The Issue of Discrimination in Indian Federalism in the Post-1977 Politics of West Bengal

Discourse on the politics of discrimination in West Bengal underwent some qualitative change in the aftermath of independence, with a marked departure from the old-style conceptualization of the term discrimination. People of West Bengal and hence the government are said to be highly politicized and modernized and have never submitted to the Centre, the Indian national government, even during the first two and a half decades after independence when Indian federalism was characterized by unchallenged unity and consensus.¹ Even during that time the West Bengal government led by the Congress party is said to have retained some independence, and unlike other states of the Indian Union, the relation of West Bengal with the Centre was quite conflict prone.² Nevertheless, the Congress government in West Bengal during the pre–Left Front era did not intend to rebel against the structure of the Indian federation, nor did it demand any far-reaching structural change of the federal system through any kind of amendment to the Constitution. All it had to contend was that the sufferings of West Bengal would have minimized once the constitutional provisions of Central resource transfers to the states were properly followed, that is, if the criteria of devolving funds were adopted and applied in accordance with the constitutional mandate.

However, the style of bargain and also the issues had undergone a sea change soon after the United Front government took charge in 1967 and brought forth two fundamental changes.³ For the first time ever, preexisting tensions in the Centre-state relationship became an issue of political mobilization, a clear shift from the earlier period. In addition, instead of limiting itself in the operational aspects of the federal fiscal relationship, the state government started questioning the very structural mold of the Indian federation.⁴

Such a radical shift has to be understood against the backdrop of a significant change in power balance in the national polity taking shape during the period that began in the late 1960s and eventually marked the emergence of regional parties as national players. In the fourth general election in 1967 the Congress party lost political power in half of the Indian states. The trend reached a culmination in 1977 when, for the first time, a non-Congress ("I," representing Indira Gandhi) coalition government was formed at the Centre, besides the formation and sustenance of a number of non-Congress (I) state governments led by regional parties around the same time. This break in the tradition of single-party domination in Indian politics created an environment conducive to raising questions about the structural issues on the Centre-state relation and consequent demands aimed at changing the power balance in favor of the states.

The Memorandum on Centre-State Financial Relations, of 1 December 1977, prepared by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), was probably the first attempt to articulate the demand for radical restructuring of the existing Centre-state relations through constitutional amendment. In the national context, a similar attempt was first made by the Rajamannar Committee Report (1968) commissioned by the Dravida Munnerta Kazhagam government of Tamil Nadu. Subsequently, the Administrative Reform Commission Report on the Study Team on Centre-State Relationship (1968) also appeared. The next considerable step in this line was taken by the Government of India. However, the growing importance of non-Congress (I) political parties at the state level as well as at the Centre and the consequent conflict building on the Centre-state relations necessitated a substantive review of the Indian federal structure. The Sarkaria Commission (1984) was set up by the government of India in an attempt to review the existing Centre-state relation thoroughly. Amid Ray and John Kincaid viewed these initiatives as an outcome of a second-generation strain on the...