New Delhi: Anti-incumbency sentiments are higher against state governments compared to the Centre, according to the Anger Index, a survey conducted by CVoter opinion poll on behalf of IANS.
India’s federal structure and the continuously deteriorating relations between several state governments and the BJP-led Centre have been a point of debate since 2014. While the Prime Minister has himself said that the federal structure has emerged as a “model for the world” post the Covid-19 debacle, the political chasms between the two sides continue to grow. And the electorate clearly understands this.
According to the Anger Index, 46.6 per cent respondents are unhappy with their state governance, while 34.8 per cent are angry with the Central government.
Meanwhile, 24.6 per cent of the surveyed are most miffed with their Chief Ministers, while only 17.9 per cent are unhappy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Interestingly, more Indians are unhappy with Central government machinations (11.7 per cent) than the state (10.7 per cent).
Indians clearly trust the Cabinet of Ministers more than the state leadership.
A lack of bonhomie between the state and Central governments came into the fore during the first wave of the pandemic. The Centre blamed the state machinery for not being robust enough, the state governments, in turn, called out the Centre on not being given enough notice before imposing the lockdown.
Similar discord was witnessed when the migrant exodus happened in the middle of the pandemic.
The state governments were not equipped to handle the load that was returning home which resulted in several being stranded midway and many dying due to Covid. Nevertheless, in the past few years (since 2014, to be precise), Centre-state relations have been politicised, for various reasons.
Since 2014, non-NDA parties have been less than willing to play along with Centre reforms. Some of the more vocal ones like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray have historically not gotten along with Centre. But it’s clear from these numbers that partisan divides between the NDA and non-NDA ruled states are starting to overshadow the vision of cooperative federalism promoted in the first half of Modi’s term in office.
At least, 35.4 per cent respondents were unhappy with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot followed by Karnataka’s Basavaraj Bommai (33.1 per cent) and Bihar’ Nitish Kumar (32.0 per cent).
Delhiites are the happiest lot with their local governance as respondents have said they were the least angry with the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government (28.0 per cent).
Uttar Pradesh, however, recorded 41.8 per cent saying that they are unhappy with the Yogi Adityanath government.
Respondents seem angrier with the Chief Ministers compared to their local MLAs or those in grassroot governance. Interestingly the best performing Chief Ministers are grappling with the non-performance of their sitting MLAs. Almost all the top rated Chief Ministers have their sitting MLAs rated in really poor numbers by the electorate. Similarly, the states where ratings of PM Modi are rocket high are also the states where the ratings of sitting BJP MPs are rock bottom.
Comparatively, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are least angry with the central government and the Prime Minister.
Himachal, which will go to the polls next month, recorded 63 per cent who are unhappy with the state governance, while Chhattisgarh at 6 per cent is least angry with their Chief Minister.
Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are most unhappy with Central governance at 48.4 per cent, 47.7 per cent and 46.6 per cent, respectively.
The anti-BJP and anti-Modi sentiments in the southern states could be the reason behind these states’ unhappiness with the Centre.
Additionally, growing discontent between non-BJP states and the Centre and their public discourse could have been the reason for the growing sentiments of unhappiness.
As far as Punjab is concerned, Modi and the Central government probably garnered a poor rating post the protests against the farm laws and the eventual scrapping of it.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Punjab have been consistently returning poor ratings for the Prime Minister in the last eight years.
In political terms, these three states also happen to be the final frontier that the BJP needs to cross electorally in quest of becoming India’s default ‘party of governance’, a term which analysts had reserved for the Congress for almost six decades after independence.
–IANS