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India fell short of democratic ideals before PM Modi, but rarely so far & fast: Fareed Zakaria

CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria on his show ‘What in the world?’ says India’s illiberal slide has been steady & 'now swift under PM Modi and the BJP’, and says the result could be 'catastrophic'.

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New Delhi: India had fallen short of its democratic ideals before Prime Minister Narendra Modi was voted into power in 2014, but rarely has it fallen so far and so fast, said Indian-American journalist Fareed Zakaria on his show titled ‘What in The World?’ on CNN Sunday. 

“India’s illiberal slide has been steady and now swift under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP,” he added. 

Zakaria was among those rare foreign journalists who had interviewed Modi after he became the prime minister in 2014.

Zakaria was referring to a new report by democracy watchdog Freedom House last week, which downgraded India from a “free” country to a “partly free” country in light of what it viewed as a sustained clampdown on civil liberties in the country. 

India’s score in the Freedom House’s report dropped to 67 out of 100 in 2021 — from 77 in 2018, 75 in 2019 and 71 in 2020 — which has resulted in a change of classification. 

The Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had reacted strongly to the report Saturday calling it “misleading, incorrect and misplaced”.

Freedom House, a US-based NGO founded in 1941 which was once chaired by US’ former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom, and human rights.


Also read: Modi is popular, BJP keeps winning, but India’s indicators & global rankings are alarming


On free speech, Disha Ravi’s arrest 

In the segment titled ‘India’s democratic decline’, Zakaria said, “Over the past few years, India has clamped down tightly on freedom of speech. Police have filed criminal charges against activists, journalists and opposition politicians for merely criticising the government under a colonial-era sedition law.”

Commenting on the charge against climate activist Disha Ravi, Zakaria said she was arrested “for doing nothing worse it seems, than drafting and sharing a document in support of the ongoing farmers protests”.

He also noted Indian research group Article14’s finding that 7,136 people have been charged under the sedition law in India since Modi came to power.

While crediting the Joe Biden administration in the US for restoring normalcy to the world’s oldest democracy, Zakaria said it is a “different story” in the world’s biggest democracy.

“The country [India] is not yet lost as an anchor of democracy in the world, but it could be, if it continues its slide,” he said.

“A result that would be catastrophic for it but also for the world in which India has always stood as a shining beacon, a thriving refutation to the idea that democracy was something better-suited for rich countries or the West.”

(Edited by Debalina Dey)


Also read: A great new churn has begun in Indian politics


 

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49 COMMENTS

  1. It’s quite amusing to see these so called “liberal/democrats” expose themselves!!

    Zakaria from @CNN is another hypocrite liberal & probably a disguised Islamist too!! He has credited the Joe Biden administration in the US for restoring the world’s oldest democracy!! Really?? If Biden & the democrats he leads are true liberal & democrats then WHY Biden/democrats always supported segregation of black people in the USA??

    Biden recently said that Muslim genocide & destroying of Islamic ideology in China is a cultural issue for the Chinese!! This is supporting human rights, democracy or liberty according to liberals & Mr. Zakaria!

    Liberals including Krishnankutty & D. Dey in India seem to support the same Zakaris/Biden policy in India in order to bring true American democracy!! Well done!! When should we start??

  2. This is all scripted journalism bribed by china,pak and our leftist block thay can’t just see India prosper.They are. Paid journalists.They are against constructive policies of India it is better if we would ignore for our bright future.

  3. Anyone can start an NGO and make a report saying such and such country does not have democracy. Is the report credible?

    The real test for democracy is free and fair elections and Modi was elected in the largest election in human history. India’s elections have been free and fair and it has a multi party system where many voices can be heard. Unlike US where both parties have been compromised by corporate interests.

    Let’s not lose sight of the truth.

    • The liberal NGO’s in America or their counterparts in India are obviously leftist political/ideological puppets!! As for Democracy in America. let us all have a laugh!! This so called democracy has pushed half of American population to starvation levels in the last 4 decades!! The liberal Biden/Zakaria gang is supporting monopolies like google/face book which stifle free speech and block accounts of people who are not radical leftists!! So in action, they support leftist style dictatorship!!

      Democracy’s own rules call for supporting the majority!! In America, the leftist/woke have so taken over that American white people are being demonized!!

      Liberals led by Congress/commies just as the invaders in the last 1000 years have divided & demonized Hindus including Brahmans while not raising a finger against pedophile pastors in the church or Maulvi’s in mosques!!
      How it that democratic or liberal??

      Hindu temples are imprisoned with the governments while Churches & Mosques are free!! Isn’t it an apartheid against Hindu majority??!! How is that democratic or liberal?? Which liberal in India including @The Print talks about it??

  4. The universal definition of democracy is that are the people free to voice their opinion in a decent way. Are they allowed to criticize the government on facts… this exists in India… however the west always thinks that democracy means anyone can do any action, how so ever detrimental to the nation state, and it should be welcomed. Whereas no one Should not look at democracy in India from a foreign lense.

