http://dx.doi.org/10.59704/988e81e6735e5796 https://verfassungsblog.de/federalism-against-democracy/ Federalism Against Democracy - The Historical Origins of India’s Federal Compact Pillai, Sarath eng 2026-05-12 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 BJP Indian Constitution Indien colonialism democracy federalism Indien Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 India, as the world’s largest democracy, is facing a unique challenge in the twenty-first century in managing the relationship between democracy and federalism. How do we historically approach this face-off between the imperatives of democracy and federalism in India today? I suggest that the constitutional and political debates in late colonial India on questions of democracy and federalism show a similar face-off, which fundamentally defined postcolonial India’s shaky tryst with federalism.