Chennai: The DMK government in Tamil Nadu has stopped calling the Modi government the 'Centre' and has been insisting on referring to it as the 'Union Government'. While some BJP followers are seeing it as a political move against the NDA-led government, the DMK clarified that the party is only following what is written in the Constitution.
Contrary to popular belief, constitution expert Subhash Kashyap says that the word 'Centre' is not in the Constitution and using it is not accurate, reported The News Minute.
The word 'centre' translates to a point in the middle of a circle. Using the word 'centre' to refer to the government will imply that the government is at the focal point and the states are in its periphery. On the other hand, the term 'union' translates to 'the whole circle'. Using the term 'the union government' implies that the relationship between the Modi-led government and states is similar to the whole and its parts.
The News Minute reported that the term 'Centre' is not in the Indian Constitution. The makers intentionally discarded it and used the word 'union'.
Kashyap added that the word 'Centre' is leftover from the colonial period. Bureaucrats working in the Secretariat Building in New Delhi are the ones who continued to use terms like 'central laws' and 'central legislature' out of habit.
The constitution expert clarified that the Chapter in the Constitution of India specifically uses terms like 'union government', 'union and state relations', and 'union legislature'.
India is a federal government, calling the Union Government 'centre' does not make sense, because it will give the false impression that Delhi is the central and has authority over everything.
It also implies that the states do not have an equal say. "In a federal system, the power is divided between the entire country. States are not subservient but egalitarian,' added the report.