[peterfirefly]

Would it be better if India was broken up into much smaller states, possibly more or less along the current internal borders? Is India really seen as a country by the Indians or is it seen more like a bunch of unwanted outside overlords ruling over your local part of India, whichever that might be?

I'm asking partly because I live in the EU where we are explicitly trying to create a big, state-like construction for most of our continent. In most cases I feel mostly like a "Dane" or "Scandinavian" or "Northern European" but in some cases I am actually starting to feel like an EU citizen, like we are all in it together, for example regarding Russia's behaviour in the Ukraine and elsewhere.

It is probably not correct to call the EU a country or a state yet but we are getting closer. On the other hand, if the Republic of India is actually a country then the European Union is too, isn't it?

[lenkite]

We have a national identity that is very strong. And devolving into different nation states won't solve anything - it will lead to wars and violence and a broken economy. We would also be easy pickings for China and Islamic states like Pakistan. All our eastern states would be annexed by China in a couple of years. Kashmir and Punjab would be annexed by Pakistan. It is the Indian military and the fact that we have nuclear weapons that gives them pause.

[anuraj]

What country reasons its existence on paranoia and fear factor. True India shall happen when federal states get functional and financial autonomy and decisions are not shoved down their throats through an imperial mechanism.

[anuraj]

India is number of ethnic nations lumped together. But there is hardly any autonomy left.