Covid-19 Worsens Centre-State Relations

The pandemic has worsened the already strained relations between the Centre and state governments

- Soni Mishra

On June 7, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared what was effectively a ‘one nation, one vaccination policy’ to defeat the pandemic. He announced a return to the original plan of procuring vaccines through a centralised plan. This was one Central intervention that the states welcomed. Opposition parties and non-BJP chief ministers were quick to remind the people that they had been demanding this for long. Many of them had also been highlighting the additional fiscal burden placed on the states by the vaccine bills. The burden had come at a time when their revenues had shrunk and the Goods and Services Tax dues had not been disbursed.

That the states had welcomed the Central intervention was ironic. The Centre and the states, especially those ruled by the BJP’s rivals, have increasingly been at odds in recent years, with the states alleging that the Union government was intervening in policymaking and treading upon their jurisdiction. But then, the states had also been exasperated at the slow pace of inoculation, the shortage of vaccines, the harsh responses from the Centre when they asked for more doses, and the restrictions imposed on distributing vaccines. It was these factors that forced the states to demand a decentralised vaccination policy.

The underlying tensions became evident during Modi’s speech on June 7. He took a dig at the states, saying the Centre had gone in for decentralisation of vaccine procurement because the states had asked for it, and that his government was now reverting to the original plan.