Nikunj ji I N A DEMOCRATIC system, there always has to be an opposition party and a leader of opposition wherein the members of the opposition keep a vigilant eye on the policies and dayto-day functioning of the government and try to find out shortcomings, discrepancies or defects in the policies and performance of the ministers or the departments under them. In a way it is the duty of the opposition to find faults and criticise the ruling regime by all possible means. Such is the zeal and enthusiasm of these parties, that they are ever ready and well prepared even to dislodge the party in power and to occupy the ministerial seats if such an opportunity comes their way. This is why Democracy is generally lauded for these functions of the Opposition as these are considered as its plus points. But, not many of us realise a fact that however good these democratic values of eternal vigilance, criticism, and readiness to put hands on the levers of power might be, one hardly needs to emphasise that these have their roots in the dark traits of rivalry, group-selfishness, lust-for power and fault-finding.

 

So, even if the fruits of vigilance, criticism and constant chase of the rival look attractive at first, the habit of finding the shortcomings of others and speaking always negative of them in one's public speeches and writings, leads to the devaluation of the person who practises these negative values as a state-of-the art. Further, the media which articulates and, in the process, accentuates these, knowingly or unknowingly creates an environment of rivalry, non-co-operation, narrow mindedness, group-interests, unfriendly criticism, etc. among members of the civil society, as a result of which, the whole social and economic climate becomes negative.

 

One must understand that these values are in sharp contrast to the qualities of 'a person with a balanced and stable mind', as described in Shrimad Bhagwad Gitã and in all the spiritual literature which, because of its immense and perennial value, has been preserved for posterity through all the ravages of time. The ancient spiritual culture draws our attention, again and again, to the human qualities or the moral values of love, cooperation, friendliness, forgiveness, kindness, looking at the virtues of others, having humility and the spirit of sacrifice, etc. Recently a renowned spiritual organisation during the course of an international project called Global Co-operation for a Better World invited various leaders from all over the world for a healthy debate on the subject. During debate most of the leaders extended their full support and co-operation for the project in their respective countries. Towards the end when the moderator proposed the following that - “In keeping with the spirit of this world-wide project of cooperation in which more than a hundred countries are participating, We wish to propose it to all concerned countries that, an ‘Opposition Leader', hence onwards, be called a 'Co-operation Leader.”

 

After hearing this proposal there was laughter everywhere among those leaders of opposition as well as those from the ruling government. Most of the opposition leaders said that if this proposal is accepted by our country, then ‘We will all lose our jobs and our own party would suspect that we have an intention to cross over to the party in power and are making a subtle attempt to lead all other members also into the party that is running the government...!’ This clearly shows that the parliamentary system of government will continue to have these negative values and would, therefore, have the negative results, which these values give birth to. But let us hope that a really brave and wise leader would come up on the scene one day and will catalyse a change in these values and in the system based on these.