Sir,
This has reference to the article ‘Creation of new States’.
The creation of new States in India is a complex issue and needs to be tackled carefully. On one side, the states, like Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh that have been newly carved have witnessed tremendous development. But the creation of many more states may bring instability at the centre.
This is primarily due to the fact that coalition culture has come to stay in Indian politics. During the last decade, we saw NDA and UPA Governments. Both these entities are constituted of regional parties. The BJP and the Congress are the only two parties that have pan-India presence. Rest are restricted to specific regions. But the BJP and the Congress need support of regional satraps to stay in power.
The support is always conditional, and this ‘conditional’ factor adds to instability. The ‘Policy Paralysis’ attributed to the UPA Government is a result of the wimisical nature of the UPA partners. As the Government fails to meet the demands of each and every partner, no consensus is reached on issues facing the country.
So when the number of states is increased, the number of demands will also grow.
This will certainly weaken the coalition Government existing at that time, and render it non-functional. This in turn may hurt the country.
Yours’ etc….
Sunil Chhibber
Jammu.