The Politics of Regionalism in India

Abstract

ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT developments in Indian politics since the i967 General Election has been the emergence and success of several regional parties. In one sense, this politics of regionalism is not a new phenomenon: since independence many state and regional parties have sprouted in India, usually to wither quickly in the shadow of the Congress banyan tree. Others have continued to exist in a weak or comatose condition, capable of annoyance but little more. What is new is the relative success of these parties. In i967, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) of Tamil Nadu proved for the first time that a well-organized regional party could come to power at the state level in India.1 Ever since that triumph, a trend in toward the politics of regionalism has been evident.2 Although Mrs. Gandhi's recent landslide victory has obviously slowed this trend, some of the regional parties (the DMK, for example), on the whole, survived the March i97i debacle better than some of the national parties (the two Socialist parties, for example) .3 The regional parties in today are no longer simply local annoyances to a Congress Party overwhelmingly dominant once again. They continue to play significant roles at the state level in the Indian political system. Given the tremendous heterogeneity of Indian society, the politics of regionalism should not be a surprising development. In a recent issue of the journal Seminar, devoted to the problem of Indian nationalism, the fundamental problem facing was well summarized: India is not a single nationstate. It is a continent of many communities united through shared experiences but powerfully motivated by parochial and regional considerations.4 The politics of regionalism is a manifestation of this reality. Taken by itself, the DMK victory might well have been considered a unique phenomenon, but it cannot be so interpreted. The emergence after the i969 Mid-Term Election of the Akali Dal as the dominant partner in an Akali-Jan Sangh coalition government in the Punjab was another harbinger