Picture : Twitter / ANI
As the country faces protests all over on the contentious citizenship amendment act, former president Pranab Mukherjee has cautioned parties in power against “majoritarianism” and stressed on the need for carrying everyone along.
Delivering the second Atal Vihari Vajpayee memorial lecture organised by India Foundation in New Delhi, he said people may have given some party a numerical majority, but a majority of voters has never supported one party in India’s electoral history.
“This message of the Indian electorate has never been clearly understood by political players. That is why we think we can do anything and everything when we have an overwhelming majority in the legislature. But that should not be the case,” he said, asserting that people have often punished such incumbents in the past.
“A numerical majority in elections gives you the right to make a stable government. The lack of popular majority forbids you from a majoritarian government. That is the message and essence of our parliamentary democracy,” he said.
