'Udta Punjab' row an attempt to malign Punjab's image: Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Thane: Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said the controversy surrounding the film "Udta Punjab" is an attempt to malign the image of Punjab and its people.

Badal, while talking to reporters after participating in a BJP programme here, termed infiltration as a major problem which is taking place in spite of high vigilance on the border.

"Drug abuse is not the only problem coming from the other side of the border. We have also faced problem of infiltration from the border region," Badal, an MP of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, said.

She alleged that it ("Udta Punjab" controversy) was a "clearcut attempt to vilify the state and spread false views about it" and said, "One knows who has funded the film."

On Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi claiming that "seven out of 10" youths in Punjab were drug addicts, she said, "If this was the case, why did Congress-led governments not check the menace for so many years?"

On drug menace, the Union minister said it was a worldwide phenomenon and even the US cannot control the problem.