Latent and Messy: 2025, The Year India Fault Lines Surfaced

New Delhi, December 27, 2025: As 2025 draws to a close, historians and citizens alike are looking back at a year that redefined “messy.” While India entered the year with the promise of becoming the world’s third-largest economy, it ends it as a nation grappling with a series of “latent” issues that finally boiled over into public crises. From the deepening ethnic scars in Manipur to a “vote theft” controversy that shook democratic trust, 2025 was the year almost everything became an issue.

The Political Cauldron: Elections and Resignations

The year was defined by a sharp contrast in political fortunes. The BJP reasserted its dominance with emphatic wins in Delhi and Bihar, ending long droughts and proving its narrative control remains potent. However, this electoral “winning juggernaut” was met with a fragmented but vocal opposition.

The political atmosphere turned truly chaotic in July with the sudden resignation of Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, citing health concerns but sparking feverish speculation about institutional friction. Meanwhile, the Waqf (Amendment) Act became a primary flashpoint, triggering nationwide protests and a high-stakes legal battle in the Supreme Court over religious autonomy and state control.

The “Vote Chori” Controversy

Perhaps the most damaging “mess” of 2025 was the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. What the Election Commission termed a “purification” exercise was branded “vote chori” (vote theft) by the opposition.

• Mass Deletions: In Bihar alone, nearly 65 lakh names were removed.
• Public Outcry: Allegations of targeted disenfranchisement among marginalized communities led to protests that lasted for months.
• Judicial Intervention: The Supreme Court had to step in, cautioning that citizenship verification cannot be a “proxy” for electoral roll cleaning.

Economy: A “Two-Speed” Trajectory

On paper, India’s GDP growth remained resilient, hovering around 7%. Yet, the ground reality was a “messy” tale of two economies.

• The High-End Boom: Tech giants like Google and Amazon poured billions into AI infrastructure.
• The Urban Slump: Stagnant real wages and high food prices caused a significant dip in urban consumption.
• Trade Wars: Hopes of a smooth trade deal with the U.S. evaporated as India faced some of the highest effective tariffs globally, causing the Rupee to slide past 90 per dollar.

Climate and Security: The Underestimated Toll

2025 was one of the costliest years for climate disasters. A brutal heatwave with temperatures touching 53°C paralyzed parts of North India, while extreme monsoon flooding caused losses exceeding $5.6 billion.

On the security front, the “latent” crisis in Manipur reached a breaking point. The surfacing of controversial audio recordings allegedly involving the Chief Minister led to his resignation in early 2025, but the state remained under President’s Rule as ethnic reconciliation stayed elusive.

The Verdict on 2025

As we head into 2026, the “mess” of 2025 serves as a stark reminder: economic numbers alone cannot mask deep-seated social and institutional friction. India has proven its capacity for decisive action, but the year has shown that when systemic issues are left “latent,” their eventual eruption is rarely clean.