The talk of the town, Vibrant Gujarat ended some time back after having a successful run this year too with its usual fervor . We really don’t want to glorify its “vibrancy” any further, because we are sure most of us have read a lot about it in all the leading dailies. The agenda for our write up is that when will Vibrant Gujarat become Vibrant India, now that the face of the summit has taken charge of the entire nation? Of course with the investments pouring in Gujarat, it is good news for the state and other states such as West Bengal which organizes the Bengal Global Business Summit also witnesses its own share of enthusiasm. But the larger concern which is not being addressed is that if all the states of India start having their own summits, soon there will be comparisons among each other and soon politicians will begin a war of words amongst themselves.
Though the success of Vibrant Gujarat is being celebrated, yet gradually it might result in rest of the country sensing insecurity and lack of attention from the Prime Minister. With the BJP winning the elections and sweeping the majority, it is time that the government shifts the focus of vibrancy to the centre and gives every state its own share and chance. Or else just as the recent debate between Gujarat and Bengal Summits, more such hiccups will emerge for Narendra Modi. As argued by Aakar Patel (2015), a summit such as Vibrant Gujarat can be a huge success in Gujarat because it has a strong industrial and manufacturing base. Building on Patel’s argument it could be suggested that it is about time that such industrial summits are held in more underdeveloped states of India as compared to an already developed industrial state.
With the success of Vibrant Gujarat, the state of affairs should not be such the gradually Gujarat faces the wrath of other states. Also, even though huge investments will be made and Gujarat will grow in terms of its economy, yet problems such as poverty, education, health continue to be neglected sectors and should now gradually climb the ladder of priority for both the State and the Central Government. Of course competitive federalism might be beneficial and each state if they start competing with each other, then more than development of the entire country it could result in regional federalism. Moreover while Modi is pitching India as a model of 3 D’s (Demography, Demand and Development), yet with competitive federalism, won’t investors find a new D, which is a Divided India?
Analogous to the above debate, a similar comparison could be drawn to the debate of the tallest statue. Interestingly the project constructing Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s statue was titled as “Statue of Unity”. However not only did the statue of unity divide the country on opinions but paved the path for more instances of divisive federalism. Just as the Gujarat Government was building Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s statue, similarly the Government of Maharashtra is willing to make an even taller statue of Shivaji and this instance throws a glimpse and a small occurrence of Divisive Federalism.
