Democracy and Institution Destabilizers

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 12^th 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.