Indian Democracy at 75: Who Are the Barbarians at the Gate?
Indian democracy is under siege. As India celebrates seventy-five years as an independent country, major international democracy rankings suggest that Indian democracy is in serious decline, or that India may no longer be a democracy at all. The alleged deterioration in the quality of Indian democracy has only accelerated since the 2019 re-election of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The picture of India that emerges from the major international democracy rankings, if accurate, is truly alarming. If it is inaccurate, that may be more alarming still.
According to the influential Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Indian democracy has been in decline ever since Mr Modi first took office in 2014, with its international ranking falling from number twenty-seven in the world (just below Belgium) to number forty-six (two spots below South Africa). The EIU now labels India a “flawed democracy” characterised by a “serious deterioration in the…
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