INDIA’S DEMOCRATIC BACKGROUND

India’s experience with democracy dates back to 1947 when it gained independence from British colonial rule.^[1]It declared itself a democratic state by adopting its constitution in 1950. Since independence, India had an almost uninterrupted democracy, except for “the Emergency” declared by Indira Gandhi between 1975 and 1977. Until recently, India has been considered a stable parliamentary democracy, in fact, the “largest democracy in the world”.^[2] The Freedom in the World reports by Freedom House have rated India as Free for 20 consecutive years. Elections at federal and state levels have been held regularly in a competitive multiparty system, albeit not without instances of vote buying and corruption. The transfers of power between governments have also been peaceful so far.^[3]

Before the signs of democratic erosion became clear under the Narendra Modi government in the aftermath of the 2014 elections, India’s democratic institutions garnered respect from the general public. The Electoral Commission (EC), responsible for electoral oversight, had a long record of administering free and fair elections. ^[4] The judiciary was also trusted to be impartial, especially at the higher levels and the Supreme Court. The media was regarded as free and stood for human rights. ^[5] At the turn of the 21^st century, India obtained fairly high scores for freedom of expression and the citizens had relatively easy access to alternative sources of information, according to the Varieties of Democracy project. ^[6]

Despite being praised internationally as a role model in the South Asian region for upholding human rights and freedoms, India’s experience with democracy was far from perfect. India is home to a complex network of identities including a multitude of religions such as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Sikhism; and a caste system that has historically divided the society into four distinct groups and still has lasting effects on the society despite its abolishment after independence. The Indian constitution defines India as a secular state that grants plenty of rights and freedoms to all these groups equally.^[7] Although governments have worked to materialize this equality through affirmative action plans designed to provide equal rights to castes and religions that are deemed inferior and through an education system that emphasizes the importance of diversity in the formation of Indian national identity, communal tensions have remained as the reality of India’s societal structure.^[8] At times, politicians exploited these identity divisions for their own gain, at the expense of India’s democracy. 

Even before prime minister Narendra Modi came to office, increasing polarization, insurgency, income inequality and corruption posed a threat to Indian democracy.^[9] Despite the abundance of political parties, the funding of these parties have been opaque,^[10] and personal connections mattered at all levels of governance.^[11] Indian citizens regularly resort to bribery in order to access public services, and the country consistently ranked high among Asian countries for government corruption in the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International. ^[12] Having said that lack of transparency was a chronic problem for Indian democracy, it is also important to note that India is known for being very harsh on separatist movements. Violations of civilians’ rights by armed forces in conflict-ridden regions like Jammu and Kashmir have raised concerns about how faithful India was to its founding principle of individual rights. 

Even though Indian democracy faced serious challenges in the form of social hostility, riots, assassinations, corruption, and a parliament that is at times too slow at passing legislation,^[13] it has shown significant resilience during the seven decades of independence. For much of the 2000s, India has been regarded as a potential strategic partner for the US, and a balancing democratic force against China.^[14] Recently, however, potential threats to democracy have become very real, and India’s status as a democratic role model is being questioned.

THE TIMELINE OF DEMOCRATIC EROSION

The worrisome decline of Indian democracy began in 2014 general election when Narendra Modi from the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed the role of prime minister. Prior to Modi’s victory, Manmohan Singh from Indian National Congress, the center-left leaning party that led the Indian independence movement, held the seat of prime minister. By 2014, Congress Party governments had been in power for 49 of the last 67 years, and BJP had come to power only two times.^[15] BJP’s rise to power was interpreted as a reaction by the Indian people to the inefficiency and corruption of the Singh government that had been in power since 2004, and the end of Congress Party dominance in Indian politics. However, unlike Congress Party’s all-inclusive program, BJP is known for its Hindu nationalist ideology, Hindutva, that it inherited from its parent organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a paramilitary right-wing Hindu nationalist organization, most controversial for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by one of its members.^[16]. Immediately after the BJP victory, therefore, questions were raised about whether discriminatory practices were underway, especially towards the Muslim population of India.

