Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi always harped on “cooperative federalism” but actually practised “coercive” federalism.

“High Fuel prices — blame states. Coal shortage — blame states. Oxygen shortage — blame states. 68% of all fuel taxes are taken by the Centre. Yet, the Prime Minister abdicates responsibility. Modi’s federalism is not cooperative. It’s coercive,” Rahul tweeted.

Modi as Gujarat chief minister had attacked the Congress for allegedly weakening the federal structure and offered “cooperative federalism” as one of his main planks in the run-up to the 2014 parliamentary election. Alleging step-motherly treatment, he used to contemptuously describe the central government headed by Manmohan Singh as the “Delhi Sultanate”. No other chief minister has chosen to cast such a slur on the Union government.

But the tendency of harbouring an inherent bias against the Union government quietly paved the way for a centralising authoritarian after Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, compelling almost every Opposition-ruled state to repeatedly accuse him of harassment and discrimination. Even on the question of petroleum prices, the chief ministers of Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have questioned the Prime Minister’s stand.

Modi had on Wednesday questioned the Opposition-ruled states for not cutting VAT to lower the prices of petroleum products. The chief ministers accused the Prime Minister of relying on half-truths and wondered why the dues of the states were not being cleared on time.

Former finance minister P. Chidambaram said on Thursday: “On the day the Prime Minister exhorted states to cut the VAT rate on petrol and diesel, the MoF (ministry of finance) announced that the Centre owes Rs 78,704 crore to the states! The amount owed is actually more. If you add the amounts that the states claim are owed to them, the total amount may be bigger. Only the Controller of Government Accounts (CGA) can certify the correct amount. It will be interesting to know why the MoF embarrassed the Prime Minister on the day he chose to admonish the states!”

Rahul has, however, raised the larger issue of the Prime Minister’s rhetoric on cooperative federalism amidst frequent complaints by the Opposition-ruled states against violation of the federal spirit.

While the alleged misuse of central agencies such as the CBI, Enforcement Directorate, income tax department and the National Investigation Agency is the commonest grudge of Opposition parties, the chief ministers have fiercely complained about unilateral decision-making during Covid management, demonetisation and the imposition of the CAA and farm laws.

While Rahul has now targeted him for coercive federalism, Modi had attacked the Congress on the same issue in an article he wrote as chief minister of Gujarat.

“It is high time the Centre realises that giving to the states what rightfully belongs to them will not weaken the Centre…. What we are witnessing today is the systematic disruption of our country’s federal structure both in letter and spirit. A republic such as ours cannot be run in the form of a family-run corporation — it will simply lead to chaos and destruction,” Modi had written.

The recent decision of the Modi government to change the IAS rules also drew flak from Opposition-ruled states. The proposal aims to give the Centre greater control over the deputation of IAS officers without the consent of the state governments. The BJP often targeted the Congress over alleged misuse of Article 356 and the governor’s office to destabilise state governments, but many chief ministers have been regularly complaining about political activities at the Raj Bhavans even now.

Recently, BJP members filed a breach of privilege complaint against Rahul when he reminded the party in the Lok Sabha that India was a union of states and the Modi government was habitually violating the federal spirit. The Congress has accused the RSS-BJP of trying to impose uniformity on the country in terms of language and culture, which too is against the federal spirit.