Chief Justice N.V. Ramana on the Diminishing Opposition and a Healthy Democracy

Talking about “75 Years of Parliamentary Democracy” CJI expressed discontent at the disgruntled politics of India. Chief Justice N.V. Ramana on the Diminishing Opposition and a Healthy Democracy.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association on Saturday organised an event on “75 Years of Parliamentary Democracy.”  Chief Justice of India, Mr. N.V. Ramana addressed the event noting the issues faced by the largest democracy of the world.

The CJI pressed on various issues including parliamentary democracy, role of opposition, high ratio of undertrial prisoners and issue of pendency of cases. Mr. Ramana said that it was regrettable that the nation was struggling through a deteriorating quality in the legislature. He also mentioned that the laws were being recklessly passed without due deliberations and perusal. He further added that undertrials needed urgent attention. He said that the process is punishment. Denigrating hasteful arrests and cumbersome bail process have all been indiscriminately objurgated by Mr. Ramana. Infact, he also criticised the unrelieved restraint of undertrials that need to be urgently addressed. Maintaining that a faulty, spiteful and weak opposition was not a mark of a healthy democracy, he further added that the opposition should not translate into hostility, which has been rampant in India. Moreover, the space for Opposition is diminishing, which shall translate into a failing democracy. The opposition maintains a check and balance in a democracy. If the opposition is  inefficient so is the party in power because without proper checks on power and balance in the legislature a democracy turns into an autocracy which further transforms into a totalitarian regime. India as a democracy has faced numerous points of difference be it on intolerance, communalism or the issue of one nation, one language. Speaking on the latter, Mr Ramana said, “Mother tongue shouldn’t be considered lesser than English.” Separatists in India have time and again used our diversity as a weapon to wedge a gap. Language is one such issue which though cultural in nature is widely publicised by politicians. While addressing the 18th All India Legal Services Authority in Jaipur, he said that  in a nation of 6.10 lakh prisoners nearly 80 per cent were undertrial. Due to which many innocents have suffered and many with petty crimes have had to suffer in confinement for long periods.