Accommodation and national integration

What do India's regional movements teach us?

1. Regional aspirations are normal in a democracy. They are not unique to India: the UK has the Scottish independence question, Spain has the Basque and Catalan movements, and Sri Lanka faced the Tamil conflict. A democracy must expect and respond to them.

2. Negotiation works better than suppression. The accords of the 1980s, in Punjab, Assam and above all Mizoram, show that democratic negotiation can end even armed movements. Force alone tends to deepen anger.

3. Power must be shared. Regions need a real share of power both in their state and at the national level. If they feel left out of decisions, a sense of alienation spreads.

4. Uneven development breeds grievance. When some regions get rich and others are left behind, the poorer regions feel discriminated against. Balanced development reduces conflict.

5. Flexible federalism helps. India's Constitution is flexible: it gives some states special provisions (Article 371 for several north-eastern states, for example), and the Sixth Schedule gives tribal areas autonomy to preserve their customary laws and practices. This flexibility let India meet many demands without breaking up.

Goa: it stayed a Portuguese colony after 1947. Indian troops liberated it in December 1961. In an opinion poll in 1967, Goans voted to remain separate from Maharashtra rather than merge with it. Goa became a full state in 1987.

So India's way is to accommodate, negotiate and share power, which has kept a hugely diverse country together.