Punjab's Deepening Vortex - FrontlineBookmarksSectionsFeaturesEssentialsPublished : Jul 15, 2026 08:00 IST - 4 MINS READCOMMentsSHAREIn the heady days of the Green Revolution, Punjab was India’s No. 1 State economically, its very name invoking prosperity and joy. The image of a wealthy Punjab farmer driving a Mercedes alongside golden yellow fields became, in fact, somewhat of a cliché. That picture is curling around the edges now.From No. 1 in GDP per capita in 1981, Punjab has dropped to No. 16. Debt has grown alarmingly and will touch Rs.5 lakh crore by March next year, meaning that the State’s revenue, still substantial in absolute terms, is consumed by debt servicing rather than capital expenditure or development programmes.Punjab, in fact, is caught in a vortex of intersecting challenges: First, a severe farming crisis, which is itself the tip of a larger agriculture story of soil degradation and groundwater depletion. Second, high youth unemployment (at 20.2 per cent in 2024-25) that drives tens of thousands of working-age people to migrate abroad, leaving behind deserted villages and a socio-cultural vacuum. Third, the State’s failure to control drugs. Over 15 per cent of its youth is addicted to substances, and Punjab accounted for 58 per cent (3,567 kg) of the all-India heroin seizures in 2025, creating a dangerous subculture of social and economic paralysis.Pour electoral ambitions into this already deadly mix, and you get an explosive situation. As another Assembly election looms up, Punjab has been engulfed by a wave of sectarian and religious moves initiated by major political parties. These might or might not yield them victory in the short term, but they will certainly set the stage for a long and violent drama of unrest by radical elements already growing restless in the wings.When the AAP came to power in 2022, winning 92 of the 117 Assembly seats, it was widely hoped that it would usher in a period of stability in this sensitive and troubled Sikh-majority State. After all, the party wears the administration-as-ideology badge on its sleeve, and cut its teeth in New Delhi with a set of much-lauded education and health initiatives. The AAP did replicate some of that in Punjab as well, augmenting the Smart Schools programme launched by the previous Congress government with budgets, teachers, and tech aids, and by launching 900 of its trademark Mohalla Clinics.All this, however, ceased to matter after the party stepped into a religious minefield by introducing an anti-sacrilege law that riled the Akal Takht, followed by an embarrassing video that purported to show Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann insulting Sikh gurus, and the Akal Takht declaring Mann persona non grata. The sacrilege issue has now grown to menacing proportions. Three governments—the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance, the Congress, and now the AAP—have failed to identify and punish the guilty, probably because many of them are Dera Sacha Sauda faithfuls, drawn from Punjab’s 32 per cent Dalit voter base, which every party wants to woo.This setback to the AAP is something that could help the Congress, provided it can help itself. Despite the shadow of 1984, and the memories of the excesses of state-sponsored supercops revived in films like Satluj, the Congress has a perceived advantage in Punjab, which it seems ready as always to fritter away in indecision and inner-party squabbles.The BJP, meanwhile, is adding a different kind of fuel to this fire. Having pocketed Bengal through the money-muscle-Election Commission of India route, the party is more than keen to bring Punjab to heel. This, however, is the one State where the Hindutva schtick has few takers. The party has therefore created a complex yoga posture, whereby it retreats from its support of Operation Blue Star in 1984, condemns it as an “attack on the Akal Takht”, even reaches out to Bhindranwale sympathisers, but all the while holds its uber-nationalist stance. Can the BJP manage this jugglery? Will it forget its opposition to Bhindranwale and militancy in order to win the Sikh vote? One is not allowed to ask this, because the stranger the bedfellows, the more one is expected to praise the realpolitik. One can, however, point out the very real dangers to opening up old wounds and reigniting sectarian flames. Punjab already paid the price for this once. It must not be misled again.Also Read | The sacrilege trapAlso Read | Strategic shiftCONTRIBUTE YOUR COMMENTSNew Story TitleAuthor NameJuly 17, 2024`; storyList.appendChild(newStoryItem); createDots(); dots = document.querySelectorAll(".dots .dot"); observer.observe(newStoryItem); } function removeStoryItem() { if (storyItems.length > 0) { storyList.removeChild(storyItems[storyItems.length - 1]); createDots(); dots = document.querySelectorAll(".dots .dot"); } }});]]>More stories from this issue+ SEE all StoriesKey Questions & Insights(AIⓘ)1 /Sign in to Unlock member-only benefits!Bookmark stories to read later.Comment on stories to start conversations.Subscribe to our newsletters.Get notified about discounts and offers to our products.${ ind + 1 } ${ device }Last active - ${ la }