Metamorphic Moment of the Indian Polity: Anatomizing the Evolution and Changing Dynamics of the Indian State against the Protean Nature of Cooperative Federalism

Abhigyan Guha

doi:10.47191/ijcsrr/v4-i6-03

Abstract

The elusive and paradoxical nature of Indian polity has been evident in the amalgamation of Western patterns of bureaucratic organization, participatory politics with indigenous practices and institutional framework that had an organic growth on the Indian soil. While post-colonial India was characterized by the incorporation of democratic political ethos and structural architecture, Westminster model of parliamentary government and representative legal institutions, it did not imply the exact replication of the British architectonic system of advanced industrial democracy. As the Indian political process is subjected to dramatic transmutations and cyclical changes, it has eventually acquired a mass character and vibrancy with the exuberant participation of marginalized and underprivileged political formations and social groups in the political arena, coupled with the regionalization of the polity, altering the terms of political domination and sowing the seeds of an increasingly complex mechanism of negotiation, competitive bargaining, alliance and coalition-building, in a cooperative federalist arrangement. The principle objective of this paper is to put an emphasis on the role of the Indian state, the transformation of Indian federalism and the political process, while holistically encapsulating the development and multidimensional patterns associated with the Indian political system, tracing the departure from the heyday of the Congress system and Nehruvian civic nationalism to the crystallization of a majoritarian edifice, propelled by Hindu Nationalism.

Highlights

The Indian political system has undergone a plethora of changes ever since its independence and decolonization, and has re-oriented itself according to the dynamic nature of social and political forces, thereby re-calibrating its governmentality, policy formulation, decision making and the degree of democratization
As the fundamental apparatus of governmental administration, bureaucracy, basic structure of civil and criminal law and its administration was bequeathed to India from the colonial rule, myriad institutional changes were incorporated into the Indian statecraft simultaneously, namely-- the provision of a sovereign legislature characterized by universal adult franchise sans communal representation; constitutionally granted and guaranteed set of political rights and civil liberties in the form of Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties; constitutionally envisaged system of reservation backed by affirmative action for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs); a robust parliamentary system of government that was modeled
STATE, FEDERALISM AND THE INDIAN POLITICAL PROCESS Embodying the elements of modern citizenship and democratic decision-making, the Indian state as a cardinal actor in the political process was faced with the daunting task of managing law and order, security, balancing command and control while acting as a catalyst for the construction of a unified nation-state and ensuring macro-societal transformation, confronted with debilitating historical circumstances of Partition and acute instability in the wake of Indian National Congress’ (INC) division, conflicts with Pakistan, integration of multiple princely states, linguistic and regional agitations especially in Telengana, coupled with extreme poverty and unemployment, struggling to establish political authority over its vast territory and diverse population

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The Indian political system has undergone a plethora of changes ever since its independence and decolonization, and has re-oriented itself according to the dynamic nature of social and political forces, thereby re-calibrating its governmentality, policy formulation, decision making and the degree of democratization. As the fundamental apparatus of governmental administration, bureaucracy, basic structure of civil and criminal law and its administration was bequeathed to India from the colonial rule, myriad institutional changes were incorporated into the Indian statecraft simultaneously, namely-- the provision of a sovereign legislature characterized by universal adult franchise sans communal representation; constitutionally granted and guaranteed set of political rights and civil liberties in the form of Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties; constitutionally envisaged system of reservation backed by affirmative action for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs); a robust parliamentary system of government that was modeled. Www.ijcsrr.org on the British Westminster pattern of parliamentary democracy, consisting of an elected executive responsible to the legislature and vice-versa with the elements of collective responsibility and individual responsibility and an indirectly elected President as the de jure head of the state; independent single integrated judiciary with the Supreme Court at the apex, vested with the powers of judicial review of the parliamentary laws; a constitutionally affirmed federal system of government with an unitary bias, viz. a dual polity of distribution of power between the centre and the state governments, wherein the centre is more centralized than federations elsewhere in the world. (Ibid)

BACKGROUND

CONCLUSION