Sir — This refers to the editorial, “Animal instincts” (April 9). Aggressive majoritarian approach is a threat to democracy. Unfortunately, the way BJP president Amit Shah went on describing the opposition parties as creatures of animaldom has exposed yet another symptom of such an approach. His remarks betray a staggering contempt for our democracy in general and for a large section of the people who voted for the opposition parties in particular. As a matter of fact, majoritarianism tends to regard opposition parties and their supporters as enemies.
Another such approach is the slogan of Congress-mukt Bharat. However, the very idea of ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ creates confrontation in the polity. This slogan is as undemocratic as it gets because it sounds like Opposition-mukt Bharat which is an insult to parliamentary democracy. Undoubtedly, the existence of a strong Opposition is a must for its functioning. Generally, a ruling party gets much less than half of the popular mandate and opposition parties have a huge support base even if that may not be reflected in the number of seats they win. Therefore, the treasury bench, even if it has a brute majority, cannot ignore the Opposition.
Sri Aurobindo once said, “The weakness of democracy is that its rule is based on majority consent, so there will always be a minority that is not satisfied with the condition of things. And if the minority loses the hope of becoming the majority it may resort to force.” We have already witnessed the use of such force in Parliament as ‘mukt’ political culture cannot treat opposition parties with due respect. So, our Government, with the consent of majority, must work for the welfare of the masses than attacking the hope of the opposition parties of getting such a consent for themselves.
A political game should be played politically. Instead of raising slogans for banishing a political party or a family, such slogans as malnutrition-mukt Bharat should be the war cry as every four out of 10 children of our country are malnourished and stunted. Given the richest 10 per cent of our population has 76.3 per cent of the nation’s wealth while poorest half is reeling with meagre 4.1 per cent, the bullseye must be an inequality-mukt Bharat.