The BJP’s decision to take its political battle deep into rural Punjab is setting up an unlikely contest. The party plans to take on Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh head on in a battle for the rural vote that could prove decisive in the 2027 Assembly elections.
The strategy marks a significant shift in Punjab politics. Having traditionally relied on the Akalis for its rural outreach, the BJP is now preparing to sell its own political proposition to the village voter. The BJP is also preparing to highlight Modi government schemes and assistance to farmers as part of its rural outreach. For Amritpal Singh, the challenge is to turn his personal appeal and Panthic resonance into a wider electoral organisation.
Drugs are emerging as one of the central planks of that strategy, with the party planning anti-drug yatras across all 117 constituencies. Amritpal Singh has been lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam since 2023 after being arrested under National Security Act (NSA). He contested 2024 Lok Sabha poll from jail as an Independent and won from Khadoor Sahib seat in Tarn Taran district.
For the BJP, the challenge is to convert organisational expansion into votes in villages where the party has historically faced resistance, particularly after the farmers’ agitation.
The biggest beneficiary of this emerging contest could also be the biggest loser: the Shiromani Akali Dal. If the BJP begins taking away sections of the rural electorate traditionally accessed through the Akalis, while Amritpal fragments the Panthic vote, the SAD could find its traditional political space squeezed from both ends.
