Regionalism and federalism

Regionalism in India grows from two roots:

• the concentration of particular languages, tribes and religions in particular regions;
• a feeling of regional deprivation: that one's region is neglected or exploited.

Under British rule, India was divided into large presidencies (Madras, Bombay, Bengal) that mixed many languages. After independence, popular agitations demanded states based on language.

The States Reorganisation Commission's report was implemented on 1 November 1956, redrawing states mostly on linguistic lines. Many feared this would divide India. The historian Ramachandra Guha argues the opposite: linguistic states strengthened Indian unity, by giving people self-rule in their own language.

Two examples show the cost of ignoring language:

• Sri Lanka's 'Sinhala only' language policy (1956) angered the Tamil minority and helped cause decades of civil war.
• Pakistan's attempt to impose Urdu on Bengali-speaking East Pakistan helped lead to its split in 1971 and the birth of Bangladesh.

The three states formed in 2000, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, were based not on language but on tribal identity and regional deprivation.

India manages regional diversity through federal institutions:

• the Union, State and Concurrent Lists, dividing subjects between the Centre and the states;
• the Rajya Sabha, representing the states in Parliament;
• the Finance Commission, which decides how tax revenue is shared between the Centre and states;
• the GST Council, where the Centre and states decide the goods and services tax together.

Today India has 28 States and 8 Union Territories. Recognising regions holds the nation together.