Chitta Ravan returns in Punjab as Bittu revives 2016 political script
As Union Home Minister Amit Shah set fire to an effigy of ‘Chitta Ravan’ at Ludhiana’s historic Daresi Ground on Tuesday, Ravneet Singh Bittu stood beside him. For the BJP leader, the spectacle was a repeat of a political script he had helped stage a decade ago — but against a different opponent.
In 2016, Bittu and then chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh had burnt a similar effigy to target the SAD-BJP government, accusing it of failing to check the drug menace. Both are now in the BJP, and Tuesday’s symbolism was directed at the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for failing to curb drugs in Punjab.
The Daresi Ground Dussehra celebrations, held for over a century, draw thousands of people, including migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar employed in Ludhiana’s industrial belt. Shah recalled that, growing up in Gujarat, he had heard people say that one must watch Ludhiana’s Dussehra at least once in a lifetime.
“I won’t be able to forget today’s Dussehra for the rest of my life,” Shah said, referring to his meetings with three grieving families whose memebrs allegedly lost their lives for speaking against drugs — Vikramjit Singh in Gurdaspur, Gulzar Singh in Sangrur and Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa.
Bittu with then CM Captain Amarinder Singh on October 18, 2016. (Left) The Chitta Raavan effigy burnt against SAD-BJP then. (Right). (Express photo by Gurmeet Singh/File)
“The tears and questions of their families can shake anyone’s soul. Today, the Punjab CM (Bhagwant Mann) has handed over one case (Jhota’s) to the CBI. I urge them to hand over two others as well, else the BJP will move court to get it done,” he said.
“No matter how big or influential the accused are in these cases, we will put them behind bars even if they hide in paataal,” Shah said, taking a pledge on Vijay Dashmi to “burn nashe ka Raavan (demon of drugs) in Punjab by December 31, 2029”.
“We finished terrorism and naxalism in the country; now it’s turn of drugs,” he said.
For Bittu, however, the burning of ‘Chitta Ravan’ was a familiar political gesture. BJP leaders said it was his idea to invite Shah to the Daresi Ground and recreate the symbolism of 2016, when he was a second term Congress MP, and the first time from Ludhiana.
On October 18 that year, Bittu and Amarinder burnt an effigy bearing the images of then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and minister Bikram Singh Majithia. The protest had initially been planned for Dussehra but was postponed after a clash between Congress and Youth Akali Dal workers left at least 30 people injured. A week later, the Congress leaders returned to the venue when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was visiting Ludhiana.
The Congress went on to win the 2017 Assembly elections, with Amarinder becoming chief minister. The SAD-BJP alliance ended in 2020. Amarinder joined the BJP in 2022, while Bittu switched parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which he lost from Ludhiana.
From 2016 to 2026, the only difference: then Bittu was protesting against SAD-BJP for introducing chitta in Punjab, now he is with BJP and the attack is now against the ruling AAP for failing to control drugs in Punjab.
Speaking to The Indian Express on Tuesday, Bittu said Shah’s message was “loud and clear”. “For the BJP, eradicating drugs, especially chitta from Punjab, remains the top priority,” he said, adding that Shah had come to “end the demon called chitta” on Dussehra. “In today’s times, Chitta is the biggest Ravana in Punjab, consuming several young lives.”
Senior SAD leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal, however, accused Bittu of repeating a political stunt. “Bittu may not but people still remember how he had done the same in 2016 and defamed SAD leaders by putting their images on the effigy. Such political stunts do not end chitta or drugs,” he said, adding that Dussehra should be kept away from politics.
Former minister and senior Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu said the 2016 protest had sought to expose the SAD-BJP government’s failure to tackle drugs. “But even after the alliance ended, the action taken by BJP against drugs remains unclear, vague and indecisive,” he said. “Bittu should ask BJP first what they did to stop drugs in Punjab despite ruling at the Centre for a straight third term.”
Meanwhile, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema claimed that while the AAP government was taking stringent action against drug traffickers, the Centre continued to ignore the sources supplying synthetic and pharmaceutical drugs that were being misused as intoxicants in state.
