Four opium farms. Fifteen days. One state. And a question that will not go away — who is protecting the growers?

Chhattisgarh is in the grip of a rapidly escalating illegal opium cultivation crisis. On March 20, police and administration teams rushed to Amaghat in Tamanar block of Raigarh district after receiving information about illegal poppy cultivation. What they found was a thriving opium crop spread across approximately one and a half acres of farmland — the fourth such discovery in the state in just 15 days. A man from Jharkhand, identified as Marshal Sanga, has been taken into custody. He had allegedly taken the land from a local farmer in Amaghat on the pretext of growing watermelon and cucumber.

The ownership of the field, and whether anyone in a position of influence was providing protection to the operation, is currently under investigation.

A Pattern That Cannot Be Ignored — Four Cases in 15 Days

What makes the Raigarh discovery particularly alarming is not the case in isolation — it is the pattern it completes. In the span of just over two weeks, four separate illegal opium farms have been busted across Chhattisgarh, spanning multiple districts and involving a range of actors from ordinary farmers to a BJP functionary.

Case 1 — Durg, March 7: The first and most politically explosive case involved BJP leader Vinayak Tamrakar, former president of the BJP Kisan Morcha in Durg district, who had allegedly been cultivating opium illegally for five years at a farmhouse located between Samoda and Jhenjhari villages. The operation covered 5 acres and 62 dismil of land and was protected by bouncers posted at the farm. In the digital land survey records, the land had been falsely shown as wheat and maize cultivation. Police seized opium plants worth approximately Rs 7.88 crore and arrested Tamrakar along with two other accused.

Case 2 — Balrampur, March 10: Three days later, in Kusmi block of Balrampur district, police busted a 3.67-acre opium farm at Tripuri Ghosradadand. Approximately 4,344 kilograms of opium worth around Rs 4.75 crore was seized. Seven accused were arrested. However, the alleged mastermind — also reported to have political connections — remains at large.

Case 3 — Balrampur, March 12: Just two days after the Kusmi case, another opium farm was discovered in Korandha in the same Balrampur district. Around two and a half acres across three farmers' land was under poppy cultivation. The area borders Jharkhand and is remote, hilly terrain where human movement is limited — making it ideal cover for illegal farming. Villagers tipped off the authorities and the crops were uprooted.

Case 4 — Raigarh, March 20 (Today): The Amaghat case — involving an outsider from Jharkhand who rented local agricultural land under false pretences — brings the tally to four farms across Durg, Balrampur and now Raigarh districts within a fortnight.

Bhupesh Baghel Targets BJP Government

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel wasted no time in going on the offensive. Posting on X, Baghel stated that the exposure of opium cultivation happening under BJP government protection is continuing across the state. He pointed to the manner in which the dry narcotics trade is being organised in Chhattisgarh as deeply dangerous. Baghel's sharpest attack was directed at the silence of the Chief Minister and the Home Minister, suggesting that their inaction reveals who the real masterminds behind this network are.

The Jharkhand Connection

A notable thread running through multiple cases is the involvement of individuals and networks from Jharkhand. The Raigarh accused Marshal Sanga is from Jharkhand. The Balrampur cases also involved areas bordering Jharkhand. Law enforcement agencies will need to examine whether a cross-state organised network is systematically identifying remote farmland in Chhattisgarh's border districts, using local farmers as fronts, and running large-scale illegal opium operations with support from inside the state.

A Governance Crisis in the Making

Four opium farms in 15 days — with values running into crores of rupees — do not emerge spontaneously. Operations of this scale require land, labour, local knowledge and above all, protection from detection. The arrest of a BJP functionary in the first case and the continued freedom of alleged political masterminds in the second case have given the opposition the ammunition it needs to put the ruling government on the defensive.

The Vishnu Deo Sai government must answer not just with arrests of field-level operators but with a credible, transparent investigation into who is enabling this network at a higher level. Chhattisgarh's drug problem will not be solved one uprooted farm at a time.