In any democratic polity
the parties that are not in the government (the Opposition) has a very
important role to play of keeping in check the ruling dispensation. The
presence and vibrancy of Opposition is a barometer for the democratic
development of a political society. These objectives are achieved through
myriad of institutions like Parliament, judiciary, Election Commission of India
(ECI) etc. Democracies across the globe thrive on strong, independent and
creditable institutions. Those who believe in democracy have to be careful and
nurture these institutions. These institutions develop over several generations
and have foot prints of great leaders and the collective wisdom of founding
fathers. The party in power and opposition are collectively responsible to
protect them.
But recently it is visible
that opposition in its utter dislike for democratically elected Narendra Modi government
has systematically tried to undermine these very institutions to discredit
current government. Congress, being in power for most of the period since
independence, has patronized certain groups of Left and Ultra left ideologues, placing
them inmany of the institutions. Shri Arun Jaitley rightly says that, they
follow the Marxian philosophy of ‘wrecking the system from within’. Election
process does change the legislators but not these individuals.Recently we are
witnessing the consolidation of these ‘institution destabilizers’.
Historically India has
always had a very strong and vocal Opposition ever since it adopted a
democratic polity. This was even true during the heydays of Congress when the
Opposition might have been numerically weak in the Parliament. The
watershed moment in independent India’s history, imposition of Emergency and
the subsequent elections of 1977, show the sterling role of Opposition in India
for protection of democracy.
The Opposition since 2014,
in its indiscriminate attack on the government, has failed to distinguish
between the political executive and independent institutions. Further the
vicious attacks were not only limited to the institutions but person manning
them as well.
Frontaland subversive attack
on the Supreme Court has been most scandalous and scurrilous. The opposition
parties directly and through their proxies have approached the Supreme Court in
a number of matters in the last five years. Whenever the orders were in their favour,
they all sung paeans in the praise of the Supreme Court but whenever their prayers
were rejected, they all came together to attack the Supreme Court. Blatant
attempts were made at bench-hunting and browbeat the judges. Public claims were
made that the then Chief Justice of India (CJI) was compromised to give orders
in favour of the Government.Even the joint press conference by the next four
senior most judges of the Supreme Court on 12th January 2018, which
pertained to the inner workings of the Supreme Court was used by the Opposition
to paint a picture as if these judges had revolted against the working of the
BJP government. The Opposition also used the threat of impeachment motion
against the CJI to pressurize him.
Reserve
bank of India (RBI) is another institution that has come under the attack of
the Opposition. When it was becoming apparent that RaghuramRajan’s term as the
Governor would not be extended or renewed, the opposition parties claimed that
all foreign investors will pull out their money from Indian financial market
and the rupee would collapse. It was also claimed by them that the sovereign credit
rating of India would suffer. A man was sought to be made greater than the
institution only because he was seen to be against central government on
certain issues and was speaking out of turn on public platforms giving
political comments. This period was very demotivating for the employees of the
RBI. When demonetization was announced, it was said that the Government had
undermined the authority of the RBI. Allegations of most personal nature were
made against Dr. Urjit Patel, the then Governor of the RBI.
Even
Indian armed forces, which are known for its professionalism, have not been
spared by the Opposition. When the Indian army announced that it had carried
out surgical strikes across Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir in
response to the terror attack in Uri, the Opposition chose to not believe it
and demanded proof. In their attempt to ensure that no credit flows to the
Government of the day, they did not hesitate for a moment to cast doubt on the
statement of the Army. Similar reactions followed the Balakot air strikes after
Pulwama attack where Indian Air Force crossed international border to strike on
terror camps.
The
biggest and the most sinister attack has been the attempt to delegitimize the
governments by blaming the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the
electronic voting machines (EVMs). ECI is responsible for holding regular free
and fair elections and has won accolades throughout the world for its impartial
conduct of the elections. When the opposition parties lost elections, instead
of accepting the verdict of the people gracefully and introspecting, they started
blaming the Election Commission and claimed that the EVMs were hacked. ECI’s
several attempts to answer all questions and conduct of open hacking challenge
on EVMs could not satisfy them. These parties have nothing to offer as
explanation when asked how did BJP get voted in at the centre in the first
place when the preceding government was a Congress led one or the fact that BJP
lost in the state elections in Delhi and Bihar in 2015 and more recentlyin
Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Imagine
the impact of a hostile foreign government and its media declaring that the
election was widely believed to be rigged on the prestige of Indian government
and its representatives on international forums.The Opposition must understand
that it cannot deliver on its role by
undermining the independent institutions of the country and some things must be
left out of everyday petty politics. Undermining the most venerable
institutions that are absolutely vital in the functioning of our country might
give short-term political return but are absolutely disastrous in the long run
for each one of us.
