Best of BS Opinion: India must pursue delimitation, devolution of powers

Today's BS Opinion wrap examines delimitation and federal balance, the BJP's Andhra Pradesh dilemma, shifts in Bengal politics, and Infosys's bet on sport-led branding

Hello and welcome to Best of BS Opinion, our daily wrap of the day's Opinion page. 

India can no longer defer two foundational democratic questions: delimitation of constituencies and meaningful devolution of power, writes R Jagannathan. While the government’s handling of women’s reservation exposed the risks of bypassing consultation, the deeper issue lies in aligning representation with shifting demographics without undermining federal balance. Periodic delimitation preserves the principle of equal votes, yet must be paired with greater fiscal and administrative autonomy for states and local bodies. Resistance from southern states reflects concerns over losing influence, but freezing representation contradicts universal suffrage. A negotiated settlement that balances parliamentary seats, fiscal transfers, and decentralisation offers a more pragmatic path forward. Expanding the Lok Sabha and even the Rajya Sabha could ease trade-offs. Ultimately, durable reform requires consensus-building, not majoritarian impulse, with economics guiding compromise. 

 

Aditi Phadnis examines the Bharatiya Janata Party’s paradox in Andhra Pradesh, where strong allies simultaneously bolster and constrain its expansion. Support from both N Chandrababu Naidu and rival YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has eased the party’s legislative path, particularly on contentious issues such as delimitation. Yet electorally, the BJP remains marginal, its vote share stubbornly low despite organisational reshuffles and renewed outreach. Alliance compulsions, especially accommodating regional sensitivities around minorities and welfare, limit its ideological messaging and political manoeuvring. The result is a muted presence, reliant on partners who dominate the state’s political terrain. The experience echoes earlier alliances elsewhere, where proximity to power diluted independent growth. Unless it recalibrates its strategy, the BJP risks remaining a junior partner, visible in government but peripheral in the electorate. 

In this column that follows the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Shekhar Gupta reads the state's electoral mood through a journey to Naxalbari, once the cradle of Maoist revolt, now a relic of a vanished political imagination. The persistence of revolutionary symbolism contrasts sharply with voters’ embrace of electoral politics, underscoring how the Left’s ideological rigidity has hastened its decline. Once a formidable force, it now risks marginalisation, squeezed between a resilient Mamata Banerjee and an ascendant Bharatiya Janata Party. Strategic missteps, including doctrinaire opposition to economic reform, hollowed out its base, even as attempts at pragmatism proved too late. The vacuum has enabled the BJP to recast the political narrative around identity and security, signalling a decisive shift in Bengal’s political landscape. 

Infosys’s decision to appoint Carlos Alcaraz as global ambassador signals an ambitious attempt to fuse sport, data, and brand narrative around its AI platform, Topaz. The partnership promises co-developed analytics tools and a youthful, global face for its sports-tech push, already visible in ties with major tournaments. Yet the logic is less clear, argues Sandeep Goyal. As a business-to-business group with limited mass marketing, Infosys risks under-using a costly celebrity whose impact may be confined to client events and corporate hospitality. The move reflects a wider pattern among Indian IT firms, from Tata Consultancy Services to HCLTech, using sport to project scale and technological prowess. While such alliances confer prestige, their commercial returns remain often opaque, raising questions about whether these high-profile endorsements are strategic investments or simply expensive signalling.