IIt was the middle of May, the time when the extreme heat of summer dries up all sources of bounty. Then the Bhagwant Mann led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab launched the Land Pooling Policy (LPP), 2025. It was a wonderful idea: dividing 65,533 acres of land together for industrial and residential projects. However, in retrospect, one should have anticipated that, in a state where land is scarce and its symbolic and material value immense, the move would generate enough heat to upset the government. The inevitable reversal took only a few months.