Opinion | Will Bhagwant Mann's 'Video' Row Become A Larger Punjab Battle?

Updated: Jun 25, 2026 13:03 pm IST Published On Jun 25, 2026 13:02 pm IST Last Updated On Jun 25, 2026 13:03 pm IST

Published On Jun 25, 2026 13:02 pm IST

Last Updated On Jun 25, 2026 13:03 pm IST

Some words, once spoken in Punjab, never fully retire. They wait: Dharam Yudh Morcha. Guru Dokhi. Panth Virodhi.

These are not ordinary political expressions. They carry religious sanction, institutional memory and the weight of decades Punjab has spent trying to put behind it. When such words resurface in the confrontation now playing out between Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Sri Akal Takht Sahib and the Shiromani Akali Dal, the right question is not who wins this round. It is whether Punjab is watching a dispute over one contested video or the opening moves of a wider Panthic mobilisation ahead of the 2027 Assembly election.

The clearest signal has come from Sukhbir Singh Badal, who has given the AAP government until July 19 to remove Mann, failing which he has threatened to launch a Dharam Yudh Morcha to force him out.

Punjab has witnessed many Panthic morchas, but the title Dharam Yudh Morcha refers primarily to the movement formally launched by the Akali Dal on August 4, 1982.

The phrase describes an organised struggle for what is considered a righteous cause, rather than literally meaning a "holy war". Its most consequential political use was during the Akali Dal movement under Harchand Singh Longowal, built around the Anandpur Sahib Resolution and other Punjab-related demands.

The politics of 2026 shares little with that of 1982. But the phrase does not carry politics alone; it carries memory. Once invoked, it can turn a political disagreement into a moral confrontation that is much harder to resolve or step back........

© NDTV