Nationalism and the crisis of federalism

The Hindu 17th September 2020 Save

Context: The contemporary crisis of federalism is due to the attack on coalescent, democratic Indian Nationalism by a conceptually limited and morally weak idea of Hindu Nationalism.

Crisis of Indian Federalism: due to -

Centre's backing out of Goods and Service Tax shortfall payments.
Flawed understanding of Nationalism and the government's disregard for democratic principles.

Three nationalisms

Ethno-religious Nationalism: Based on the assumption that community with a strongly unified culture in ethnoreligious terms must have a single state of its own

Before India achieved Independence, this was articulated by the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League
Disadvantages:

It adversely affected religious minorities and linguistic minorities. For E.g.:
It might tempt politicians to mobilise permanently on the basis of language and divert attention from issues of the material wellbeing.
It might 'freeze' linguistic identities and increase the likelihood of interethnic violence, en courage separatism and eventually lead to India's break up.

Civic Nationalism: It was de?ned by shared historical experience, the struggle against British colonial rule, and developed through an interpenetration of ideas emanating from di?erent cultural sources.

Advantages:

More inclusive than ethnoreligious nationalism.
Recognition of the 2nd tier of government on a functional basis rather than based ethical grounds.

Disadvantages:

Similar to Ethno-religious Nationalism, it too conceives common culture in terms of a strong idea of unity that marginalises or excludes other particular identities.
States rejected the idea: of adoption of ethnic identities into a larger civic identity,
For, E.g. The issue of linguistic States became the focus of popular agitation forcing the creation, in 1953, of the State of Andhra for Telugu speaking people.

Coalescent Nationalism: It accepts that communities nourished by distinct, territorially concentrated regional cultures have the capacity to design states of their own.

Advantages:

Presence of mechanism to prevent occasional conflicts: between the common culture of the central State and distinct cultures of constituent states.
Creatively combines claims of unity with claims of recognition of diverse cultures.

Relationship between Federalism and Coalescent Nationalism: Federalism strengthens Nationalism due to following factors:

Federalism can block language based majoritarianism, contain conflicts and strengthen Indian Nationalism.

Creation of Linguistic states: improves the administrative efficiency, deepens democracy, and alleviates anxieties of regional minorities induced by fear of linguistic domination.

Presence of more durable Centre: since it is grounded more on the consent and participation of regional groups that, at another level, are also self-governing.