BJP's performance and Modi's popularity have altered the dynamic of regional party politics in India

In this excerpt, Aiyar Yamini & I explore how the BJP's centralization has affected the bargaining power & electoral prospects of regional parties.

In this piece, we argue that the electoral performance of the BJP, and the popularity of Narendra Modi, has weakened the bargaining position of regional parties. The BJP’s undiluted power at the Centre has allowed for greater centralization of power in matters of governance. Centralization lies at the heart of the BJP’s ‘hegemonic’ project. This in turn has generated greater distinctions between regional and national politics. The popularity of Prime Minister Modi fueled by discernible powers and government schemes attributed to the national government generates a national politics that can be easily separated from regional politics for the voter. This increasingly separate form of national politics weakens the role of regional parties in national politics, both in electoral terms and in bargaining power, as regional parties rarely have well-defined, credible national policy platforms in India. It does however create conditions for entrenching regional parties at the State level.