Democracy and the Opposition in India

Despite visible centralising tendencies, a steady and significant process of decentralisation of political power has taken place in India over the last four decades. One has only to hok at the right indicators to discern this process of decentralisation. This process is so welt rooted in society that any move to counter it wilt weaken rather than strengthen the political system. This paper argues that the most important thing now is to institutionalise this decentralisation through effective procedures for power-sharing.