Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address a major rally in Moga on Saturday as part of the BJP’s outreach in Punjab ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. But the BJP has found itself in the ruling Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) crosshairs with its “badlaav (change)” themed rally on Saturday, which echoes the AAP’s own 2022 campaign slogan that had helped the party come to power after a landslide win against the Congress.
With the BJP now pitching itself as the agent of change in Punjab politics, the rally is being viewed as the party’s launch pad for the 2027 Assembly poll campaign and an effort to mobilise its organisational network.
According to state BJP spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal, preparations for Shah’s rally have been underway for weeks. “Party leaders have been mobilising workers from across all 117 Assembly constituencies to ensure a large turnout and demonstrate the party’s growing political presence in Punjab. At least 1,000 persons per constituency will be coming, so it comes out to be over a lakh gathering. We have been able to reach out to the rural pockets as well as the urban pockets of Punjab. We are not just limited to the urban areas,” Baliawal said.
The choice of Moga as the site of the rally is a strategic one. Moga falls in the politically significant Malwa belt, which has the most Assembly seats in Punjab and is often considered the state’s electoral heartland. In 2022, the AAP’s “badlaav” slogan had struck a chord with voters – the party won 92 of the state’s 117 seats, including 66 of the 69 seats in the Malwa region. The BJP, however, holds no seats in Malwa.
Moreover, the BJP has chosen Killi Chahlan village in Moga district as the rally venue, the same ground where the ruling AAP held its own rally on February 16. At the AAP’s rally, led by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, the focus was on the government’s anti-drug campaign, “Yudh Nasheyan Virudh (War Against Drugs)”.
The BJP is now attempting to claim the “badlaav” theme for itself, with the ruling AAP government as its target. The BJP, which has been gradually expanding its footprint in Punjab, currently has only two MLAs in the state. Though the party has seen its vote shares consistently rise, particularly in Lok Sabha elections, it has not been able to translate that support into a larger number of seats in the Assembly or Parliament. In part, say BJP leaders, the party’s weak position in the state can be attributed to its long-standing alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Insiders argue that since the BJP had been the SAD’s “junior partner”, until the alliance broke in 2020, the party had struggled to build its own organisational structure in Punjab.
With Shah expected to raise issues ranging from governance and state finances to law and order to criticise the AAP government, and many senior BJP leaders expected to attend, the rally is being projected as a show of strength ahead of the 2027 polls.
While criticising Punjab’s fiscal health, state BJP president Sunil Jakhar said, “Economically, the state is under a heavy debt burden, and people are forced to live in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. In such circumstances, people are looking towards the BJP with hope and belief that only the strong leadership of the BJP can bring the state out of this difficult period.”
He claimed that safety had become a major concern and infrastructure development had come to a halt, adding that the public was “disappointed” not only with the ruling AAP but also the primary Opposition Congress.
However, the ruling AAP has sought to counter the narrative around Shah’s rally. Party spokesperson Neel Garg took to X to pose a series of questions for the Home Minister, adding that Punjab “does not need rallies and speeches, it needs its rights and respect”. “When will farmers get a legal guarantee for MSP? Why has no special economic package been given for Punjab’s border areas? When will justice be delivered to the 750+ farmers who lost their lives during the farmers’ protest? When will the pending Central funds meant for Punjab be released? When will discrimination against Punjab and Punjabis stop?” Garg said on Thursday.
BJP strategy amid backlash
However, Shah’s visit comes at a sensitive time for the BJP in Punjab, which is witnessing multiple agitations against the Central government. Employees’ federations of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) are protesting the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which was introduced in Parliament late last year, in a move that has drawn wider support from farmers’ and labour unions. But labour unions across Punjab are also protesting the Centre’s move to replace the existing rural employment guarantee programme MGNREGA with the VB-G RAM G, besides the US-India trade deal and other policy issues.
These developments have kept many rural pockets of Punjab in a near continuous state of agitation. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has also called on voters to skip Shah’s rally and instead join its own protest in Moga on Saturday.
Adding to the political friction, the Punjab Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution against the Centre over the LPG crisis stemming from the ongoing conflict in West Asia. Leaders of the AAP and Congress argued the conflict has affected LPG availability in India, laying the blame at the Centre’s feet for failing to maintain “balanced diplomatic relations” in a region that is crucial to India’s energy security.
As part of its political strategy, the BJP-led Centre announced several railway projects for Punjab after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, including projects that had been pending for decades. The BJP has consistently highlighted initiatives taken for the Sikh community, including the opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, commemorating the 350th martyrdom anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur, reopening files related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and observing Veer Bal Diwas nationwide to mark the sacrifice of the Sahibzadas of Guru Gobind Singh.
The BJP has been reaching out to masses in rural and urban areas. While Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Chouhan visited Punjab thrice from September to November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself visited in September to take stock of the flood situation in Punjab. Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini has also been regularly visiting Punjab and attending party functions across the state, drawing the AAP’s ire as a result.
The BJP has also been organising camps in rural and urban pockets to spread awareness about Central government schemes that the party claims were “stopped by the Punjab government”.
Notably, ahead of his Punjab visit, Shah had recently raised the issue of alleged religious conversions in Punjab while addressing a gathering in Navi Mumbai. Referring to the legacy of Guru Tegh Bahadur, Shah said that conversions taking place due to “greed or inducement” were against the teachings of the Sikh Guru and urged the Punjab government to take action. His remarks have added another dimension to the political discourse ahead of his Moga rally. While the issue has been raised earlier by several Sikh organisations and the Akal Takht Jathedar, it has rarely been discussed widely by political parties in Punjab.