In a State of Flux

When the Constituent Assembly was elected in 2008, it was hailed as being among the most inclusive national legislatures the world over. This had been achieved through an elaborately worked-out formula of quotas that guaranteed representation to all the broad groupings. But in the deliberations of the CA the political parties left the issue of federalism till the very end. By the time they came around to considering it, in late 2011, the public debate around it had become highly polarised, giving little scope for an agreement on the issue before the fi nal deadline for agreement on the Constitution.