For federalism

KCR’s renewed pitch for an anti-BJP coalition of regional parties must be understood against the deliberate dilution of federal values

Never in the recent past the threat to federalism, the bedrock of India’s democracy, was as serious as it is now. The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has been systematically undermining the spirit of federalism by usurping the rights of the States and taking unilateral and arbitrary decisions. There is growing frustration among the States over the steady erosion of the core principles of cooperative federalism that bind the country together. Even the long-standing allies like the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have exited the NDA because of the Centre’s high-handed approach and its blatant encroachment into the domains of the States. It is against this backdrop of deliberate dilution of federal values that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s renewed pitch for an anti-BJP coalition of regional parties must be understood. His initiative to host a national conclave of the anti-BJP parties in Hyderabad next month is timely as it provides a platform to fight for the restoration of the rights of the States and help put the Centre-State relations on an even keel. The national leaders are indeed looking up to KCR to provide the leadership for the battle to tame the BJP. The heads of political parties, including Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, Kumaraswamy, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Parkash Singh Badal, Naveen Patnaik and MK Stalin are likely to respond to the Chief Minister’s call and join the meeting to work out a common strategy. The two national parties— Congress and BJP—have failed to provide any direction to the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s oft-repeated phrase “Team India”, to describe the cooperative federal set-up, has ended up being an empty slogan. On every issue with federal ramifications, the NDA government has been arbitrary and insensitive while pushing its agenda instead of taking the consensus route and trying to get the States on board. In the last few years, there has been a growing tendency to centralisation of powers, be it in the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, devolution of taxes to the States or framing guidelines for the management of the Covid-19 pandemic. A string of recent policy moves by the Centre has been at variance with the federal spirit, infringing upon the rights of the States even in matters that fall in their domain. If the Electricity (Amendment) Bill was a classic case of legislative overreach, the farm reform Bills were not only detrimental to the interests of farmers but also amounted to usurping the powers of the States. Since the subjects like agriculture, public health and law and order are included in the State List, the State governments should have complete freedom to take decisions in the interest of the people of the region.

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