Sunset Of Satraps: A Modi-fied India Has Outgrown The Politics Of Fragmentation

Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra

The decline of the regional satraps is not merely the fading of a few family-run parties. It marks the exhaustion of the fragmentation era itself.

There was a time when Indian politics seemed to be moving away from national umbrellas and towards regional strongmen. The Congress was weakening. The Janata experiment splintered. Out of the churn of the 1980s and 1990s had come a generation of political entrepreneurs who built parties around caste blocs, regional identity, welfare promises and personal authority. For two decades, they shaped the Republic. Now their world seems to be unravelling.

The decline of the regional satraps is not merely the fading of a few family-run parties. It marks the exhaustion of the fragmentation era itself, and the steady return of a national contest in which the BJP holds most of the cards.

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The important shift is the erosion of the ability of regional strongmen to define the national argument on their own terms. The old satrap model may still win elections in pockets. Yet the broader system has shifted. It is settling into two poles: a BJP pole dominating the national arena, and an anti-BJP pole with Congress, despite its weaknesses, remaining the only party with any notable pan-India reach.

This is why the former offshoots of the Congress and the Janata Dal find themselves at very interesting junctures.

Take the Janata family first. Its descendants once appeared to embody the federalisation of Indian politics. In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha, they built durable power centres. But look at where they stand now.

The Janata Dal (United) remains relevant in Bihar, but its........

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