Suspicions were correct, and India underwent a dramatic decline in several indices of democracy. V-Dem Institute’s 2020 Democracy Report analyzes the democratic trajectory of countries between 2009 and 2019, based on five dimensions: free and fair elections, repression of civil society organizations, media bias, freedom of academic and cultural expression, and government media censorship efforts. Between 2014 and 2015, media freedom in India plunged from approximately 3.30 to 2 on a 4 point scale. Although less severe, all other components except for fairness of elections experienced a similar decline in the same period. All four components have been on decline for seven consecutive years, overall. In the 2019 general elections, Modi won another victory, and the fairness of elections also went on to a decline. ^[17]

At its early phase, democratic erosion in India presented itself by prime minister Modi’s silence when several people were interrogated and detained by police in 2014 for anti-Modi comments.^[18] Silence turned into purposeful repression and the backsliding continued until the 2019 general elections, which only served to accelerate the process, as Modi secured his rule for another five year term. His party got 300 of the 543 seats in the lower house, Lok Sabha. The number reaches 350 when BJP’s allies are counted, while Congress Party reached only 60 seats.^[19] Unsurprisingly, a second wave of backsliding hit India with Modi’s reelection. Thanks to BJP’s overwhelming majority in Lok Sabha, several bills passed that are claimed to discriminate against the minorities and disadvantaged groups of Indian society. The Covid-19 pandemic might have been another enabler for the consolidation of BJP’s power, since government officials took advantage of the pandemic to reinforce identity divisions by blaming Muslims for the spread of the virus. ^[20]

PRECURSORS OF DEMOCRATIC EROSION

a) Ethnoreligious Background

One contributor to democratic erosion in India is its diverse religious and ethnic composition which has been taken into account by its founders as a potential source of trouble for Indian democracy.^[21] Despite efforts to integrate tolerance into the national culture, memories of the partition endured well into the 21^st century, and some segments of the society rejected the principle of equality among religions, as evidenced by the continuous support for BJP. Intolerance towards lower castes, especially the Dalits, also known as untouchables, continues to this day. Since 2007, India consistently scores “very high” in the Social Hostilities Index, placing it among the top 10 in the world. ^[22]

b) Extremist Parties

With that being said, ethnoreligious composition alone is not sufficient to cause democratic erosion. Another precursor is the existence of extremist parties which reinforce the identity cleavages. As stated above, BJP is affiliated with the Hindu supremacist RSS, members of which include Modi himself, the president and vice president, and others like the home minister and the defense minister. ^[23] The will of these politicians is a major determinant of whether democracy will advance or backslide. Drawing upon Lust and Waldner’s Theory Matrix, it can be argued that democratic backsliding is likely when the political elites are not committed to democratic principles. ^[24] Violence among different identity groups was common during Congress Party’s rule, as well. Even though Congress Party was criticized for not wholeheartedly protecting the secular egalitarian values of Indian democracy, it nevertheless abstained from endorsing violence and legislating new discriminatory laws as BJP did. BJP elites are seeking a more hardliner and less compromising policy, which is the cause of massive disturbances to India’s Muslims and other non-Hindu population in the past couple of years.

c) Economic Inequality and Lack of Opportunities

The propensity to ethnoreligious violence and the presence of extremist parties are well-known phenomena in Indian politics for most of its history. A deeper investigation reveals that the sudden transition of power had other underlying causes. Indians are suffering from growing inequality, and the Gini coefficient for India has risen from 0.67 in 2002 to 0.75 in 2012.^[25] Despite India’s growing integration with the world markets and a rising middle class, the majority of people still remain in the lower economic classes.^[26] The remarkable GDP growth since 2004 that averaged over 8 percent^[27]seems to have mostly benefited the extremely affluent 1 percent while prospects of income mobility remain low for the poor. ^[28]

 As a member of the ruling coalition for ten years, Congress Party was largely blamed for the chronic inequality and the failure to address the grievances of the poor. Towards the end of Mr. Singh’s rule, the previously striking economic growth has become stunted, falling to less than 5 percent per year.^[29] Corruption scandals such as Coalgate included members of the United Progressive Alliance and Manmohan Singh himself. Meanwhile, inflation rose to above 10 percent in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. BJP took advantage of Congress Party’s failure to deliver on its economic promises, and the electorate punished the Congress Party in ballots. 

