JOIN USUS index downgrades India from 'free' to 'partly free'
India has slipped from being a "free" country to a "partly free" country, the 'Freedom in the World 2021' report by a US-based private political and civil rights watchdog said on Wednesday.
It cited the continuing "crackdown" on critics and its "ham-fisted" Covid-19 lockdown leading to "dangerous and unplanned displacement" of millions of migrant workers as the reasons for the slip in the country's status.
The report by Freedom House, released on Wednesday, also claimed that Modi and the BJP are "tragically driving India toward authoritarianism" rather than serving as a "champion of democratic practice and a counterweight to authoritarian influence" from countries such as China.
"India’s status declined from free to partly free due to a multi-year pattern in which the Hindu nationalist government and its allies have presided over rising violence and discriminatory policies affecting the Muslim population. They pursued a crackdown on expressions of dissent by the media, academics, civil society groups, and protesters," the report said.
'Freedom in the World' is Freedom House's flagship annual report which has been published since 1973, that assesses political rights and civil liberties around the world.
Harassment of journalists, NGOs and other critics has "increased significantly" under the Modi government while Muslims, Dalits and tribals "remain economically and socially marginalised", it added.
"Political rights and civil liberties in the country have deteriorated since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, with increased pressure on human rights organisations, rising intimidation of academics and journalists, and a spate of bigoted attacks, including lynchings, aimed at Muslims. The decline only accelerated after Modi’s re-election in 2019," it said.
The report has cited February last year's Delhi riots and slapping of sedition charges as well as IT Act against youth for their opposition to the government, including on the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and Covid-19 response.
India, without including Jammu and Kashmir, scored 67 out of 100 — 34 out of 40 in political rights and 33 out of 60 in civil rights. The report said Jammu and Kashmir is "not free" and scored a cumulative of 27 — seven for political rights and 20 for civil rights.
Referring to the campaign against Tablighi Jamaat during the pandemic, the report said, the ruling Hindutva supporters also "encouraged the scapegoating" of Muslims, who were disproportionately blamed for the spread of the virus and faced attacks by vigilante mobs.
The fall of India from the upper ranks of free nations could have a particularly damaging impact on global democratic standards, the report said. Now, less than 20 per cent percent of the world’s population lives in a free country, the smallest proportion since 1995.
"Under Modi, India appears to have abandoned its potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests at the expense of its founding values of inclusion and equal rights for all," it added.