India’s states grow in power as new government set to take control in Delhi
A new government is about to take control in Delhi, but it's the provinces that are commanding a greater say in both domestic and foreign policy
As India today finds out who takes the reins in Delhi, China will keep its ear to the ground for more distant rumblings, and clues to deeper shifts in power.
The road to lasting peace with Asia's other giant, Beijing is beginning to realise, lies beyond Delhi, winding through the political hinterlands of Chennai, Lucknow, Calcutta or Cuttack, where regional leaders rise to unprecedented heights of power.
Local leaders are increasingly running India and China
"China is increasingly aware of the ability of regional players to influence national governance and economic development, especially in populous, federal and decentralised countries such as India," said Zhang Li, a professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies at Sichuan University.
As the ruling Congress fades and with the pretender to the throne, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), yet to acquire a pan-India presence, small regional parties and powerful local leaders of the two national parties fill a political void. The hold over their respective states gives these bosses control over a chunk of parliamentary seats, and with it clout in Delhi unthinkable a decade ago.
Of India's 28 states, the Congress rules 11 and the BJP five. These two leading parties already have standing pre-election alliances, called the United Progress Alliance (UPA) and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), respectively, with myriad state-level outfits.
According to exit polls taken during the national election, the BJP-led NDA might be able to win 272 seats with little or no additional help from other parties to claim a majority in the 543-seat parliament. But even if it does, it will try to bring in more coalition partners, especially from larger states that have more members of parliament, to ensure stability of the government and make it more broad-based. If it doesn't, and the results declared today show no clear winner, Delhi would be plunged into political uncertainty, triggering new, post-election alliances. In both cases, more state satraps would gain a greater say in all aspects of national policy, including foreign affairs.