India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

Regional loyalties distorting national vision : PM

	November 12, 2007

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed concern at competing demands by political parties based on local interests. Inaugurating the Fourth International Conference on Federalism in New Delhi on Nov. 5, he said, “narrow political considerations

based on regional or sectional loyalties and ideologies can distort the national vision and sense of collective purpose.”



The Prime Minister did not mention any name or any specific issue, but observers see his remarks in the background of differences over the Indo-US nuclear deal. The deal, which Dr. Manmohan Singh sees as a show-piece of accomplishments in the foreign policy

sphere, has been facing fierce opposition from the Left parties supporting his government from outside. Even some major UPA constituents like the RJD, the DMK and the NCP may not be prepared to go along with the deal if it means a mid-term poll.



Observers say Dr. Manmohan Singh’s reference to “parties with varying national reach” could be interpreted to mean the Left, which has often drawn charges of wielding power disproportionate to its limited presence in the country.



The nuclear deal is not the only sticking point in the Congress equations with regional allies. The DMK’s open declaration of solidarity with the LTTE - after its political cell chief Tamilselvan was killed recently - has caused the Congress discomfiture. The militant group is blamed for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.



The running feud between Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss of the PMK and the AIIMS Director has also embarrassed the Prime Minister. If Singh’s criticism took in its sweep his UPA and Left allies, it did not spare the BJP either. The Opposition party has thwarted the formulation of a cohesive view on the nuclear deal after initially giving the impression of support.



Without naming the BJP, he asked: “Does a single party have any advantages in managing Centre-state relations smoothly... or is a multi-party model, with national parties dominating the political scene, superior where one can hope that all of them will take a national view on policy issues and help to reinforce the unity of the federation.”



While in theory this model should work smoothly, it was not so in India, he said.



Congress sources said his comments would resurrect the debate on coalitions versus single-party rule that often dominated party meetings till Sonia Gandhi ruled in favour of alliances before the 2004 elections.



In a tangential answer to the Left’s allegation that the nuclear deal would “compromise” India’s sovereignty, Singh said that in a world getting increasingly globalised, he wondered “whether the day is not far away when the concept of absolute sovereignty may itself come into question.”



Delivering the valedictory address at the Conference, President Pratibha Patil said on Nov. 7 that the relevance of federalism has been growing in the world. She said democracy and federalism should be the guiding principle for a new world order. Describing federalism as a concept rooted in self-rule, President Patil said, “Federalism is not only good politics, it is also good economics.”



Addressing the Conference on Nov. 5, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said the concentration of authority and power only in the hands of the federal unit will be anathema to the whole system. He emphasised the need for decentralisation and said that

the Indian Constitution provides for sharing of power between the Union and the States and also within the state with districts and other local bodies.





UPA allies say they do not agree with PM



Regional parties, constituents of the Congress-led UPA, say that they do not share Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s view that political considerations based on regional loyalties hamper national vision. RJD leader Ram Dev Bhandari said, regional parties are in no way hampering national vision. A DMK leader said regional parties have helped deepen democracy and made national development more inclusive.



Regional parties belonging to the NDA and the UNPA went hammer and tongs at the Prime Minister and the Congress for Dr. Manmohan Singh’s comments. Janata Dal (U) secretary Shambhu Srivastva said, lopsided development of different regions during

the first four decades of Congress rule has led to the growth of regional and sectional political considerations. This is a direct fallout of Congress policies. Telugu Desam Party leader Yerran Naidu called the Prime Minister’s remarks “unethical.” Samajwadi Party leader Mohan Singh alleged that the Prime Minister made the remarks because he was not at all aware of ground realities.



The Left parties reacting to Dr. Manmohan Singh’s remarks said that India can remain united only in a federal structure. They called for conferring more rights and giving more financial resources to the states and contested the Prime Minister’s perception of

coalition governments hindering the collective purpose of the states. CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said that it appears that the Prime Minister has missed the

basic parameters of federal polity. CPI(M) politburo member M.K. Pandhe said that the Prime Minister should remember that no single party including the Congress could come to power at the Centre on its own.