    • @Jai: No nation or civilization including America or India can exist without their native civilization & honesty!! The fact is that America is falling while India is rising (albeit still quite modestly)!!

      After the world war, Europe and Japan were in ashes, India & the rest of the world were beginning to come out of Christian/white supremacist exploitation!! USA with just 6 percent of the world’s population then accounted for half of the global economy, including the production of 93 percent of all automobiles!!

      Now that Han Chinese & Hindu India is rising, the leftist/woke which now despise their own white Christian civilization are giving lessons to Hindu India!! This must be countered through a rising Indian nationalist media!!

  5. Where were in the last Trump four years? India is a democracy and majority elected Modi. IHe will be gone if majority in india are not happy – not because pseudo Democrats.

  6. Our democracy is much much better than many worrld countries’. In fact we are having more democracy. Reasonable curbside are need of the hours.bbso called foreign journalist’s of Indian spew venom on our motherland. West had highlighter of praise of this country’s. They hate Hindu

  7. most of Indian voters do not feel what you say or conclude and do not care for what you say. more you say and blame India as if China, who you do business with, is a good example, more people would loose faith in what you say

  8. It is but natural that frustration makes sanner people insane because fake journalist like Zakaria thrived on false narratives,Hawala money received by him from back channels to write rubbish and muck against its solid and respectful Prime Minister.Absurdity and shame is in his fate,so he has to make himself a joker for those who hv through remote control kept his neck gaged.India is a country which showed the right way to the world and world is praising India for what it is doing for mankind.Modi ji least bothers for barking dogs .but moves ahead to make India on the top of world.Yes let him write something about Chinese Muslims who are being killed,raped and their place of worships descreated and demolished,but will never do so because he knows what will be the endresult for him.

    • @Terence Simons: Leftist/Woke & people of the book are threats to the world and have always been!!
      They are ones which supported colonization & other crimes against humanity!! Hitler too was a leftist Nazi!!

  9. Zakaria, i am Indian and i have freedom of speech and am liberal even today. So you m0ther fcuker, don’t spread hate of our beloved prime minister by writing such things. You people are such bastards that, people like you, wherever they are, in all those countries, such hatredness and conflicts occur. People like you should be kicked out of this world. You are doomed to this world. You image is only of a terrorist and nothing more.

  10. Who cares? US NGO… There are millions of NGOs in the world. Anybody is free to make report and comment what they want. What the elephant has to do if an ant rant somewhere in the wild about its life?

    • @J. Sarkar: Zakaria is NOT an Indian journalist but American living in Biden’s America who takes oath on the Bible!!
      He has Hindu heritage just like most other Muslims in India or Pakistan/Bangladesh!!

  11. It is a sad story of the state of democracy in India, the world’s biggest democracy. India has electoral system. People are reminded of democracy during every election. But in-between elections, the governance takes a different course. The economy of the country is run to suit a few capitalists. One example is the price rise of essential commodities and unprecedented rise in fuel prices to the detriment of the common citizens.

  12. It is sad to see that all these people (like this Zakaria) are not able to respect the opinion of the masses. Phrases like “fallen short of its democratic ideals”, albeit dramatic, are still open ended without any clear inference that can be drawn. At the end of the day, these journalists have their own agenda to run as well (isn’t this chap the same guy accused of pilferage?). The problem is, that in India, the administration has been such an imbecile that anything and everything under the sun was called ‘freedom’. Today, when these self professed ‘liberals’ are being made responsible for their actions, they scream that democracy is under threat??!

  13. Fareed Zakharia – You were probably sleeping. Democratic ideals were a sham before 2014. If you have your Yes Men in all the institutions then obviously it would be a rosy picture when one looks at it from the outside. But democracy thrives on dissent and there has been exponential increase in dissent since 2014. The clash with institutional heads was bound to happen because those were mostly political appointees by their previous masters. Appointees whose allegiance was to their political masters rather than India. But look at the left liberandus narrative – it was projected as if institutions were being taken over by BJP as if it was okay till then for institutions to be run by leftists

    • @R Sriram: The leftist/liberal led by congress & communists brought about emergency!! Rahul Antonio Maino Khan, the undeclared leader of congress said that it was a mistake (like jumping a red light perhaps)!!

      That shows how rotten these people really are!!

  14. Basically I feel this paper or magazine what ever you may call yourself, to first stop giving audience to people who speak up against the country (if you have any semblance of little patriotism left within your organization. I feel the main fodder for your columns are the dirty blood/ illegal money what you receive from thugs,rogues, and anti-social elements,whose shop has now been shut now and who are unable to wag their tails,and now employing your fallen shoulders to fire. I very much pity for Google which carries your unbiased reports on our country and Govt,to which your Organisation may be giving hefty payments in the form of bribes or simply masked name as payment to carry these dirty articles) .If you have any guts in your spine let’s see if your paper can write articles on Ughuir Muslims of China. China through it’s mercenaries will demolish your organization without a trace. This Goon who calls himself the CNN journalist has probably not read History,I think he needs to turn the pages and discover how his community destroyed our motherland of its wealth, heritage and forced conversions which left a scar which cannot be set right forever. I well advice him to mind his bloody business and to look well within himself to find out how much of flaws are their and to make sincere effort to correct them and live a life that is useful to the society to which he belongs and take the trouble of giving any suggestions or advice,which our country doesn’t need for unpalatable creatures.