As actively as it campaigned for 2014 elections, democratic backsliding is not solely attributable to BJP’s efforts. Congress Party’s economic track record lends support to the view that macroeconomic performance may be a cause of democratic backsliding.^[30] Due to low growth and high inflation rates, people may become disillusioned with the existing system, which can in turn create opportunities for less favored ideologies that would have otherwise not been able to ascend to power.

d) Restrictions on Civil Society

The shrinking space for civil society is among the most severely affected dimensions of Indian democracy. The Democratic Erosion Data Dashboard ranks increasing political control over civil society as the number one precursor of democratic erosion in India. ^[31] The country is known for a vibrant and active civil society with more than 3 million civil society organizations. Since Modi took office, however, these organizations, particularly the defenders of human rights and critics of the government, have been targeted. Tactics include denying the right for civil society organizations to register in India, suspending the right to operate, smear campaigns, and freezing the accounts of CSOs with foreign funding. ^[32] For instance, Greenpeace India had its bank accounts frozen in 2015 for reportedly campaigning against mining and nuclear projects. Another CSO named the Sabrang Trust’s registration has been cancelled in 2016 for suspicious funding. The organization was actually criticizing the human rights violations that had taken place in Gujarat riots in 2002 when Modi was the Chief Minister.^[33] In September 2020, Amnesty International had its accounts frozen. Amnesty regularly reports on issues like the government crackdowns on nonviolent protests, and the detainment of political leaders and journalists in Kashmir. The organization claims that prior to the freezing of its accounts, it was already being subjected to systematic attacks by the government. ^[34] The government thwarts charges of obstructing the civil society by labeling the cancelled CSOs as “threats to national interest” or “agents of Western powers”.^[35] Measures against CSOs are not presented as politically motivated but as though the organizations fail to comply with the legal requirements in India.

The government’s newest measure against civil society came in 2020 when The Foreign Contribution Regulation (FRCA) Act Amendment was introduced in parliament. FRCA is a law that seeks to ensure that NGOs are funded in alignment with national interest. The amendment to FRCA brings requirements like the reduction of administrative expenses, and the prohibition of fund transfers among organizations, which will make life harder for big foreign-funded NGOs like Amnesty International that have large overhead costs and many partner organizations. ^[36]

e) State-Conducted Violence

The government often resorts to violent tactics to suppress civil protests. In late 2019, Indians began rising up against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which they believed discriminated against Muslims. In response to the protests, Delhi police entered Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI) and injured about 200 students. Aligarh Muslim University was also evacuated because it partnered up with JMI students.^[37] Protests continued in the aftermath of the attacks and in February 2020, they turned into violent conflict among Hindus and Muslims in which more than 50 people died, the majority being Muslims. Despite reports of active participation by the police forces in violence against Muslims, excessive use force on protesters and dismantling of peaceful protests, police forces received no penalty.^[38] Freedom House also reports that abuses against prisoners and minorities, as well as extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, kidnappings, and destruction of homes by security forces in areas of regional insurgency have been recorded in 2019. Staff involved in such acts often get away with impunity.^[39] The situation is especially dire in Indian Kashmir since the government revoked the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. Communication and travel restrictions were put in place, and Kashmiris reported that tear gas and pellet guns were used on them. Also, India’s Chief Defense Staff said in January 2020 that young Kashmiris were increasingly joining militant ranks and therefore needed to be placed in deradicalization camps^[40], a worrisome claim that reminded many of Chinese camps for Uyghurs and reduced Indians’ hopes for living safely in their own country.            

