The outcome of elections of 1967 gave a staggering blow to Congressdominance and generally considered as an important turning point in Indiaspolitics by putting an end to the era of one Party dominance. In this electionalthough Congress retained a bare majority in the Parliament-284 in a house of520 but it was unseated in eight out of sixteen state Assemblies including thepopulous heartland States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Party lost itsdominance in other six States- West Bengal, Orissa, Madras, Kerala, Rajasthanand Punjab. Latent social forces were coming to the fore in the states. It wassignificant that new tendencies were appearing not at the national but at theregional level. This shift of centre of gravity of public life from the centreto the periphery marked a qualitative change in politics. Integrative politicsof the kind that was needed for nation building in the past at the all-Indialevel is now needed in the states. In other words, they required politicalleadership of a high order in terms of vision and skills.

Beginning ofchallenges for federalism

In this newenvironment the issue of federalism came to be affected more by the ideologicalposition, political strategy and support base of the new governments. It wasfound that many of the coalitions, in the face of urge for power of theirpartners, joined hands only in opposition to Mrs. Gandhis government, but weresharply divided on the vital issue of Centre- State relations. In regards twoschools of thought were identified; one stands for a thorough re-examinationand introduction of amendments of far-reaching importance in the Constitutionso that Centre-State relations could be rearranged to suit the needs of thechanged political context and its unitary bias could be shed. The other school,however, does not consider all this necessary, and was content with a generalreappraisal of the Constitution which may admit of a broad review ofCentre-State relations within the existing Constitutional framework. Adescriptive hypothesis which perhaps best summed up the then situation was thatcooperative federalism in India having lost support base in the Congress systemwas in search of a new anchorage amidst pressures of democracy, nationaldevelopment, regional growth and State autonomy.

But above all the emergence of coalition politics had brought forward anew power equation in which smaller states have found important position in thefederal governance. Without going into the theoretical position of greaternationalism, lesser nationalism, little nationalism, and the like one candraw the conclusion that in the newly created political arrangement, smallerstates with greater political capability in the field of power manipulation canplay a very decisive role in the federal process. The experiences that theIndian state has gained over the years show that all types of regional or localissues create situations for the emergence of new types of demands-sometimesdemand for autonomy and sometimes the creation of the state. Among the pointsof growing tension in India federalism is the feeling in some communities thattheir cultural message for the world at large is not being promoted. Someothers have grievances in economic matters. In the changed situation the Centremust learn to play an effective mediatory role even as it continues tosafeguard the countrys integrity and independence. But since regionalmovements struggling for greater expression also wish to uphold the nationalidentity, the country is now in a position to move forward constructively inre-ordering CentreState relations. It can also play a more creative role infurthering the emergence of new global institutions and values.

Relation amongparties

From thefunctional point of view it may be noted that there have been sharp changes inthe relationship between the Congress Party and other non-Congress regionalpolitical parties. It is true that in most of the cases, before the emergenceof coalition politics and because of the dominant position of the Congress Party,the local or the regional parties did not enjoy any influential authority inthe total political process. But there have been significant changes since 1967and a climate of bargaining politics had taken its roots and in this processlocal or regional parties have been able to come forward with their agenda ofaction. It was for the first time that the hegemonic position of the Congresswitnessed opposition from regional or local political parties. It may not be anexaggeration to say that the seeds of regionalization of Indian politics hadbeen sown during the 4th General Elections. Looking from the pointof view of socio-economic configuration, it may be seen that a new social andeconomic class, mostly in the middle order, emerged and began to exercise theirinfluence in the policy making process. No longer the issue of relativeautonomy of states found favor with the national political parties and in itsplace the politics of bargaining came to the surface in which states began toassert themselves in the federal governing process.

Federalism andviews of parties

The newenvironment encouraged political parties of the time to speak in favour andagainst of the nature of Indian Constitution. Among the parties the erstwhileJana Sangh and present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stood for a centralisedfederalism. By its theory of Hindu revivalism it favoured a strong nationalgovernment. It was of the view that only a powerful national government was thesolution for checking the fissiparous tendencies threatening nationalintegration and encouraging foreign invasion. Therefore, the BJP propagated theidea that in the interest of nation and preserving national unity it stood forsome kind of a decentralised unitary system in place of federal set up. TheLeft Parties wanted a system of governance which would ensure substantialautonomy to the states. The Socialists, despite their awareness of the need forsubstantial regional autonomy, were in favour of a strong national governmentboth for the maintenance of national unity and the accomplishment of concrete,time- bound socialist programme. Of all the regional political parties, DMK andAIADMK, the Akali Dal and later on AGP in Assam demanded more devolution ofauthority for the regions. The changes brought about since 1967 had created asituation where there have been radical changes in the party positions all overthe country. With the emergence of the Non-Congress government in severalstates and reduction in the Congress strength in Parliament after the 1967General Elections the position of the states vis-a-vis the Union wasstrengthened. In 1968, the Communist Party of India stood for changes in thefederal constitution of the country so as to divest the union government of itsoverriding powers to interfere in the affairs of the states and in order towiden the autonomy of states especially in the matter of finance and stateeconomy. In line the CPI (M) favored widest autonomy for the various statescomprising the Indian federation.

(Author is Professor and Head, Department ofPolitical Science, B.N.Mandal University, Bihar)

More:

Relation between Federalism and Indian Party System - Rising Kashmir