Modi’s party using ‘authoritarian playbook’ to cripple opposition in India, say critics

Earlier this month, India was labelled one of the world’s “worst autocratisers”, an assessment by a Sweden-based watchdog that describes a rapid backslide on democractic ideals in the most populous country on Earth. India is about to go to the polls in a marathon election lasting more than six weeks, and the V-Dem Institute’s report warned that a victory for Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party – widely considered the most likely outcome – could further entrench the country’s status as an “electoral autocracy”. “The last 10 years have witnessed an organised assault on democracy in our country,” Pawan Khera, a senior figure in Gandhi’s Indian National Congress party, tells The Independent. Khera says: “The way our accounts were frozen is absolutely unprecedented and uncalled for.” The V-Dem Institute’s report says the existential pressures being placed upon India’s opposition parties are part of the reason it now ranks 104th out of 179 countries on the organisation’s Liberal Democracy Index for 2023. Ms Jerath says: “For India to get back to its democratic traditions, it is important that the opposition stay alive; live to fight another election.” Modi continues to enjoy an overwhelmingly positive personal approval rating, even if issues like rising unemployment rates and pressures on the cost of living have dented his party’s performance in some state elections.