SYMPTOMS OF DEMOCRATIC EROSION

Democratic erosion in India has primarily presented itself in the form of media repression. Government and the owners of media outlets are engaged in increasingly close relationships, raising doubts about the independence of the press. 4 journalists in 2017 and 5 journalists in 2018 were killed in relation to their work.^[41] Views that contradict the Hindu nationalist propaganda of BJP are being forced into silence. Pro-BJP channels portray individuals who criticize the government’s policies as “anti-national”. ^[42]

In addition to purposefully increasing its media coverage, BJP also heavily relies on social media to construct a favorable image in the eyes of the electorate. Individuals who work to advance the Hindutva ideology on behalf of BJP, also known as trolls, try to intimidate the opposition via internet, often in the form of sending death and rape threats. ^[43]Narendra Modi himself has a mobile application launched in 2015 in his name: NaMo. Users are obliged to follow some of the accounts in the application, including BJP leaders. The application spreads disinformation as the majority of messages contain false information intended to ramp up polarization such as “Sonia Gandhi is the fourth richest woman in the world.” or “Go to a Hindu doctor, hire a Hindu lawyer.” ^[44]

Democratic erosion has been especially hard on civil liberties. Firstly, freedom of expression is being limited in many ways. As mentioned earlier, opposing voices feel increasingly fearful of speaking up. Harassment and use of force against journalists have been reported by Freedom House.^[45] Internet freedom is also on the decline. The government takes repressive measurements against social media applications it considers threatening. In June 2020, for instance, it declared it would block 59 Chinese applications including TikTok for national security reasons. During the Citizenship Amendment Act protests, TikTok had played an important role in spreading information among protestors. ^[46] Freedom On The Net 2020 report documents that internet freedom in India declined dramatically for three straight years.  In 2019, India imposed internet shutdowns more often than any other country, and generally during protests.^[47] The harshest one was imposed upon Jammu and Kashmir after the August 2019 decision, the impact of which was terrible on Kashmiris due to the pandemic. Students were deprived of access to online education, and vital information about the virus could not reach Kashmiris due to communication blackout, which lasted well into 2020. ^[48]

Freedom of religion greatly suffered under the Modi government. Since 2015, residents in the state of Assam are required to prove that they have settled in India before March 1971 when Bangladesh split from Pakistan.^[49] Although the requirement is said to be designed to detect illegal immigrants, approximately 2 millions of Assamese people, mostly Bengali Muslims, are under the threat of becoming stateless. Despite having arrived in India before 1971, many Assamese may not be able to provide the documents because of poverty and illiteracy.^[50] Moreover, a new Citizenship Amendment Act that has passed in December 2019 grants application for citizenship to members of six religions from neighboring countries, leaving Muslims out. The bill sparked widespread anger among Muslims, culminating into protests.^[51] In August 2019, the government revoked the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, the only state with a Muslim majority. Kashmiris’ rights to immovable property and access to government jobs that had been granted with the semi-autonomous status, have been taken back. In early 2020, a new law enabled citizens from outside of Kashmir to permanently settle in the region, interpreted by Kashmiris as a strategy by the government to alter Kashmir’s cultural composition and make Muslims a minority.^[52] Aside from policies of the government itself, attacks on non-Hindus increased. In many cases, victims struggle to find justice in courts despite presenting evidence.^[53]

Yet another restricted civil liberty is freedom of assembly. Authorities make use of the criminal laws to disband protests under the pretext that the situation requires quick intervention. As noted above, government responds very harshly to nonviolent protests, and hundreds of peaceful anti-CAA protestors have been arrested under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act . ^[54] Students, academics, and activists are also under increasing pressure since Modi took office. RSS has conducted attacks on several campuses, in an effort to weaken academic freedom. Topics deemed sensitive to BJP, especially the events relating to Pakistan and Kashmir, have become dangerous to discuss in academic circles and in classes.^[55] In September 2020, Umar Khalid, a student activist was arrested on the grounds that he created intercommunal violence during the CAA protests. Since June 2018, 12 prominent activists and academics have been arrested in the name of counterterrorism. ^[56] Politicians are suffering a similar fate. In addition to being named in connection with the riots, 4000 Kashmiri politicians have gone under house arrest or detention in other facilities since the status of Jammu and Kashmir has been changed. The detainees have been denied contact with their relatives, and can only be released if they agree to never make public speeches against the government again. 

