A responsible leader of opposition for a successful democracy

Few days back, one of my Pilani friends Santosh went through my blogs that I have started writing recently and then appreciating my thoughts on certain political issues he asked me if I can write an article on the role of the leader of opposition in a democracy. I replied to him saying that it’s a pleasure to put my thoughts on such a wonderful topic. When I started putting down my thoughts on this topic, I felt that the roles of the leader of the house and the leader of opposition for the well being of the country can be compared to the roles of both the parents in a family for the well being of their family. Like the way the mother is as much responsible as father for the well being of any family, the leader of opposition is as responsible as the leader of the house for the well being of the country. Let me put forward my detailed thoughts on why I feel that leader of opposition has such a significance in a democracy and the consequences that the nation faces when the leader of opposition is ineffective, inefficient or irresponsible.

Role of the leader of opposition

The term ‘Leader of the Opposition’ was first coined in Britain in 1826 and was officially recognized in 1909 by Queensland parliament. In India, the leader of the biggest opposition party or the coalition of parties in Lok Sabha is designated as the leader of opposition to represent the opposition inside and outside the parliament as its leader and the spokesperson. The Leader of Opposition leads the opposition in making the Government accountable to the public and represents the views of not only the opposition but also the views of the general public in all the policy discussions. It is the responsibility of the opposition to divert the attention of the Government towards the issues that concern the people. The responsibility of the opposition lies not only to an extent of criticizing the policies and the decisions of the Government but also to an extent of suggesting the constructive alternative to the Governments policies and decisions. In Foreign countries, we can observe that the leader of opposition appoints shadow ministers for each portfolio who collectively with the leader of the opposition forms the shadow cabinet. This shadow cabinet presents the alternative policy to the Government and put forward the alternative governance proposal in front of the electorate. That is the reason why the leader of opposition is considered next only to the Prime Minister or the leader of the house. In India, as per the protocol, it is Prime Minister and Leader of opposition who accompanies President, the supreme authority during any parliamentary session.

Significance of the role of the leader of opposition

One may wonder why our system offers such a great significance to the opposition and the leader of the opposition even though they were given a mandate by the people to sit in the opposition. It is because, our system do not deny the expression of views of the minority people who voted for the opposition. Our system provides an equal importance to all the voters whether they have voted for the government or the opposition. Apart from this, by empowering the opposition with certain powers, our system puts checks and balances to the Government in case it adopts an irresponsible behavior or unconstitutional way of functioning or autocratic way of rule. The role of the opposition and the leader of opposition become much more critical in times of crisis like when the Government misuses its powers or when the country faces wars etc. The finest example that I can site at this point is the 1970s emergency where Indira Gandhi has forced emergency on the nation suspending the fundamental rights of the people, suspending the freedom of press and throwing thousands of innocent people into the jail. It is during that time the entire opposition under the leadership of Lok Nayak Shri Jai Prakash Narayanan staged a united fight against the misuse of the provisions and facilitated the common man to get back his rights. In times of national crisis like wars or invasions, the opposition is expected to be behaving much matured and to be loyal to the government. Opposition and its leader are expected to cooperate and stand with the Government in such times and work in the interests of the nation.

Opposition doesn’t mean opposition to everything

But the big questions that have to be discussed and debated are whether leaders of opposition in India discharge their duties as per the expectations or do they behave irresponsible by blindly opposing the Government and its policies and whether the Government respect the role of opposition and the leader of the opposition. There have been enough instances that one would quote to say that the leader of oppositions have been political inspite of being responsible. During Vajpayee regime, the then leader of opposition Shri Manmohan Singh strongly criticized the Government for Phokran tests saying that it’s a big liability forced on the nation by Vajpayee and that the nation would face a big crisis as India would face sanctions by world countries because of nuclear tests. And similarly we have seen Advaniji opposing the nuclear deal for a very technical reason even though it is NDA Government which initiated the nuke deal. Neither the government tried to understand his concern and answer his questions. We have seen number of issues in which oppositions could have utilized the time better without disturbing the proceedings of the house and at the same time there have been numerous occasions when Government ignored to consult the leader of opposition on important matters like foreign policy etc.

A wiser media should assist a responsible opposition

One surprising phenomenon that is observed in the recent past with our media is that any kind of issue that that the leader of opposition raises inside or outside the parliament, the media instead of taking his views to the masses, it started terming that the opposition is politicizing the issue. It is very unfortunate to see media behaving so unwise by saying that leader of opposition has politicized the issue even when leader of opposition raised such an important issue like terrorism. How can raising such an important issue be called as politicizing the issue? Is the media unaware of the fact that it’s the constitutional duty of the leader of the opposition to echo people’s voice in the parliament? Yes, by raising such issues, the opposition may gain a political mileage out of it. So what? Isn’t it a natural phenomenon that when government doesn’t function well, it helps the opposition?

Statesman behavior expected from politicians

Political parties and politicians belonging either to the government or the opposition should rise above the partisan politics and show a statesman behavior when it comes to matters of national significance. One should cooperate with the other. I read in a magazine in my school days where it was mentioned that Vajpayee, one of the opposition leaders then compared Indira Gandhi with ‘Shakthi Mata’ after Indira led India to a success in Bangladesh war. And once it seems that looking at the constructive and responsible approach that Vajpayee adopted in criticizing the Government, Nehru, the then PM once in parliament praised Vajpayee saying that one day he would become the prime minister of the country. Such is the statesman approach that is expected from today’s politicians.

The role of the leader of opposition extends much beyond criticizing the policies and decisions of the government. He has a much more significant role of ensuring better governance by offering a constructive criticism, opposing misuse of power, offering alternative proposals and making the government accountable to the people. There is no doubt that the success of any democracy depends to a greater extent on the kind of role that leader of opposition plays. Therefore the leader of opposition has to rise above partisan politics and offer a responsible opposition for a successful democracy.

Jai Hind.