Over the last several elections, it is becoming more and more clear that the federal structure of the Indian state is coming into its own, with increasingly powerful state CMs and parties dong extremely well, both at the polls as well as in governance, compared to the "national" parties. Even when you look at leaders like Modi or Goa's Parrikar, while they belong to a national party, their focus and reach is very local. (Agreed, Modi might have PM ambitions, but I doubt he will be as effective at a national level as he is in Gujarat - time will tell!)
However, our multi-party and parliamentary form of governance does not align very well with a heavily federal structure, with coalition politics generally proving extremely difficult when it comes to decision making, as we have seen with the UPA struggling in recent times on crucial policy matters. The US, which also enjoys very strong federalism, has a very different presidential form of government at the center, which makes it much easier to govern the center.
Unless the Congres or the BJP sweeps elections and is returned to parliament with a resounding majority, India might struggle as a country with its defence and economic policies, while individual states will ride on the success of their local leadership. Maybe it's time to relook at the powers of the states, and empower them further? Maybe it's also time to tighten the rules around coalition politics...?
No comments:
Post a Comment