The institutions of Indian democracy are also slowly eroding. The legislative has come under the influence of the Modi government, not only through the sweeping victories in the national elections but also through previous changes made in the workings of the legislative system. In 1985, an anti-defection law had passed in order to prevent lawmakers in the legislature from switching parties when offered large amounts of bribes. Under the Modi government, the same law is now being used to exert pressure on the legislature. Since the lawmakers can be expelled from the parliament if they defect on their parties, they feel obligated to pass BJP policies.^[57] The judiciary is increasingly under political pressure, as well. Authorities selectively use existing laws to accuse opposition members of hate speech, contempt-of-court, or violating public order.^[58] Former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has given many verdicts during his tenure that worked in favor of the BJP agenda. For instance, he oversaw the citizenship register for Assamese people. He also led a court judgment that allocated the site of Babri Masjid for the construction of a Hindu temple.^[59] Babri Masjid had been demolished by Hindu fundamentalists in 1992, and Hindu extremist groups had long been advocating for the allocation of the site from Muslims to Hindus. In return for his favorable verdicts, Gogoi was rewarded with a place in the upper house of the parliament, Rajya Sabha. In another incident in February 2020, the Delhi High Court called out the Delhi police for complicity in the CAA riots, and criticized BJP ministers for giving hate speeches against Muslims. The judge responsible for this event was immediately transferred from the Delhi High Court. ^[60] These developments reflect the fact that coming to office with popular vote seems to justify all the actions that a government takes in India. The Citizenship Amendment Act has shown that the government faced no challenges when it so blatantly disregarded the secularity principle of the constitution, and encouraged unequal treatment towards religions. ^[61]

Previously respected for its impartiality, Electoral Commission’s public image has weakened after 2017. In 2017, it decided to separate the election days for two states that would normally go to elections on the same day, a decision believed by the public to allow BJP to make giveaways to voters in the last minute to attract more votes. EC also discredited 20 members of the Aam Aadmi Party from the Delhi Legislature in 2018, a potentially beneficial move to BJP. The Reserve Bank of India also faced criticisms of losing its autonomy as it proved virtually powerless when the government announced a demonetization process in 2016. Finally, in the appointment process of the Chief of Army Staff in 2018, the government bypassed two generals of higher rank, which caused controversies about the political motivations behind the appointment.^[62]

RESISTANCE TO DEMOCRATIC EROSION

India indeed slid back on many of the core values of democracy. Vertical, horizontal, and diagonal accountability mechanisms experienced corruption to varying degrees. Yet, it is these mechanisms again that promise a reversal of democratic erosion, if decisive action is taken. 

To begin with, citizens themselves can be a very effective force of diagonal accountability in keeping the government accountable. Citizens in Asian countries like Hong Kong and Taiwan recently organized amongst themselves against rising authoritarianism. ^[63] Indians are following a similar track. They have been very vocal in their dissent against the Citizenship Amendment Act, making their demands for equality clear. Another wave of protests has arrived in 2020 despite Covid-19 when the Modi government announced a bill that would hurt the already-struggling farmers who used to benefit from a price floor to help them sell their crops. As the government proposed that farmers sell their crops to big companies instead of the government itself, farmers flooded to New Delhi from their respective states, in the fear that big corporations would take over their jobs.^[64] These protests matter because the new bill has the potential of aggravating the income discrepancies that may have caused the rise of authoritarianism in the first place. If such peaceful protests are to be successful, cooperation among civil society actors, support from non-BJP elites, and sustained reaction from the international community are essential. People and NGOs from around the world are supporting the cause, but the opposition still needs to be wary of whether the government might try to agitate its own base, or resort to violence as it did before.

