Opposition Party Has More Responsibility than Government in Democracy: Naveen to BJD MLAs

Bhubaneswar: Opposition Biju Janata Dal held an orientation programme for the party MLAs at Sankha Bhawan here on Sunday.

The programme was inaugurated by BJD President and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Naveen Patnaik.

Speaking on the occasion, Naveen said, “The best defender of democracy is an active opposition party. The BJD with 51 MLAs constitute a formidable opposition. So, we must not leave any stone unturned to use those (legislative) devices for holding the government to account.”

In a democracy, the opposition party has more responsibility than the government, the BJD supremo said.
“Government in a democracy is of ‘we the people’ and opposition also owes its mandate to ‘we the people’. Therefore, opposition is as important as the government. To make the opposition more effective for holding the government to account we need to be always vigilant and active. In fact, a vibrant opposition is the best protector of democracy,” he told party MLAs.

The BJD supremo urged the newly elected BJD MLAs to be well-versed with rules, procedures, parliamentary conventions, traditions, to discharge their duties as a legislator properly.

Quoting B R Ambedkar, the BJD president said that in a parliamentary democracy, government is accountable to the legislature while the presidential form of government is based on the stability of the executive without making it answerable to the legislature. That accountability of the government to the legislature is exercised by asking questions, moving several motions such as adjournment and no-confidence motion, calling attention notice, special, etc, he said.

“These are part of the several other legislative devices which should be used effectively by all of you to hold the government to account. Besides, you should make full use of zero hour in raising various issues of public interest,” Naveen told the new elected MLAs.

“The training programme organised by the state assembly had political connotations and did not give adequate respect and dignity to the chief minister in his own state. So, the BJD withdrew from that training programme,” he further stated.

The newly elected BJD MLAs have undergone training on major procedures and various programmes of the Assembly, such as private member’s bills and privilege proposals, vacancy, question period, and special attention notice.

They have been imparted training on how to function as efficient legislators in the Assembly.