Policy shift or loose talk?
Modi’s ‘Team India’ proposal is politically unrealistic ‘Team India’ is a political necessity
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a strong case for the Centre and the state government working together as “Team India” for the country’s progress and promised to usher in the era of “cooperative and competitive federalism” in Centre-state relations. His statement in West Bengal was aimed at roping in support of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul and other regional parties in Rajya Sabha to push forward Bharatiya Janata Party’s reformist agenda.
The Indian Constitution envisioned a federal structure of government in which the states would be treated as equal stakeholders of India’s development. But what we have witnessed for the past few decades is the systematic disruption of our country’s federal structure by successive governments at the Centre.
Many of the state subjects had been moved to the Centre’s List while some of the subjects were taken to the Concurrent List.
After accepting the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission, the Centre increased the share of states in the Centre’s tax revenue from 32 per cent to 42 per cent. Subsequently, the Modi government has decided to delink eight Centrallysponsored schemes (CSS), including National e-Governance Plan, Backward Regions Grant Funds, Modernisation of Police Forces and Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sasha- ktikaran Abhiyan, from its support in the Union Budget 2015-16.
The delinking of the CSS would severely affect the financial burden of the state governments. The Centre’s move will adversely affect states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala as they do not have any other option but to cut down allocation for the welfare schemes implemented by them.
In essence, it is not cooperative federalism. It is not meant to cooperate with the states; it’s meant only to push their reformist agenda.
The Modi government’s unilateral approach can be seen clearly from the way in which the Planning Commission of India, a 65-year-old institution, was abolished and replaced by the National Institution for Transforming India, popularly described as the NITI Aayog. Without consulting any state government, or debating it in Par-liament, NITI Aayog was created by a mere announcement during Mr Modi’s Independence Day speech. It shows his government’s disregard for Parliament and the federal set-up.
Mr Modi’s talk of the Centre and state governments working together as “Team India” is aimed at getting the support of the strong regional parties in Rajya Sabha where its numbers are less. They have to stoop to conquer. The BJP wanted the Trinamul Congress, the Biju Janata Dal and All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to toe the government line in the Upper House. They will try to rope in the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party as well to overcome Rajya Sabha hurdle in passing key legislations.
It is not only that Mr Modi himself believes and practices the system of centralised governance and concentration of power in his own hands; he also adheres to the unitary policy of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Hence, Mr Modi’s cooperative federalism is another name for centralisation and control over the whole country. His preference for a decentralised federalism is a myth because he is guiding the whole county in one direction of capitalism and Hindu Rashtra.
(As told to G. Jagannath) Mr Modi’s talk of the Centre and states working together as ‘Team India’ is to get the support of strong regional parties in Rajya Sabha where
its numbers are less. They have to stoop to conquer.