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Emergency wasn’t just about censorship. It was also about Delhi’s power over states

Nani Palkhivala's warning against the misuse of Article 356 reminds us that federalism depends on limiting Delhi's power over elected state governments.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has breached Trinamool’s fortress in West Bengal; a new party has toppled the established parties in Tamil Nadu, and Congress has regained Kerala. In two of these three states, no party could secure an outright majority. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) took 108 of 234 seats in Tamil Nadu; the Indian National Congress, 63 of 140 in Kerala. In the absence of a clear majority, India has frequently faced an interesting political question: which party should be invited to form the government? In the existing Indian Constitutional design, the answer to that question often lies with Governors, not always with voters.

Both incoming Chief Ministers of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have lost the majority mark by thin margins. However, their minimal dependence on other partners helps them lay a sufficiently strong claim to form the government. In the past, there have been several instances of the single largest political parties and parties with fragile majorities staying out of power owing to a lack of clarity regarding the role of the Governor. Occasionally, this has also served as a reason for invoking the state emergency under Article 356, generally referred to as President’s rule, on the grounds of failure of constitutional machinery in the State.

This is precisely the instance in which the federal form of government in India takes a remarkably unitary approach to resolving political frictions at the state level. The Government in Delhi could just suspend the elected state governments and take over the state. While Ambedkar did fear that Article 356 might be abused for political ends, no one articulated........

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