegally mixed with opioids.
Harbhajan shared the clip on ‘X’ with an emotional message expressing anguish over what he described as the deterioration of Punjab and the plight of its youth.
He said Punjab had been reduced to a situation where its youngsters were trapped in drugs and urged people to “save Punjab” and “save Punjab’s youth”. Recalling Punjab’s earlier image of courage, prosperity and valour, he said it was painful to see the state’s youth caught in addiction.
The post soon drew a strong response from Punjab Police, which said the viral video had no connection with Punjab and was from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan. The police specifically cautioned that the presence of a Punjabi audio track could not establish that an incident had taken place in Punjab. It urged social media users and accounts to verify the facts and location before circulating such material or tagging Punjab Police. The police clarification was itself followed by a conflicting account from Rajasthan.
Sri Ganganagar SP Hari Shankar said the video had reportedly been uploaded on Instagram three-four days earlier by someone from Pilibanga in Hanumangarh. He maintained that Sri Ganganagar had no connection with the video and said Rajasthan Police would issue a clarification. Police were also trying to trace the person who had originally uploaded the clip. The differing accounts over the video's origin added another layer to an already politically charged controversy.
Cheema Accuses Harbhajan, BJP of ‘Anti-Punjab’ Narrative
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema launched a direct attack on Harbhajan, pointing to his political journey from AAP to BJP. Harbhajan had been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by AAP in 2022 but switched to the BJP along with six other MPs in April this year. Cheema said AAP had recognised Harbhajan’s contribution and viewed him as a role model for Punjabi youth when it sent him to Parliament. “After joining the BJP, Harbhajan is doing the opposite by sharing a video from Rajasthan as a Punjab incident,” he alleged. The AAP leader described the move as part of a BJP attempt to create an “anti-Punjab and anti-Punjabi” narrative around the drug issue. He also sought to turn the debate towards Gujarat, referring to drug seizures at Gujarat ports and alleging that narcotics were being pushed into Punjab from the BJP-ruled state.
Harbhajan Hits Back: ‘Has Punjab Become Nasha-Mukt?’
Harbhajan, however, refused to back down. After the AAP attacks, he posted additional photographs and videos and asked pointedly whether those visuals too were from Rajasthan. He argued that the controversy should not be allowed to obscure the larger issue of drug addiction. “The issue isn’t about targeting any specific individual,” he said, calling for sustained efforts to free people across Punjab and the country from narcotic addiction rather than trading political barbs. Harbhajan said he lived in Punjab and knew the situation on the ground. He said that in case the state government believed Punjab had become drug-free, he challenged its leaders to come out and say so.
