Modi & India do not deserve inclusion in Democracy Summit 2021

Dec. 10, 2021 (International Human Rights Day)

The United States Department of State has arranged the Democracy Summit for 2021. This is a good initiative, but it also needs to be considered very carefully. As the leading, the most prominent, and the most influential democratic nation of the world, the messages sent by the United States, implicit or explicit, can have serious repercussions in other parts of the world.

India’s democracy is in serious decline. Often touting itself as the largest democracy of the world, democracy today exists only in a compromised electoral process. Just as in many authoritarian states, there is intimidation, polarization based on hate politics, and a focused, and accelerating progression to majoritarianism in the country. Other political parties, while allowed, are rendered politically irrelevant.

Most media in India kowtow to the Modi regime, and in fact are referred to by many in the population as Godi media, best translated as (in the lap of Modi) media, or simply Lapdog media. The judiciary has been severely compromised with regime supporters at every level. While journalists, activists languish in jail for months before a bail hearing, violent Modi supporters are processed without delay.

Modi and India do not represent the ethos of what a democracy should be. Far from it. Given this decline, Modi and India should not have been invited to the Democracy summit. The Biden Administration is making a mistake in thinking of India as a partner in progress of democracy. Instead, the administration needs to be a clear and strong voice, opposing Modi’s hate politics, and working actively in defeating Fascism, Nationalism and majoritarianism.

Justice For All.