India is moving towards a champagne-and-pizza brand of federalism. In an era of predatory politics, federalism loses moorings worldwide, including the US and India. Democratic leaders embrace "I walk, you follow," treating citizens as conscripts. Centralisation surges as media and civil society falter as gatekeepers. Algorithms amplify outrage; leaders deploy the "dead cat" strategy—drown bad news in spectacle. Rome's "bread and circuses" endures, now as viral stunts and freebies.

From spectacle to institutional erosion

Walter Benjamin foresaw this: capitalism swaps contemplation for distraction. We see political melodrama and post-truth politics. In India, federal institutions erode, echoing Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson's Why Nations Fail: inclusive institutions thrive nations; extractive ones doom them. Nehru championed institutional democracy; today, spectacle and lies make them extractive. "Cooperative federalism" rings hollow.

What federalism demands

Federalism demands robust design: decentralised parties, shared........

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