    • @L.N.Ranganath: Absolutely correct!! He is another Hindu heritage’s converted Muslim!! It’s people like him who support drowning of Allah in Mosques converted into toilets in China!!

  15. Mr. Zakaria need to explain as to how the emergency period was better than the present? He should also explain if this organisation downgraded India on the freedom index in 1975.

  16. Leave aside India, please try your phoney journalism in any of the gulf countries against the govt. I will surely get to know through the newspaper about your sudden demise. No country has been so tolerant like India. You guys have taken advantage of it.

    • @Deep: Absolutely correct!! These people from congress & leftist gang have supported the creation & sustenance of Islamic terrorism & evil theocratic Islamic nations like Pakistan will always talk against tolerant BJP/Hindus & India!! If India was Islamic Saudi Arabia or Iran, these leftists/tukde gang would have been hanged on the streets!!

      India should however bring strict rules against all people who talk against Hindus & India!!

  17. Freedom House needs to correct political boundries of our nation first. If some joker tries to alter our map, sitting across Atlantic, we just dont care about such NGOs. Go to hell. We are good, as we are. Who cares, which Freedom House, when millions of FDIs are pouring into our nation.

  18. Which freedom house? Do these foreigners think indians should live as per their perceptions or what. If not they predict catostrophe – to or for whom . Hey busybodies dont force your ill baked ideas down the throat of other nations. Freak people with freak concepts and generally a pest for all others

    • Zakaria is a sell out and anything but free!! He already abandoned his Hindu heritage & even his Muslim identity to live in Christian America!!

      When is he advocating that Indian PM’s including PM Modi takes oath on the Gita just as Biden on Bible??

  19. As Meghan Marle faces, India too faces this invisible racism whether it’s freedom house report or NYT report or coverage of Indian PM. And Brown sepoys have been major beneficiaries and part of this coverage and image of India.
    It’s really bad that racism is so much inherent in American European countries that it’s futile to talk about it. In reality India is better placed when it comes to democracy. We don’t really care about Fareed and WaPo and CNN and BBc and Eurocentric crap.
    That’s why it’s also puzzling why right wingers of India feel linked to white people unnecessarily. It’s short-sighted.
    Although let’s remind how Donald Trump was attacked. This vaccine for this kind of reporting genre will be filled with attacks on India and similar countries around the world who don’t tiptoe to western media and civil society dominance and hierarchy.
    And CNN reporting on PM Modi has been definitely hostiles and RACIST and with strong biased writing.

  20. Under BJP and Modi, India has become a hindu nation. Citizens of other religion and cast, especially Muslims have become the target of hate and violence. If But democracy still exists. Draw a parallel between USA where there is divide between blacks /people of color and white still democracy exists.

    • @Ram: If India was really a Hindu nation and as terrorising as Islam, Muslim population would have been divided by a 1000 through killings & conversions just as in Islamic Pakistan/Bangladesh!!

    • @Ram: Change your name to Allah/Christ instead of Ram!! Hindus are dharmic people!! Dharm is DUTY, NOT religion!! The world will be a much better place if there is a Hindu India & even a Hindu America!!

      Yet!! American president take oath on the Bible but an Indian PM can’t still take oath on the Gita!!

  21. Heh, heh, this is how the lefty propaganda echo chamber works. First you get some dubious “think tank” to do a political hit job. Then let your media dogs run with it as if it is the word of god. Fareed Zakaria, the convicted plagiarist, is playing his role to perfection. What these breaking India forces should remember is that the more they try, more Hindus awaken and strengthen Modi.

  22. Typical of the ‘biased’ mindset amongst Indian origin Americans. It is a sad reflection that we have to curry favour with them by publicising and amplifying their views.

  23. Cohort of NGO’s, Liberals and their ecosystem always wanting to have their way even when they don’t win the elections. If there is so much worry for freedom and democracy in India, the left and left leaning parties should win elections and then talk. Enough of this oft repeated story, its becoming boring.

    • @Anon: Count on the leftists to defraud voters through leftist/woke & google/social media robbers to win elections just as in America!! The world needs many more hard hitting celebrities/politicians like Trump who despite being obnoxious was honest on many issues like Islamic terrorism inflicting India & the world !!

      He & rare people like him are the exact opposite of commie/Chinese sell outs like Biden/Zakaria!!

  24. This pro-Pakistan CNN journalist is teaching India democracy whereas silent on Nancy Pelosi whose two failed attempt to prosecute Trump in front of Parliament of US. If an attempt fails once, it is overlooked. It it fails like the way it failed second time, Pelosi should be shown the gate, but it did not happen……. …. What do you say Fareed Zakaria of democracy in your own country of US.

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