Net cast beyond consumer, will catch drug trade kingpins, says Basavaraj Bommai

Karnataka’s crackdown against drugs has hogged headlines for over a week. Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai tells Bharath Joshi of DH that it was the first time that the government is taking high-profile people head-on in the war against drugs. Excerpts of the interview.

The government has said that the ongoing operation against drugs is unprecedented. What are you doing that previous governments did not?

Previous governments hadn’t taken this seriously at all. We’ve attacked this from all angles. Earlier, it started and ended with the consumer. Now, we’ve taken this to the kingpins and suppliers across the state and nation. For the first time, we were able to break the dark web, and also seize large amount of synthetic drugs that were to be supplied to lakhs of people. And nobody dared to touch people with high contacts. We’ve taken them head on. Whoever they are, however well connected they may be, we won’t spare them.

But there’s only so much the police can do with educational institutions closed, given that students are said to be the most vulnerable.

Before educational institutions restart, we’ll meet government officials (for state-run institutions) and private managements. We want to take them into confidence. We want to see to it that drugs are eradicated from educational institutions.

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Somehow, the perception is that it is only ganja that is being seized.

Ganja is there in large quantities. Synthetic drugs such as LSD, heroin and cocaine in different forms are also being seized in a big way compared with previous years. I’ll provide all details in the upcoming session of the legislature.

Former CM Siddaramaiah says your party is falsely accusing Opposition leaders during the ongoing investigation.

We’re not here for any witch hunt. At the same time, the Opposition should also not come in the way of the investigation by making such political statements. Whom do they want to protect? What (Siddaramaiah) means to say is, if someone in the Opposition is involved, that person shouldn’t be touched.

Clearly, drug abuse can’t be limited to the film industry. But the investigation seems confined to just that.

Always, the optics of cinema will be very high. That’s all. But, if you see, we’ve arrested 8-10 people who have nothing to do with cinema. They were the real suppliers and they were the real party organizers. They were marketing the drugs. The menace of drugs is in the entire spectrum of our society. So, whoever is involved will be booked.

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Why does the government want to revisit the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act?

After analysing all the previous cases, it is found that most of the people get bail and are acquitted because of procedural faults. It’s a very, very long procedure involved. The NDPS Act is a Central Act, but the state has the right to make rules to implement it. So, we’re looking into that.