Strength of democracy lies not in conflict but in institutional balance: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the strength of democracy lies not in conflict but in institutional balance and mutual respect.

Speaking at the launch of two books authored by Tushar Mehta — “The Bench, the Bar and the Bizarre” and “The Lawful and the Awful” — Shah said the author is not only the solicitor general of India and a knowledgeable lawyer, but also his friend. He said the Constitution and the judiciary have made significant contributions in deepening the roots of India’s democracy.

“Since 1947, changes brought by Parliament and the assemblies have been accepted without shedding a drop of blood, which shows how deeply rooted democracy is in our country. Courts and the Constitution have a big role to play in achieving this,” the home minister said. He said people across the country have faith that in case of any injustice, the Constitution is there to protect them. “If there is an assault on rights, the doors of justice are open, and if anywhere the voice of a weak person is suppressed, the courts will surely hear those voices,” he said.

Shah said the faith of the common man, the functioning of the society and the proof of a nation’s character lie in a strong justice system, in maintaining trust, in which “we as a society have, by and large, succeeded”. Whatever the loopholes may be, the executive and the judiciary have to plug those through a concrete, time-bound roadmap, he said.

“The beauty of our democracy is that the Constitution has created institutions not for confrontation but to balance one another. The executive takes decisions and the judiciary conducts its judicial review. Our Constitution-makers wrote the Constitution with a spirit of maintaining dialogue, decorum and balance in a very fine manner,” the home minister said. He said in 76 years, hardly any other country has advanced while preserving such values.

“It is a matter of great joy for all of us that here, by and large, all constitutional proprieties have remained intact and we have carried those forward through traditions as well. “The strength of democracy comes not from confrontation, but from institutional balance and mutual respect. And when I speak of mutual respect, our Constitution has accepted this spirit in many places, which all of us have also seen,” Shah said.

The spirit should be taken further ahead, strengthening and advancing the good practice of maintaining a balance between the executive and the judiciary that has developed over 76 years, and everyone should work together for this, he asserted.