Recently the state of Kerala has appointed its minister of external affairs (secretary in charge of matters concerning “external cooperation”, similar to the Secretary of State position in America. This would be like Texas appointing its own, instead of only the Federal government doing it from D.C.). This move has irked the union government in New Delhi. Opposing this move by the Kerala government, the union government’s Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement,
Days after the Kerala government appointed senior IAS officer K. Vasuki as an officer in charge of ‘external cooperation’, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday reminded the State governments that they should not “intrude” into domains that are beyond the “Constitutional jurisdiction” of the States.
“The Constitution of India under the 7th Schedule list 1 – Union list, item 10, clearly specifies that foreign affairs and all matters which bring the Union into relation with any foreign country, are the sole prerogative of the Union Government,” said Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal in response to a question.
This move by the Kerala government is in the right direction. Since coming to power in 2014, the Narendra Modi government has tried hard to centralize power in its hands at the cost of the state governments. Modi and Amit Shah have used the powers of the Indian state to either weaken or topple state governments that have non-BJP governments. He has used every central bureaucracy like the CBI, ED, RBI, finance commission, governors, etc., to do this dirty work. He has done everything possible to dismantle the federal structure of the Indian nation state.
This citation of the constitution to rebuke the Kerala government is hypocritical because Modi and Shah themselves have destroyed that constitution. The Constitution is long dead and the federal structure of the Indian nation state is long dead too.
Historically speaking the Indian nation state was forged together by the likes of Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel using the brute force of the military, it was never a union of happy people coming together voluntarily. The princely states of Jammu & Kashmir, Junagadh, Hyderabad, etc., didn’t want to join the newly formed Indian dominion. Goa was still with the Portuguese until the 1960s. The North-East states were never part of the Indian cultural ethos. The southern states are culturally very different from the northern states of the Gangetic plains.
Also, this union hasn’t helped people better their lives. After 77 years of its formation, people are still poor, hungry, and unemployed. Inflation has ravaged their lives since the very beginning. There is no justice for anyone. Politically powerful states of the Hindi belt have always unfairly dominated other states. The central government has extracted maximum resources from the productive states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, etc., and distributed those resources to the unproductive states of Bihar, UP, MP, Rajasthan, etc. This socialism has not allowed those productive states to better the lives of their people. These states cannot follow their independent economic policies to do things differently from the center. Everyone’s life is grinding under the pressure of the behemoth central government of the Indian nation state.
It is high time states decide to do things differently. As Leopold Kohr said, the breakdown of the nation state is the right way forward if Indians want to better the lives of their people.
… in The Breakdown of Nations, Leopold Kohr shows that throughout history people living in small states are happier, more peaceful, more creative and more prosperous. He argues that virtually all our political and social problems would be greatly diminished if the world’s major countries were to dissolve back into the small states from which they sprang. Rather than making even larger political unions, in the mistaken belief that this will bring peace and security, we should minimize the aggregation of power by returning to a patchwork of small, relatively powerless states where leaders are accessible to, and responsive to, the people.
By appointing its minister of external affairs, the Kerala government has taken the first step in the right direction.
Kerala should also start forming its independent economic policies. They should open up their economy and start trading freely with everyone. At present the economy of Kerala depends heavily on remittances, and this revenue will not be enough to oppose the central government diktats. The rulers of Kerala must remember that only the wealthier states can successfully oppose the rule of New Delhi when push comes to shove. The only system that can make Kerala rich is capitalism. A socialist/communist economy cannot generate wealth. Kerala or other state governments must make this hard choice for a better future. This should be their top priority.
