It’s difficult to match the magic that electoral partisan politics can play upon the people. Without grappling with the question about crisis in peasantry, without even touching the hot-button issue of unemployment, without talking about the issue of Punjab’s debt of Rs 3 lakh crore, Punjab’s electoral political class was able to drag you down to the nearest polling booth, one by one, and got you to cast your vote.

Since that evening, the situation is becoming even more complex. Now you have the issue of BBMB on your hands, the Centre has passed the Dam Safety Act, effectively shoving you out of control over your river waters and dams, and the Sikh radicals versus Left fault lines have only deepened.

And yet electoral politics has gotten you twisted around its little finger. Your drawing-room conversations are not about what’ll happen to you, to your people, to your Punjab, but who will be the next CM, and who will be able to buy any MLAs his party falls short by.

You are waiting for the EVMs to beep on March 10. It is lovely to watch your innocent faith in democracy, but not very heartening if this is the shape of democracy.

What will happen on March 10? Well, that’s an important question, and it shows you are curious.

Let’s ask a different one, and a better one.

What will happen after March 10? That’s a much more important question, and it shows you care.

In conversation with political scientist, academician, author, researcher, expert on Dalit politics and analyst Prof Ronki Ram; and economist, academician and political commentator Dr Paramjit Singh from Panjab University, Chandigarh.