Most Indians speak with great pride as though their country
was already a democracy. The foreigners also, when they sit at a dinner table
to do diplomatic honor to India, speak of the Great Indian Prime Minister and
the Great Indian Democracy.
From this, it is held without
waiting to argue that where there is a Republic, there must be democracy. It is also supposed that where
there is Parliament which is elected by the people on adult suffrage and the
laws are made by the People’s Representatives in Parliament elected after few
years, there is democracy. In other words, democracy is understood to be a
political instrument and where this political instrument exists, there is
democracy. Is there democracy in India or is there no democracy in India? What
is the truth? No positive answer can be given unless the confusion caused by
equating democracy with Republic and by equating democracy with Parliamentary Government is
removed.
According
to Dr.B.R.Ambedkar Democracy
is quite different from a Republic as well as from Parliamentary Government. He says “The roots
of democracy lie not in the form of Government, Parliamentary or otherwise. A
democracy is more than a form of Government. It is primarily a mode of
associated living. The roots of Democracy are to be searched in the social
relationship, in the terms of associated life between the people who form a
society.”
From the above definition we can
understand that democracy is to be found in social relationship in terms of
associated life. India is known for its divers nature. We have thousands of
castes, religions, different races and millions of languages. Despite having so
many differences and diversified culture, we are considered to be united
nation. And more over a strongest developing democracy of the world.
Here, to make any democratic constitution a successful one,
the countrymen must live a harmonious life and loyalty to public ends and
mutuality of sympathy and co-operation. The question raises in mind that do we
really have the above mentioned qualities in among us ? do the countrymen live
a harmonious life without any social, political, economic and religious
differences ? from the ages India consists of an innumerable collection of
castes which are exclusive in their life and have no common experience to share
and have no bond of sympathy. Given this fact it is not necessary to argue the
point since we come across the caste hatred and atrocities in our day to life.
The existence of the Caste System is a standing denial of the existence of those ideals
of society and therefore of democracy.
Several eminent personalities have defined democracy. The
dictionary meaning of the democracy is “government
by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised
directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system”.
Walter Bagehot defined democracy as “Government by discussion”. According to Mr.Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a government
“ of the people, by the people and for the people”.
Democracy is indeed the form of government elected by the
people for them. But we have to understand that democracy is a set of ideas and
principles about freedom. Dr.B.R.Ambedkar defines democracy in a unique way as
thus “Democracy is a form and method of
government whereby revolutionary changes in the social life are brought about
without bloodshed.”
Among the above said few definitions Dr.Ambedkar’s
definitions stands apt. the real test of democracy is to be analyzing the
change in social life. Democracy is not just a form of government; it is mode
of associated living, an essential attitude of respect and reverence towards
our fellow men. But we can see that, in our day to day life, due to the
different castes, religions, traditions and various faith each caste tends to
dislike others just because they belong to different caste. But the greatest
contribution of Indian Constitution is despite the differences, India is still
going strong without any internal disbursement unlike our neighboring countries!
Let’s turn towards the main topic i.e. Opposition Party: The
Basic Pillar of Democracy! in any democracy the opposition party plays a vital
role. In politics, the opposition
comprises one or more political parties that are against the ruling government.
Ideally the opposition party goes against the ruling party in any government.
The main role of the opposition party is to check and
question the policies made by the ruling party and draw attention on the real
causes of the nation and to stop ruling party from over powering people. It has
to question the government of the day and hold them accountable to the public.
The opposition is equally responsible in upholding the best interests of the
people of the country. They have to ensure that the government does not take
any steps which might have negative implications on the people of the country.
Basically, the opposition party have to check the excesses
of the ruling or dominant party and not to be antagonistic. There are actions
of the ruling party which may be beneficial to the masses and oppositions are
expected to support thing. They should raise immediate protest and voice
against the deemed injustice and wrong motions run by the ruling class in the
parliament. The leader of opposition should always bear in mind that they are
representing the people of India and fighting for justified demands and
defending all the unlawful and unfair practices by the ruling classes.
The opposition party has to highlight the failures of the
ruling government so convincingly that the common public gets to know the facts
behind the failure and understand that the failures were because of the apathy
of the government. In the event of a weak opposition party, the ruling
government and its representatives may become complacent and insensitive for
duration of their rule. Just have a glance through our history of past 15 parliaments
and current one India has seen, we will understand that the strong opposition
party is needed to safeguard the rights of the common people and for a strong
democracy.
But,
unfortunately in India, the ruling class and opposition party have become two
sides of the same coin. One loot the country after another and without any
morale ! In India, the opposition party is not performing its duty and stands
as the People’s Voice. Both ruling and opposition parties have joined hands in
sucking blood of common man abruptly and unseemingly. Corruptions after Corruptions, scams after
scams but nothing has turned legally against any of the person who is involved
in multi crore scams. The agitations and uproar is only to mislead the masses
and divert the attention so that everything is fixed meticulously. And this has
resulted in threat to the very basics of Parliamentary Democracy and
Constitution as a whole.
After
the Opposition Parties, Media is considered to be the Fourth Pillar of the
Democracy. The role of media is to highlight the day to day issues and enlight
people over all the irregularities of the administrative and political branches
of the country. These days media is playing very important role in curbing the
crimes and wrong doings. Because of technology, people are being aware of all the
national and international issues at their very homes. However, what we see
that the media has also became the puppet of strong politicians and political
parties. Therefore, expecting any news without any undue influence, pressure
and impartial and unbiased news is a matter of yesteryears now. The media
neither speaks on the issues nor highlight the problems of the common man. I
would dare to say that the fourth pillar of democracy has collapsed under the
feet of corrupt politicians.
It
is evident that, rational authors, writers, social activists, poets have
undertook the social responsibility and portraying the role of opposition party
now. They raise voice against injustice from time to time. But then, those so
called activists too could not dare to come out of their caste and religious
notions. They do speaks on the issues aptly, but rarely seen speaking against
the real problem of india ie Caste and Religious inequalities, Gender
Discriminations, Communal genocides which happens almost every day at all the
parts of India.
The
time has come to understand the spirit of Constitution and importance of
parliamentary democracy. As I mentioned in the beginning of this article is
democracy is a social unity. Every member of the society should feel the pain
of others, every citizen should understand the meaning and importance of
fraternity and brotherhood. Then only we can think of a strong democracy and
can achieve the goals enshrined in the constitution ie , Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity and Justice. If we all perform our duties well then I am sure, India
will be a superpower in the days to come.
References:
2. Brainy
Quotes
3. Dr.B.R.Ambedkar
speech in the Constituent Assemble on 26th November 1949.
4. Adv
Mahendra Jadhav : Online Blog
