Sir Earnest Barker, English political scientist, opined that every state is something of a federal society and contains different national groups, different churches, different economic organisations, each exercising its measure of control over its members. This theory is a practical reality in India which has a kaleidoscopic diversity of language, religion, ethnicity and geography. India’s vastly federal society necessitates a federal polity. This truth was acknowledged long before. Participating in the first Round Table Conference in 1931 to discuss Constitutional reforms in India, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru stated: “I am a strong believer in the federal form of government. I believe that therein lies the solution of difficulty and salvation of India.’’
Federalism has global, domestic, and local relevance. Mahendra Prasad Singh in his Indian Federalism: An Introduction (2011) opined that “when the sovereign nation-state is being seen as too small for global problems and too big for local problems, federal political and economic formations may be just what the world today needs. For as Montesquieu perceptively foresaw long ago, a federal state makes it possible to combine the advantages of small as well as large states providing self-rule as well as shared rule. On the political horizon in the contemporary world today federalism appears to be a veritable trend of the present and the future.” For the plural nation of India, federalism is a Hobson’s choice. It ensures a national symphony that accommodates zillions of underlying tunes.
Broadly speaking, Indian federalism has passed through four stages: the British Raj, the Congress System, the coalition interlude, and the BJP domination. Federalism flourished only during the coalition interlude. In all the other stages, the states/provinces have been dominated by the Central government, politically and financially.
Federalism in India dates back to the colonial era. The blueprint of Indian federalism could be seen in the Government of India Act 1935. The Act was designed after the Canadian Constitution Act of 1867. (It is notable that even the present Indian federal system is based on the ‘Canadian model’). The Act introduced Provincial Autonomy. The provincial administration as provided by the Act of 1935 was under pervasive control of the colonial governor, an agent of the British Crown. He could act in his personal discretion, individual judgment, and on the advice of the Council of Ministers. The governor was vested with vast discretionary powers to run the provincial administration.
Prof K T Shah in his Federal Structure has given a long list of occasions, numbering 32, when the governor could act at his discretion. The popular ministers were merely glorified courtiers of the governor. Colonial federalism as introduced by the Act of 1935 was a British ploy designed to hoodwink the Indian people. It was devoid of the federal spirit.
In post-colonial India, the ‘Congress System’ prevailed for decades. The Congress System had two phases—Nehru’s socialistic pattern and Indira Gandhi’s ‘Garibi Hatao’ populism. In both phases both political and economic power were concentrated at the Centre. The state-level politics was controlled by the high command based in New Delhi. In the exclusive jurisdictions of states like education and forest (shifted to concurrent list under 42nd Amendment Act), agriculture, public health, etc. the Centre using federal spending power, instituted shared-cost programmes with dominant investment, which further buttressed the centralisation tendency during this phase. The Constitutional amendments gradually enlarged the Union List and contracted the State List of Schedule VII of the Constitution.
The coalition interlude that commenced in 1989 was marked by the advent of the multi-party system in national politics. Powerful regional parties emerged and they started to remote-control the Union government during this period. This period was wrongly called the ‘irreversible’ phase of greater federalisation by some political analysts.
But in the Modi era, Indian federalism is reverting to its asymmetrical format. Article 370 was abruptly repealed without discussion or consultation with stakeholders. Policies and laws of far-reaching importance have been passed without consulting the states that have to implement them. Policies and laws pertaining to education, co-operatives, banking etc. are fixed by the Centre and then imposed on the states. The regime has also misused the office of the governor to weaken state governments ruled by Opposition parties.
The Central investigating agencies are unleashed in the Opposition-ruled states. The ‘Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan’ slogan is being conspicuously implemented, undermining secularism and linguistic pluralism. Judicial activism has given way to judicial subservience.
Indian federalism, excluding the coalition interlude, resembles the ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’ in Alice in Wonderland. The Union government, like the Hatter–March Hare duumvirate, enjoys all the tea and cake of power and resources. The states are forced to play the role of Dormouse who is always docile and sleepy. The federal asymmetry is aggravated in the Modi era, and Indian federalism is beating its retreat—after the halcyon days of coalition interlude—to the original encampment of its pliant existence.
Ramakrishna Hegde, former Karnataka chief minister, rightly warned: “A superpower attitude and show of superiority on the part of Union, which is a natural consequence of the concentration of powers and resources, has been responsible for generating a feeling of frustration and sense of injustice and discrimination and helplessness on the part of States which in turn produces the dangerous forces of regionalism.’’ Definitely, it is time to ponder over this sagacious warning for the benefit of the nation.
Faisal C K
Under Secretary to the Government of Kerala
(Views are personal)