From a united Opposition in Lok Sabha which defeated the delimitation bills in April 2026 to a scattered Opposition, seemingly in an utter state of flux and disarray, the ground in Indian politics has shifted significantly within just two months. From the resignation and ‘rebellion’ of several Members of Parliament from the Opposition ranks, to the breaking up of Opposition parties, it has been equal parts incredulous and unsettling to see this unravelling in the wake of the recently held assembly elections.Though it is tempting to ascribe the current state of affairs to opportunism, there is a much more fundamental reason which makes Opposition parties in India particularly vulnerable to assaults, which are hailed as ‘masterstrokes’, and that is the lack of institutionalised rights of the political opposition.Why does the Opposition need ‘rights’?When Dr B.R. Ambedkar introduced the draft constitution in the Constituent Assembly, proposing a parliamentary form of government for independent India, concerns were raised about the tendency of a dominant executive misusing its parliamentary majority to neglect and even “crush” the Opposition. This prompted some members to move official amendments to ensure checks and balances.Prof K.T. Shah proposed an amendment that “separation of power” be included as a principle in the Constitution and Z.H. Lahiri proposed parity between the salary of the Leader of Opposition and a Cabinet Minister. Both amendments were defeated. Legal scholar Gautam Bhatia argues that in doing so, the Constituent Assembly “demonstrated a certain degree of contempt about the possibility of a constructive and meaningful Opposition”.Indeed, if the contemporary dominant political narrative is to be believed, the Opposition is anything but constructive and meaningful – it is a failure, dynastic, disruptive, negative and anti-national. Berating the Opposition and creating a narrative that its members are “disloyal” to the nation is a common tactic used by authoritarian politicians to delegitimise their opponents and rivals. But attacks on the political Opposition go much beyond.The Inter-Parliamentary Union, a multi-lateral organisation of parliaments in which Indian Parliament is also represented, annually records human rights abuses of Members of Parliament across the world. The most recent report records 1,027 incidents of abuses globally of which an overwhelming 83% were against Opposition MPs! These abuses include undue suspensions and loss of parliamentary mandate, violation of rights like freedom of speech and assembly, and lack of fair trials and other unfair proceedings.Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Rajabhau Waje being greeted by party workers, following unrest in the party as six of nine Lok Sabha MPs of the party skipped a crucial parliamentary party meeting, in Nashik, Maharashtra, Friday, June 19, 2026. Photo: PTIThis closely mirrors the situation in India. Recent media reports reveal that the suspension of opposition Members of Parliament reached record levels under the present Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla; investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate are used to predominantly target Opposition politicians, particularly before crucial elections; 12 ministers, including a sitting chief minister, have been arrested and jailed since 2014 on corruption allegations, almost entirely from the Opposition and none from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party or National Democratic Alliance. And there has been alleged use of Pegasus spyware and other state sponsored attacks against Opposition politicians.Given the central role of political opposition in a democracy – criticising the government and seeking accountability – it can be expected that it will be barely tolerated, leave alone embraced and thus it needs rights to be able to legitimately exist and fulfill its constitutional responsibility.Lack of institutionalised rights in IndiaAt the outset, it must be said that even as I am invoking the lens of rights of the political Opposition to make sense of the recent developments, including the so-called rebellion in political outfits outside the NDA fold, these rights are not intended to paper over the need for internal democracy within political parties or to be used as shields to hide corruption.First, defections may be a legitimate form of dissent, but when defections largely happen in one direction – from the Opposition to the party in power – it is no longer about ideology, principles or even dissent. These defections are engineered through fear and favour to weaken the opposition. Second, allegations of corruption against any politician, where in Opposition or otherwise, must be investigated in a fair and impartial manner.But, as data shows, when politicians with corruption allegations move to BJP, the cases are either dropped or slowed down, indicating that weeding out corruption is not the primary motive, dismantling of the Opposition is. A careful perusal of the literature analysing the rights of the political opposition across different democracies provides a useful list of rights.Some of these rights, which are either not at all or insufficiently protected and institutionalised in India, include constitutional recognition of the office of Leader of Opposition, participation of Opposition in setting and controlling the agenda, qualified majority for specific bills (like Constitution Amendment Bills requiring special majority), use of instruments like questions, parliamentary inquiry committees to exercise oversight on government, proposing legislations (like Private Members Bills) and amendments to legislations.The rights also include Opposition involvement in appointment to positions of responsibility within Parliament (like of the Speaker and committee chairpersons), transparency and inclusion in parliamentary debates (like having access to Bills in a timely manner); participation in appointment of office holders of independent institutions (like higher judiciary, Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General, prosecutorial and investigative agencies, Reserve Bank of India, etc.).A close scrutiny of the application of only some of these rights will lay bare the extent to which lack of institutionalisation of these rights has contributed to the current state of disarray of the Opposition in India.The parliamentary Opposition has a limited role to play in election of the Speaker of Lok Sabha, who is a nominee of the government. Conventionally, the Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha is a nominee of the Opposition, but that post has been lying vacant since 2019, in a violation of the Constitution, to avoid sharing power with the Opposition. The Speaker, when acting in a partisan manner, can muzzle voices of the Opposition and enable decimation of its numbers by misusing the power granted to them to decide cases of disqualification under the anti-defection law.With respect to other independent institutions, while the Opposition is formally involved, functionally that involvement means nothing. For instance, the 2023 law governing procedure for appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Commissioners provides for an appointment process in which the Leader of Opposition is outnumbered by the government representatives. Political appointments to the Election Commission can be seriously detrimental to the prospect of free and fair elections.Recently, when Opposition parliamentarians submitted a notice to move a motion of impeachment against CEC Gyanesh Kumar on allegations of bias, it was rejected by the Speaker, indicating the near impossibility for the Opposition to seek accountability using formal democratic procedures.Investigative and prosecutorial agencies are also completely under executive control and here too the participation of the Leader of Opposition in the appointment process has proved to be inconsequential despite the presence of a supposed neutral constitutional functionary like the Chief Justice of India.Indian democracy needs to make Opposition centralIn a recent opinion piece, commentator Yogendra Yadav argued that more than unity, the political Opposition in India needs to “reimagine” its politics. I argue that before the Opposition can be united and discover a new political language, it needs to be empowered with rights, otherwise its very existence is under threat.Maansi Verma is a lawyer and Founder of Maadhyam, an initiative enabling critical discussions on law, politics and policy.