Not all resistance against the Modi government is nonviolent, though. The anti-CAA protests have turned into violent riots in February 2020, and the resistance against the citizenship register has taken a violent tone in some states. Officials from the National Sample Survey Organization who went to Andhra Pradesh to ask residents questions about social issues were attacked because the residents believed that the data would be used to detect the citizens who are not eligible to remain in India under the citizenship register. Surveyors in West Bengal also reported instances of threat and aggression.^[65]

Second, there is still significant resistance from the judiciary. At times, the Supreme Court acted directly against the interests of BJP. In 2016, BJP tried to overthrow Congress Party governments in the states of Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh by purchasing defectors, with the help of BJP-appointed governors. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Congress Party governments, and prevented the coup attempts. ^[66] In 2018, BJP came first in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly election but failed to obtain a majority. The governor gave BJP 15 days to form a government, which was found unacceptably long by the Congress Party as BJP could buy defectors in the meantime to ensure a majority. In the end, Supreme Court ordered the government to be formed the next day despite efforts from BJP’s lawyer, resulting in a Congress Party-Janata Dal alliance government. ^[67] These instances demonstrate that the judiciary is not completely left to the mercy of the government. In fact, it resisted the government’s attempt to change the inner workings of the judiciary via the creation of a National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) in 2014. However, if resistance is to be successful, the judiciary has to be much more careful because the government seems to have found much subtler ways of corroding the judiciary, such as playing with the number of judiciary posts. Indeed, the most effective way to resist is for the judges to not buy into the generous offers by the government to move forward in their careers. ^[68]

A third potential resistance point for Indian democracy is India’s federal structure. Although the Indian federal system gives considerably more power to the central government than other well-known federal democracies like the United States,^[69] federal units in India nevertheless possess powers that can be strategically important in combatting rising authoritarianism. State governments control areas like public order, police, and the courts up to the level of High Courts. States’ ability to control police forces means that central government cannot immediately crack down on dissenters in whichever part of India they appear.^[70] Indeed, several states including Delhi, Maharashtra, and West Bengal have declared that they will not implement the CAA in their own state.^[71] In addition, due to widespread anger towards the citizenship register in Assam, the government had to back down on its plan to implement the register in the whole country. It is obvious that strong resistance from the states ruled by non-BJP parties is required to reverse backsliding. 

In fact, the state level may be an even better place to start working against backsliding than the central level. Even though BJP seems to have won landslide victories in 2014 and 2019 general elections, it is suffering dramatic losses in local elections. Since 2018, it has lost elections in 11 states and its control over federal units experienced a drastic fall from 70 percent in 2018 to merely 35 percent in 2020.^[72] In February 2020, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 62 of 70 seats in the New Delhi Legislative Assembly, while BJP failed to substantially increase its share of votes. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had been ruling the state since 2013 and during his term, he delivered on his promises of improving welfare for the poor and ruling out corruption. While Kejriwal gained the voters’ approval with his pro-poor policies, BJP’s divisive anti-CAA campaign of labeling all protestors pro-Pakistani traitors failed in ballots. ^[73] Besides, BJP’s power in the Lok Sabha can be attributed to the first-past-the-post system, which gave more seats to BJP than it would actually get under a proportional representation system. Hence, one must not be led to believe that Lok Sabha election results exactly reflect the support BJP received from the local level.

