Khadim Rizvi’s open manifestation of religion helped him become one of the most popular leaders of Barelvi-Sunni Muslims in Pakistani Punjab. He emerged as the leader of a moral community during a crisis. After a series of protests and negotiated agreements with the federal and provincial governments, he was able to translate his support into electoral power. In the 2018 election, his TLP bagged 1.8 million votes (National Assembly seats) from Punjab. It was the first instance in recent political history when a newcomer religious party finished third in the province. No religious party had been able, in the last three elections (2008, 2013, 2018), to impact elections in Punjab as the TLP did in 2018.

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This article challenges the traditional understanding of the role of landownership in rural Punjab in the context of recent socio-economic restructuring of Pakistani society. Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork of contemporary practices of gift exchange ( vartan bhanji) in a village, we argue that the Kammi biraderis, once considered lower class, now assert their elevated socio-economic status through vartan bhanji on important social occasions like marriages. Zamindars now see themselves in competition both with Kammi biraderis and each other for social prestige and superior status, as new claims made by different biraderis challenge traditional hierarchies created through historically structured socio-economic inequalities.