The story of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s domination of north India is now too familiar to be retold, as is the decline of the Congress countrywide. Yet the defeat of India’s grand old party in Punjab imparts a new dimension to its freefall. It was not facing a challenge from the BJP’s formidable election machinery; it was not vanquished by a regional entity boasting a long history of political participation.  

The Congress was humiliated by the Aam Aadmi Party, which miraculously appeared, without even trying, in Punjab in 2014. Then the Punjabis were mesmerised by Arvind Kejriwal’s 49-day chief ministerial stint. In 2017, two years after sweeping Delhi, the AAP built booth committees, sent its energetic volunteers to oversee them, and crafted a compelling narrative that inscribed in many a Punjabi heart the hope for change.