Fault Lines - Implosion: India's Tryst with Reality - page 26

on Mishra to implement his wishes. Part of his strength was that he always seemed to know
what was happening, says Arun Shourie, who was disinvestment and telecoms minister in
the Vajpayee government. 15 'If something was stuck, sometimes Mishra would speak to the
Minister concerned directly - a mere indication from him would be enough. But in general,
Mishra worked through the secretaries,' says Shourie, referring to the top-ranking civil ser-
vants at the top of ministries. 'People heeded him because they knew he was speaking with
the full backing of his boss. They knew that he would almost always have sought the prime
minister's view before intervening and that, in the rare case in which he may not have done
so, would do so the very day he had talked to the minister or secretary.'
'Cracks in the Social Structure'
Traditionally, fault lines in India have involved caste rivalries, clashes between religions
and communities , the activities of secessionist groups (at various times, in areas of the
north-east, Punjab and Kashmir) and insurgencies. Of these, by 2013, the most serious
was the Naxalite movement, but new ones were emerging, especially over the use of land,
which were increasing the risks of social unrest and political upheaval while also creat-
ing uncertainty and new risks for business. Yogendra Yadav, a social scientist and polit-
ical analyst who became a founder member of the new anticorruption Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP), has talked about 'how the plunder of natural resources will affect the existing fault
lines' and worries 'there are some cracks in the social structure that could take democracy
apart'. 16
The growing role of the states has been changing their relationship with the centre in
India's federal system, opening up fault lines in the way the country is run. The relation-
ship is laid down in the country's Constitution but, in practice, regional parties have gained
enormous additional ad hoc political clout in recent years since they became members of
central government coalitions. Their power was particularly apparent in the 2004 and 2009
Congress-led coalition governments that depended on the support of regional political lead-
ers for their survival. This virtually allowed these regional leaders to dictate what the co-
alition could or could not do - for example, on land and tax reforms, foreign investment in
supermarkets, a river water sharing agreement with Bangladesh.
Pressure on the use of land and rapacious profiteering by real estate and other speculators
when land became available for development, have led to bottlenecks that affect economic
development and growth. Small landowners, mostly rural and including tribal groups, have
opposed their lands being used for mining and industrial development. This, along with the
growing impact of the Naxalite rebels, has led to social unrest and protests in both rural and
urban areas.