Author: Editorial
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 7, 2004
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=56489
Introduction: Must New Delhi check
a state government's political profile before offering cooperation?
Given the stakes in Maharashtra,
Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar would have been expected to give visible
proof of the working peace they brokered before the Lok Sabha elections.
At a joint rally in Nashik on Tuesday, their constant reference to the
Congress Parivar thus comes as no surprise. However, one point of commonality
in their campaign does raise eyebrows. Both Gandhi and Pawar referred to
the benefits that could come Maharashtra's way if it continues to have
a government in sync with the ruling coalition in New Delhi. That is, if
the NCP- Congress alliance is returned to power. It was a theme Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh echoed a day later by seeking a government in Maharashtra
which is "on the same wavelength with Delhi".
Incumbency has proved to be such
an insurmountable obstacle at election time, that one appreciates the constraints
that must have driven these senior politicians to such a campaign. But
in asking the voter to consider the advantages of dwelling on the terms
of engagement between the political dispensations in New Delhi and Mumbai,
they offer a false choice. Inadvertently, they also frame a striking predicament
in the country's transition to more meaningful federalism. Over the past
decades the rise of regional parties has changed the politics and political
economy of the country. Much good has accrued in the process. These parties
are now an integral part of the two- coalition system at the Centre, thereby
giving the states a participatory role at the national level. It has also,
however, alerted state-level parties to the need to cultivate the ruling
dispensation at the Centre. The reasons differ. AP under the TDP, for instance,
reaped immense economic benefits during the NDA years. The National Conference,
in contrast, offered support to successive coalitions in New Delhi to maintain
some leverage in decision making on security affairs in J&K. The DMK
and AIADMK keep switching between Congress and BJP led alliances in a bid
to curb each other's leverage. At best, this can be termed synergy. In
reality, it can resemble blackmail.
Coalitions are here to stay. To
maximise the repercussions for meaningful federalism, therefore, the processes
related to allocation of funds and cooperation with the Centre must be
depoliticised.
