Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Wednesday noted that the country needs a ‘stronger Opposition’ for the sake of a ‘healthy democracy.’ Citing that the ‘current Opposition is very weak,’ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar added that the ‘Opposition needs to be constructive, creative.’

 

“India needs a stronger Opposition, a constructive Opposition. The (current) Opposition is very weak. Lack of leadership in the Opposition can make any democracy appear not as a democracy,” the spiritual leader said.

 

Lauding West Bengal for ‘free-and-fair elections’, Ravi Shankar added that West Bengal has shown that ‘no party can meddle with the institutions of India, and the judiciary is quite strong.’

 

“Democracies do need a stronger Opposition, conservative, creative Opposition that is missing in India. Of course, West Bengal has shown that with free-and-fair elections, no party can meddle with the institutions of India, and the judiciary is quite strong,” he said.

 

The spiritual leader also added that the ‘lack of a strong Opposition will make the country look like it is autocratic.’

 

“But the lack of a central Opposition, a strong leader will make the country look like it is autocratic, but it is not. We are such a huge democracy. People have power,” the founder of the ‘Art of the Living’ foundation told PTI.

 

India’s stand on Russia-Ukraine war

 

Speaking about India’s stand on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar stressed that ‘we stand for peace, not war.’ “First of all, we must make clear to the world that we stand for peace. We are not for war. It is a misconception that we are siding with the war. Our prime minister has said this several times that we stand for peace,” the spiritual leader retorted.

 

Busting the common belief that Indian stands with Russia, Ravi Shankar stated that India’s ‘DNA has always been peace and non-violence’ and the fact that ‘New Delhi supports an aggressor is a misconception.’