Ananya Saikia
(ananyasaikia3361@gmail.com)
To flourish democracy, in a country, the most essential requirement is the right to dissent, the right to discuss and the right to deliberate. When these rights are curtailed or absent democracy cannot survive and flourish in the real sense. It means, whenever these rights are curtailed and denied the democratic environment begins to shrink and the propensity towards despotism becomes visible, which may either be explicit or implicit.
Toleration is the elixir for democracy which boots a democratic environment and encourages the people to express their dissent with logic when they disagree and are dissatisfied with any executive or legislative actions. In other words, to have a truly democratic environment a free, unbiased mindset is essential. Quality to tolerate the views of others and to bear the pain of constructive criticism must be present in a real democracy.
In democratic countries, democratic rights are generally guaranteed by the Constitution. Indian Constitution, too, provides Fundamental Rights to the citizens though in certain circumstances, these rights may be suspended, for example at the time of emergency. There are some reasonable restrictions too. Nevertheless, the Indian Constitution provides ample freedom to its citizens regarding expression, dissent, and discussion.
The Constituent Assembly and the Fathers of the Indian Constitution rightly understood that for the development of the country, as a whole, democratic ideals would have to be adopted. India is a diverse country having unity amidst diversity. It has several languages and cultures. All are distinct in their characteristics.
Indian Constitution itself is the outcome of dissent, discussion and deliberation. It got its shape after long discussion and deliberation. Despite dissents and oppositions at last the Constitution was framed applying democratic norms.
In Ancient India when disputes were resolved in village Panchayat. Both the parties were heard. Suggestions were taken from polymath and erudite members present in the Panchayats and after discussions and deliberation decisions were taken. So, the right to dissent discussion and deliberation are not new to the Indian soviet. But of late it is seen that to crush the political ideology of the opponents some bigots are trying to demolish the democratic idea of dissent, discussion and deliberation.
When there is a notion that mine is absolutely rights. In such places, there is no value in dissent, discussion and deliberation. Even hegemony in the name of majoritarianism is also contrary to the principle of democracy. So, speaking at fifth Dr TK Tope's memorial lecture, SC, Dharmadhikari retired judge of Bombay High Court said 'Even we have elected a government that is in majority, the heart of democracy lies in dissent, discussion and deliberation'. Further, he said, "the essence of democracy is that the government in power needs to work for those who voted for it, voted against it and those who chose none of the above".
The right to dissent includes the right to criticize the actions of the Governments. Criticism will awake the government and boost them to rectify if there is any mistake whatsoever. Criticism does not mean war against the government. Without facing criticism how one can be perfect?
Nobody is infallible. So, criticism is the soul of democracy. To usher in a perfect development there must be dissent, discussion and deliberation. Dissent, deliberation and discussion are the most vital components to be utilized. The absence of faultfinders is averse to democracy. If none is there to show the fault, how rectification will be done?
Democracy can flourish and provide maximum benefits to the maximum numbers if there is an atmosphere that is congenial for democracy i,e. an atmosphere for free expression without having any fear. So, Tagore spoke about an environment 'where the mind is without fear, the head is held high'.
True democracy believes in inequality. Article 14 of the Indian Constitution is the flag-bearer of this principle. There is no place for extraneous consideration in the eye of equality. The principle of equality always disdains anything done in the name of caste, creed and religion. It does not permit the colourable exercise of power. Although, the reasonable restriction is sometimes allowed to erase the age-old disparity and to protect the sovereignty and integrity of India.
But, in the pretext of reasonable restriction, if any authority tries to transgress the rights of the citizen, the democratic constitution shelters him under Articles 226 and 32 of the Indian Constitution.
In a democratic country like India the role of dissent, discussion and deliberation are so important that even judges of the Apex court express dissatisfaction if Parliament passes laws in a hurry without much deliberation and discussion. In this connection, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana commented recently that the absence of quality parliamentary debates is leading to the courts being unable to fathom the intent and object behind new laws. Further, he said, "There are no clarity in-laws. We don't know for what purpose laws are made. It's creating a lot of litigation, inconvenience and loss to the Government as well as inconvenience to the public. He also said that elaborate discussion during the law-making process reduces litigation as and when courts interpret legislation. He also opined that "now, it is a sorry state of affairs. There are a lot of gaps and a lot of ambiguity in the law-making process due to a lack of debates. We don't know what the intent of the legislature is. We don't know for what purpose the laws are made. This causes great inconvenience to the people."