India, July 1 -- Punjab is a state in deep socio-political anxiety. It elected a new political party to power in 2022. It sent two MPs with what can be described as secessionist tendencies, to the Lok Sabha in 2024. The existing assembly has passed a law against sacrilege, making it perhaps the only state with such a law in India. The Sikh clergy is upset rather than happy with the law. The state's Sikh chief minister is battling allegations of sacrilege. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab is trying to overcome this anger by doling palliatives.

What needs to be underlined is Punjab's anxiety is different from other states. It faces not just stagnant income and precarity, but stagnant income and precarity against a history of ...