Role of opposition in a democracy

 Democracy is a fragile political system that can be nurtured and sustained only if the parties both in government and the opposition play their roles responsibly. Otherwise democracy will degenerate in to dictatorship or anarchy.

It is the duty of the government to act in accordance with the Constitution. It is only to be expected that the policies of the ruling party and the opposition parties are different. They are not Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Therefore, many steps taken by the government will not be agreeable to the opposition, though they are perfectly legal. In such cases, the opposition can express its views but does not have the right to torpedo the government moves.

The opposition can also contest the government action legally. Adoption of demonstrations to create nuisance, inconvenience and traffic snarls are blatantly anti-democratic.

It is unfortunate that almost all opposition parties in our country now or earlier have misunderstood or misinterpreted their role. For example Ms.Kanimozhi, an M.P. from Tamil Nadu has argued in the Madras High Court that accusing the Chief Minister of corruption amounts to discharge of her duty as an elected representative of the people! In her view, this accusation cannot be a cause for a criminal defamation case. The honourable M.P. has not produced any evidence of corruption before the court and has gone on to add that she has said only Edappadi in her speech which is the subject matter of the criminal case and that this is not necessarily a reference to the Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami. This is a disingenuous argument that cuts little ice.

If the opposition thinks that its function is only to criticise and deactivate the government on an ongoing basis, there cannot be anything but inertia in the country's economy. This will only lead to widening the distance between the voters and the opposition. This is what seems to be happening in our country as the results of many recent elections show. Opposition's acts need to be such as to regain the confidence of the voters. If the acts only betray bitterness towards the party in power, they will only ensure a longer term in power for the ruling party.