Locating Contemporary Indian Federalism: Contextualising the Trends of Centralisation with Changing Dynamics

Abstract

Indian federalism is a peculiar model designed to accomplish the necessities of a heterogeneous and multifaceted society. The constitutional framework of federalism spells out that the fate of the states rests with the centre, as the centre can alter it with consultation but without taking consent from the concerned states. The justification offered for such a design during the Constituent Assembly deliberations was to thwart the centrifugal forces that had caused the partition of the subcontinent. The post-independence issues emerged due to several circumstances that influenced federalism in a political milieu where one party, the Congress, held dominance for the first two decades. This phase of Indian federalism was less contentious than the subsequent phase because of consensual politics but opposition and confrontation later appeared with the rise of oppositional politics and regional autonomy demands. In the 1990s, Indian federalism experienced a shift where regionalisation and federalisation of political parties reshaped the federal context along with other factors. Also, this was a volatile phase followed by a bi-nodal alliance system that brought political stability at the national level. The BJP scripted landmark victories in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections that unleashed new challenges and strengthened the trends of centralisation. Besides centralisation, federal cooperation found space through several initiatives of the centre. Thus, the article investigates how Indian federalism functions in a variegated system by emphasising the contemporary trends of centralisation with changing dynamics.