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‘Narrow political considerations can distort national vision’

— Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Ahmed A.M. Sambi, President of Comoros, at the 4th International Conference on Federalism in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said narrow political considerations, based on regional or sectional loyalties and ideologies, could distort the national vision and sense of collective purpose.

Dr. Singh, who was delivering the inaugural address at the 4th International Conference on Federalism, raised some key questions relating to management of Centre-State relations and challenges facing nation-states.

“Does a single party state have any advantage in managing Centre-State relations smoothly as opposed to a multi-party system? Or is a multi-party model, with national parties dominating the political scene, superior where one can hope that all of them will take a national view on policy issues and help to reinforce the unity of the federation,” he asked.

His second question related to a multi-party model, where parties with varying national reach and many with a very limited sub-national reach, form a coalition at the national level.

“Is such a model capable of providing the unity of purpose that nation-states have to often demonstrate? Or is it an essential outcome of federalism which successfully projects local aspirations at a national level? This political dimension of the Centre-States relations is yet another challenge facing a federal polity like ours,” he said.

Dr. Singh said: “Sometimes the resolution of problems acquires an excessively political hue, and narrow political considerations, based on regional or sectional loyalties and ideologies, can distort the national vision and sense of wider collective purpose.”

The three-day conference, organised by the Inter-State Council Secretariat of the Home Ministry, is being attended by about 1000 delegates from 26 countries.

The Prime Minister said that even with a multi-party model, with national parties dominating the political scene, the Indian experience suggested that management of Centre-State relations could give rise to “serious tensions.”

He also spoke of pulls and pressures and various challenges on account of river water sharing, natural resources and fiscal federalism.

In a world of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, plural societies, Dr. Singh said, federal political systems faced new political challenges.

“Tensions between centralisation in certain spheres of governance and decentralisation in others are the essence of federalism. Managing this is the challenge for federalism,” he said.

The Prime Minister noted that economic development was one of the biggest unifying drivers of the past few decades, and cited the example of a large unified market like the European Union.

He said unification of economic activity impinged on almost all other spheres of human activity. There was need for gradual harmonisation, if not unification.

“When I see the world getting increasingly globalised, I wonder whether the day is not far away when the concept of absolute sovereignty may itself come into question.”

Dr. Singh said reducing inter-regional disparities was a major challenge for large federations.

Large countries of continental dimensions must have policies for equitable and efficient management of natural resources.

He cited the issue of river water sharing, which has posed a challenge to the management of federalism.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil, in the key-note address, said federalism helped a country at the global level in various activities. ’

Noting that new situations were developing in the world, he said federalism had to address the new demands.

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