Nevertheless, the opposition should not yet get too enthusiastic about the prospects of the local results being reflected on the national level. Any attack made on Modi’s personality might backfire. This may be the reason why the local level offers greater odds of success: When it comes to local elections, Modi’s name is not on the ballots, and states are where actual governance takes place, so local elections can be separated from what is going on at the national level, to a degree. However, state-level victories are often won by varying alliances and a systematic resistance requires massive efforts at coordination and policy-building among parties, considering the huge number of parties India is home to.^[74]The alliance-building process, although seemingly an important step in countering democratic backsliding, will take a long time in India, especially in the absence of efforts from BJP’s biggest opponent, Congress Party which has not been able to set aside its differences with other parties to present a unified front of major parties. In New Delhi, for instance, it could not reconcile with Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party in the local elections mentioned earlier, leaving the contested seats open to BJP influence. In Uttar Pradesh, it refused to ally with Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party. Had it took advantage of the opportunity, it could have presented itself as a defender of unity among all castes and religions in India, since Mayawati has become the most important Dalit leader in India today, overcoming the systemic obstacles to her caste and to her gender. Such a move seems all the more important to the Congress Party since its leaders are unable to recreate their image as elitist and detached people. During the run-up to the 2019 elections, Rahul Gandhi has tried to rebrand himself by constantly reaching out to media channels and attacking Modi of being a thief, getting involved in a corruption scandal, and failing to combat poverty. It appears that all the strategies focusing on Modi are destined to backfire; firstly because Modi can easily reverse the process and accuse the Congress of being an “anti-Hindu” and “pro-Muslim” party, and second, these strategies seem to pull the political center towards the right, to the discourse set by the ruling party.^[75]By trying to evade these labels, opposition falls into the trap of reenforcing the Hindutva ideology, as evidenced by Gandhi’s several visits to Hindu temples in 2017, in an effort to disprove the anti-Hindu allegations.^[76] Thus, directly engaging with Modi’s agenda pulls the country further and further away from its founding principles of secularism and equality of all citizens before law.  

Despite such adversities, the opposition must receive the message that there probably is no other place than the local level to start resistance to backsliding. Particularly, tackling the problem of economic inequality and chronic poverty can be a major step towards winning the hearts of the electorate. In large part, Congress Party fell out of grace because of its inability to empathize with the disadvantaged groups and its stagnant economic performance. Setting aside the nationalist and polarizing discourse, BJP’s economic record appears bleak. The recent farmer protests have created a divide between BJP and the farmers, as well. Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government’s inability to implement carefully-crafted response strategies and the sudden lockdown had massive adverse effects on the migrants and the poor. In such an environment, opposition’s best shot is to implement welfare policies that benefit the poor, and emulate Kejriwal’s policy of building schools, public medical facilities and improving infrastructure. Thus, creating a legacy of good governance at the local level can help opposition candidates to be remembered in the next elections by the voters the next time they cast their votes.

CONCLUSION

Instances of democratic backsliding are not new in India. However, the danger has become very real under the Modi government. Horizontal accountability mechanisms suffered as the judiciary repeatedly favored BJP in important cases, and the legislative is losing its independence against the executive. The image of respectable institutions such as the Electoral Commission and the Reserve Bank of India has been harmed. Politically motivated appointments made the credibility of top officials questionable. The political landscape is increasingly becoming a fruitless environment with little to no debate within parties, and existing institutional mechanisms are being used to bypass constitutional principles.

Opposition is under growing pressure from the Hindu-nationalist agenda of the incumbent party. Examples include attempts at robbing the opposition parties of their right to rule in local governments, the restriction of civil liberties, violent crackdown on dissenting voices, and repression of media outlets. 

Looking at the trajectory of Indian democracy since Modi’s election, the severity of democratic erosion in India can be assigned 3 points on a 4-point scale, indicating that there is moderate erosion of democratic institutions. The severity of the erosion is important enough to require urgent action because it had some detrimental effects on key institutions of democracy such as the judiciary, and the opportunities for opposing voices to be heard are eroding. However, the process is not irreversible, as the defeats of BJP in local elections demonstrate. India has a long tradition of standing up against injustice, and despite all efforts, its civil society is still very much alive. A substantial portion of the society is in fact against the divisive rhetoric of BJP members and its associated organizations. There is also widespread support from around the world to the struggle for democracy. Even so, other states may be reluctant to openly criticize the Modi government due to their ties with India as a country of growing importance in the world economy. For this reason, cooperation among civil society organizations and citizens themselves, not just the ones in India, but from all around the world, is essential.

India has repeatedly been named among the most serious cases of electoral democracies in the past couple of years, and further erosion of the media and civil society may facilitate backsliding in all other areas. Nevertheless, Indian institutions have the potential to withstand this process.

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---

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