Political Federalism Under Modi s Tenure As Prime Minister

Ashiq Hassan Malik, Tanveer Rasool Dar

Affiliations:

Lecturer in Political Science Government Degree College Chadoora, Jammu & Kashmir, INDIA
Lecturer in Political Science Government Degree College Thanamandi, Jammu & Kashmir, INDIA

The general elections held since 2014 handed a majority to the Bharitya Janta Party except 2024 elections, however, the results had not changed the governing party from ruling asserting its continuing dominance. This study provides a critical analysis of what these continuous victories of the Bharatiya Janta Party had meant for the dynamics of center–state relations in India especially on political federalism. In analyzing this, the study first engages with the concept of “competitive-cooperative federalism” and more widely within conceptual framework that allows us identify dynamics in center–state relations across three dimensions: fiscal federalism, the political and the administrative. This study argues that despite the BJP’s promise to put “center-state relations on an even keel” the above relations had become more centralized under the Narendra Modi led regimes especially on political dimension. Moreover, this process of increasing centralization had been found in diverse cases viz Jammu and kashmir, the presidential rule and Nagaland, push for one nation one election etc. The study argues that political centralization could further aggravate if the BJP continues its domineering in the state assembly elections. However, it is asserted centralization is strongest in the political domain, administrative matters, less in fiscal dimension where the union government felt bound by the recommendations of the 14^th and 15^th Finance Commission and by longstanding intergovernmental deliberations and discussions on revamping India’s rigid indirect taxation system with a polity-wide Goods and Services Tax, the management heavily relies on center–state consent. However, this study is brief, it analyzes political dimension by arguing that BJP is heading towards more centralization.

Keywords:
Political federalism, federalism, Modi, ethno-nationalism, centralisation, centre-state relations.

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