With a country that seems to get more fragmented, disaffected and unequal, the formal exchanges at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with chief ministers were bound to be contentious and confrontational. Given that we have a PM who is seen to be the strongest personality in 12 years, there was bound to be an edge to the meeting on Saturday.
While the Centre may have expected that the potency of the PM’s development agenda might break the old mould of Indian politics, the truth is that India’s federal makeup will be under scrutiny every time the states, many in non-BJP hands, meet the Centre. The states’ universal cry is for greater powers and a higher share of revenues, while the Centre keeps harping on the benefits of cooperative federalism. The depth of feeling over the State, Concurrent and Union Lists is such that the Centre came under attack even from its Punjab ally, Akali Dal, whose leader accused the Centre of going on a “constitutional rampage” to encroach on states’ rights.
Given such animosity, Arvind Kejriwal greeting Mr Modi may have rated high on the Richter scale of personal equations. What may have surprised the PM is the depth of disaffection over sharing of power. Not even the positives Mr Modi pointed to — like states’ share of Central taxes rising from 32 per cent to 42 per cent last year, and the states’ total revenues in 2015-16 being 21 per cent higher, made much difference. The arguments will continue: no easy solution is evident.
