Murder of democracy

No amount of justification can absolve a murder. Homicide might be, but if it’s justified, it’s not murder. The latest developments in Nagaland state politics point towards another opposition-less government in Nagaland. It’s not even an all-party government but a government without any opposition. If it were an all-party government, then it is justifiable up to a certain extent under special circumstances but an opposition-less government is nothing short of murder of democracy and there is no justification to that whatsoever. An all-party government is like homicide but an opposition-less government is murder. In both cases, however, democracy is the victim.

The propensity to remain in the treasury bench on the part of Naga MLAs is morally reprehensible. This deeply ingrained and irresistible inclination to be in ‘power’ or ‘ruling’ must be the outcome of the super expensive elections in Nagaland. After spending tens of crores of rupees during elections, if elected, one would have to be on the ‘ruling’ side in order to recover the expenditure incurred during election – that seems to be the logic here. Moreover, as the MLAs ‘bought’ their way into the legislative assembly, they are not accountable to the voters. They purchased it and so they have the ‘right’ to do as they deem fit and the voters have no say because they have already ‘sold’ their votes during election time. That seems to be the only explanation here. Otherwise, why would a people’s representative compromise on his principles, ideology, manifesto and ideals just like that?

In 2015 and 2021, Nagaland witnessed opposition-less governments but that was during the middle of their term. This time, several political parties openly extended support to the NDPP-BJP government even before they were sworn in. The Congress in 2013 won 8 seats who in 2015 defected to the ‘ruling’ party en masse. In 2018 also, 2 NPP MLAs defected. Most recently, 24 NPF MLAs jumped ship to the ‘ruling’ dispensation. It won’t be surprising if the MLAs from the smaller parties in the current assembly are poached by the major parties in power. The lame excuse of citing the Naga political solution as the reason behind the formation of an opposition-less government is comical.

To get formal recognition as the official opposition in the parliament or state assembly, the concerned party must have at least 10% of the total strength of the house. A single party has to meet the 10% seat criterion, not an alliance. As per this norm, the party with 6 or more MLAs meets the norm to become the official opposition party in Nagaland. Only the NCP meets this norm in the current assembly and they have also extended support to the NDPP-BJP government. Therefore, there is not going to be an official opposition party in the assembly.

The role of the opposition party, like constructive criticism of government, putting restrictions on arbitrariness of the ruling party(s), expression of public opinion and, most importantly, safeguarding liberty and right of the people will cease to be there in an opposition-less government. In essence, opposition-less government is the murder of democracy.