An acute crisis is the worst time for conflicts between the Centre and the states. At the moment, however, the relationship between the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre and the chief minister of West Bengal is flaring into mutual accusations at frequent intervals. That is not for want of provocation. The prime minister met online the district magistrates of areas that showed high Covid-19 caseloads in different states to discuss, presumably, problems in the field and ways to tackle them. There was discomfort about this; government officers, even when at the forefront of the Covid-control battle, are answerable to the elected chief ministers of their states, who decide, with their cabinets, policy and strategy. Hence this could be perceived as a disruption of cooperative federalism, suggesting that the authority of chief ministers was being undermined or, at best, confusion was being created regarding the chain of command. It affected both propriety and practicality. Chief ministers were present at the meeting as well. The chief minister of Jharkhand said later that, although he had no ego hassle about attending a meeting with district magistrates, such meetings went against federal principles, and were meant to humiliate chief ministers who had nothing to contribute.

Mamata Banerjee had raised the pitch of this criticism by expressing her sense of ‘insult’ at not being allowed to speak and at being treated, with the other chief ministers present, as a ‘puppet’. Although Mr Modi refrained from comment, other Bharatiya Janata Party leaders charged Ms Banerjee with trying to ‘derail’ the meeting and not allowing the district magistrate from North 24 Parganas to speak. But the nature of Ms Banerjee’s transgression from the BJP’s point of view was explained best by the West Bengal BJP chief, Dilip Ghosh, who said that the chief ministers were ‘guests’ at the meeting. Did that mean that the chief ministers were for show, and orders would come from Mr Modi alone? The comment suggests that federalism is the least of the BJP’s concerns; it only aims at a one-sided display of power. That would explain why Mr Modi’s meeting with district magistrates was telecast while Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi chief minister, was reprimanded for telecasting his comment on his meeting with the prime minister. The logic of the thrust against federalism is hardly esoteric.