Punjab and Haryana are the gateway for any foreign invasions, yet while corrupt, they don't have anywhere close to the corruption that those states have. Besides, Malwa (where MP is) was often not conquered soon enough because of the hilly Vindhyas and the presence of powerful ruling states in that region. So I don't buy the foreign invasion argument.

I didn't say that the corrupt culture has much to do with the oppression of minorities. By that factor, Gujarat should have been doing severely poorly. But oppressing minorities seems to be something all of these states tend to want to do some time or the other. That's just something that's bad for business and economic growth, but still doesn't explain why these states are uniformly corrupt, even worse so than poorer states like Sikkim or Odisha.