Mukhtiar’s son Manjit was a college dropout who could not get a job. He became addicted to heroin and after a few futile attempts to go to rehab facilities for help, he died of a drug overdose in March last year.
A story published by The Indian Express states that Mukhtiar Singh marched on the streets of Patti with his son Manjit’s body and sat on a dharna with it outside the SDM’s office.
He also wrote a letter on his son’s kaffan to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I sought the Prime Minister’s intervention to save Punjab from drugs…I also wrote a complaint against the Punjab government because I hold this government guilty of not doing enough…These Akali leaders know it all, but yet they don’t do anything. I am not a politician. I am a father who has carried his young son’s body to the crematorium. I don’t want other fathers to go through the same pain,” Mukhtiar Singh said.
This act gained him the name Kaffan vaala banda.
Mukhtiar Singh does not know if the shroud ever reached Mr Modi.
“I submitted it to the SDM office, who asked me to hand it over to DSP, Patti. Through RTI, I learnt that the shroud had reached the office of DGP (Intelligence) on June 28. I don’t know if they forwarded it to the PM or have dumped it somewhere,”
After his son’s death, Mukhtiar Singh took it upon himself to educate the youth of Patti about the dangers of drugs. He has some supporters in Patti and their group is called Kaffan Bol Peya.
At this time when Punjab is gearing up for assembly elections, Mukhtiar Singh is of the view that drug are even more freely available. He has written to the Election Commission to seek permission to do his own campaigning ahead of these elections – not for a party or a candidate, but against drugs and its fatal addiction. His wife and other kids support him in his cause.
“I took my son’s body around Patti because I wanted to show people what drugs can do to them. I wanted people to change their mindset and come out openly against this menace”, he said.
Because Mukhtiar is an assistant linesman, his job takes him to many different villages every day. Each day, he keeps an eye out for young people so he can talk to them and make them aware of the dangers of drug addiction.
Patti, which is part of Tarn Tarn, is a border district of Punjab known for its high number of drug addictions. As an assembly constituency, Patti is represented by SAD candidate Adaish Pratap Singh Kairon, Son-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal. Kairon had defeated Congress candidate Harminder Singh Gill by a narrow margin in 2012 assembly elections. They both are in contest with AAP candidate Ranjit Singh Cheema. Both Congress and AAP have promised to end drug problem in Punjab within weeks of being elected.
Mukhtiar Singh, using his RTI (Right to Information), collected some data related to drugs.
“Tarn Taran district received maximum 83,873 addicts at the de-addiction centres out of a total of 2,91,367 addicts in 17 out of 22 districts of Punjab in 2014. Tarn Taran again topped the list in 2015 with 70,335 addicts enrolling in de-addiction centres among total 2,02,904 in the same 17 districts. The district also has a distinction with maximum of 4213 cases registered under NDPS act in last five years across the state. A total of 4,670 accused were arrested in those cases”,
Mukhtiar Singh is also maintaining a file on deaths due to drug addiction. Although, he says it is difficult to do so as people often don’t talk about it out of shame, he has convinced a few in Patti to talk about it saying that it’s the first step towards breaking this cycle. He also believes that opening de-addiction centres alone is not enough. Their needs to be a cut in the drug supply to tackle the problem.
Although there are rules stopping government employees from canvassing or campaigning in elections, Mukhtiar Singh is hoping to get permission from SEC to campaign for his cause.
“There can’t be a rule barring a father who lost his son to drugs from preventing other youngsters meeting the same ill fate,” he says.