Washington-based think tank Freedom House on Wednesday downgraded India from free to partly free, voicing fear that the world's largest democracy was descending into authoritarianism under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "India’s status declined from 'free' to 'partly free' due to a multiyear pattern in which the Hindu nationalist government and its allies have presided over rising violence and discriminatory policies affecting the Muslim population and pursued a crackdown on expressions of dissent by the media, academics, civil society groups, and protesters," the report said.
The report, which is an annual country-by-country assessment of political rights and civil liberties, downgraded the freedom scores of 73 countries, representing 75 per cent of the global population.
The democracy research institute, which is independent but receives US funding, pointed to mob violence against Muslims, intimidation of journalists, migrant labour hardships following last year's pandemic lockdown announcement and rising judicial interference, especially with reference to the Ayodhya verdict, since "Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party" won power in 2014, for the downgrade.
"While India is a multiparty democracy, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has presided over discriminatory policies and increased violence affecting the Muslim population. The constitution guarantees civil liberties including freedom of expression and freedom of religion, but harassment of journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other government critics has increased significantly under Modi. Muslims, scheduled castes (Dalits), and scheduled tribes (Adivasis) remain economically and socially marginalised," Freedom House said in its annual report.
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"Rather than serving as a champion of democratic practice and a counterweight to authoritarian influence from countries such as China, Modi and his party are tragically driving India itself toward authoritarianism," it added.
"The ruling Hindu nationalist movement also encouraged the scapegoating of Muslims, who were disproportionately blamed for the spread of the virus and faced attacks by vigilante mobs," it said.
With the decline of the billion-plus nation in Freedom House's rankings, it said that less than 20 per cent of the world's population lives in free countries, the lowest since 1995.
