In my several recent trips to India the fragmented and regionalist politics struck me as dangerously parochial. The national narrative has all but disappeared from the national discourse dominated as it is by regional politicians who usually won't see beyond the state boundaries and elections. There was a time when national interest captured most politicians while at the same time the regional aspirations were rarely lost sight of. Unfortunately in the last two decades the ascendant regionalism has all but eclipsed the national interest. The most recent example of that was how most politicians in India fell in line to support Manmohan Singh insanely giving a pass to the Commonwealth Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The misguided regional feelings of the regionalist leaders dictated India's foreign policy. It was a sad day for India when the PM of the country could not see past the regional ballot box to ensure Sri Lanka remained under the regional geopolitical influence of India.
Another earlier and more serious blunder took place when in the name of protecting state powers the establishment of a National Anti Terrorism Center was scuttled by several state governments unfriendly to the UPA government at the center. No nation can give a befitting response to real or potential terrorists without a national and nationally coordinated response. National security of any country is and must be beyond partisan politics. It saddens me to say many politicians in India have not yet grasped that basic lesson and principle.
In the regionally hyper partisan atmosphere of the Indian polity it seemed odd that not many voices rose to maintain or create a national perspective. In fact many commentators welcomed the rise of the regional parties clamouring for clout in the Lok Sabha. They argued it was better that regional parties were ascendant in national elections as they knew about local state interests. Not many worried that exactly for that reason the stronger regional parties vying for lok Sabha seats was not a good omen for the republic. It is a fundamental obligation of the federal government to articulate and implement policies of national scope and in the national interest. Often national interest may not necessarily serve the interests of one or the other of the states. What then happens to the national interest? Who decides what the national interest is in the first place? How ten disparate parties with regional agendas coalesce to arrive at the national interest? This is a question Indians across India need to ask the promoters of a third/fourth 'regionalist' front. Indians must keep in mind that national parties can more easily articulate, protect and promote national interest. They do not always do so. The UPA's handling of the Commonwealth Conference in Sri Lanka is a case in point. The Congress succumbed to its own narrow political interests in this case. With regionalist parties at the core of government it might be lot more difficult to articulate, protect and promote India's interests. That is why talk of this 'regionalist front' is sheer lunacy and will hurt the country in the long run. Indians must tell the regional political personalities that they are welcome to ask for electoral support in the national elections when the Indians can be assured that the national interest will not be undermined. Until then they should faithfully serve their states.