by GARGA CHATTERJEE
In the last millennium, Delhi could dismiss elected state governments at will. But the once-sharp blades have become blunt due to coalitions and rise of regionalists. Some deplore this lack of decisive punishment and call it the ‘fracturing’ of the polity. Monotheists have never been at peace with the idea of robust polytheism. The post-Partition Indian Union is no different. But Delhi knows other ways to make worshippers of other gods submit or pay tribute to it. These ways have only gained strength. The lists of executive jurisdiction, which mark out what is Caesar’s and what is not his, and what he shares with others, have been one of the choicest methods by which the Delhi imperium has run roughshod over the diverse policy aspirations of different regions of the subcontinent. Especially brash is the concurrent list which marks out that a province, say, Tamil Nadu, cannot make a law for Tamil Nadu that contravenes what Delhi has in mind for Tamil Nadu. As a self-respecting person who has elected his/her provincial government, it is not easy to imagine a future with the Article 356 intact. But there it is. However, even in the absence of it, the Centre is trying to punish provinces for policy pronouncements that are well within the ambit of provincial rights, however moth-eaten they may be. This was evident in the pronouncements of Anand Sharma, Union minister of commerce and industry.
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