Is Indian Democracy At The Crossroads? Understanding Recent Political Events

Is our beloved country India really moving towards dictatorship? A month ago, this question probably shocked many people. But for anyone who really cares about India, this is an important question. Recent events over the past month have opened the eyes of many people to the serious challenges facing our country’s democracy. From Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest without any proven crime to controversies like appointment of election commissioners and freezing of accounts of opposition parties, many people are wondering whether our democratic systems are in danger. The post explores these important events, examines their impact, and discusses what citizens can do to protect India’s democratic spirit.

Arvind Kejriwal’s Arrest: A Disturbing Example

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested for the first time in the history of independent India. A sitting Chief Minister was arrested, while no crime has been proved in the court. The incident followed the arrest of other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, including Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyendar Jain and MP Sanjay Singh. All of them have been in jail, some for more than a year, without their crimes being proven.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) claims AAP leaders took ₹1 billion bribes in exchange for benefits under Delhi’s excise policy. AAP leader Atishi, however, says that despite a two-year investigation, more than 500 raids and more than 1,000 witnesses, ED and CBI have found no evidence against AAP. Manish Sisodia’s lawyer also argued in the Delhi High Court that no money trail exists. In fact, according to the report, this policy had increased the government’s revenue, which could be used for public service.

Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)

A major reason why bail is so difficult to get in these cases is the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The Modi government had changed this law in 2018. This change made it very difficult to get bail. Under most laws, a person is considered “innocent until proven guilty”. Bell is usually considered a right. But under PMLA, the law actually says that you are “guilty until proven innocent”. You cannot get bail until your entire case is over and you prove yourself innocent. This amendment gave ED even more power.

Electoral bond connections

Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest is related to the controversial electoral bond scam. In the court, Kejriwal said that ED has arrested him on the basis of statements of four people. One of them was Sharath Chandra Reddy, head of Aurobindo Pharma Company.

Consider this timeline:

November 9, 2022: ED interrogates Reddy. His statement was in favor of Kejriwal.
November 10, 2022: ED arrests Reddy.
Five days after the arrest: Reddy’s company, Aurobindo Pharma, donated ₹50 million to BJP via electoral bonds.
Next 6 months: Reddy makes 9 statements, all in favor of Kejriwal.
April 25, 2023 (after 6 months in jail): Reddy’s next statement was against Kejriwal.
May 2023: ED grants Reddy bail.
June 2023: Reddy becomes ED’s approver in this case.
6 months after getting bail: His company gave BJP another donation of ₹250 million.

Electoral bond data shows that Aurobindo Pharma purchased bonds totalling ₹520 million. About two-thirds of it (about ₹340 million) went to BJP, ₹150 million to BRS and ₹25 million to TDP. AAP leader Atishi said that the money trail of this alleged liquor scam seems to be going towards BJP, not Aam Aadmi Party. According to the report, a similar timeline applies in the cases of the remaining three people on the basis of whose statements Kejriwal was arrested.

Kejriwal ignored ED summons, calling them illegal. He believed that the ED’s motive was to arrest him for weakening the AAP and toppling the Delhi and Punjab governments.

Targeting The Opposition: Account Freezing And Old Cases

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi responded to Kejriwal’s arrest by saying, “A scared dictator wants to run a lifeless democracy” He expressed concern over threatening leaders, toppling governments and jailing leaders. He also talked about efforts to control institutions and media.

Congress bank account freeze

The Congress party claims that its bank accounts have been frozen. The Income Tax Department has attributed this to delay in tax returns. They have also reopened the 31-year-old case of 1993-1994, claiming that there were “unnatural” incidents at the time, and asking for a fine of ₹17 billion.

On the same day, 29 March, the IT Department also fined the Communist Party ₹110 million, allegedly for using an old PAN card. It seems that many opposition parties are being targeted in this manner. TMC candidate Saket Gokhale tweeted that he received 11 income tax notices in 72 hours, some of which were linked to events 7 years ago. These actions raise serious questions on fair elections in India.

Joining the ruling party: cases disappear

There have been several instances where leaders facing serious corruption charges got relief after joining the ruling party’s coalition:

Praful Patel (NCP leader): BJP had accused him of rampant corruption. Eight months earlier, he left his party and joined the BJP coalition. On 29 March, the CBI case against him was closed. Modi government now says that there was no corruption.
Naveen Jindal (Congress candidate): He was charged in the Colgate scam. On 25 March, he joined BJP and immediately got the party ticket.

These incidents show a pattern where joining the governing coalition could lead to charges being dropped or cases being closed.

Election Commission Under Investigation

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is responsible for conducting fair elections. However, recent changes in its structure have been criticized.

Resignation of Arun Goyal

On March 9, 2024, Election Commissioner Arun Goyal resigned. The Chief Election Commissioner said that it was due to health reasons. However, The Hindu newspaper report claimed that Goyal’s health was fine. People close to him suggested that differences between him and Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar could be the real reason. This left two of the three election commissioners vacant.

New appointment process for Election Commissioners

In March 2023, the Supreme Court had ordered that a committee of three (the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India) appoint the election commissioners. But three and a half months ago, the Modi government passed a new law. This law removed the Chief Justice of India from the committee. The new committee includes the Prime Minister, a Union minister from the ruling government and leaders of the opposition.

Following this new law, two new election commissioners were appointed. The committee included Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and opposition leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary. Chowdhury said he had received a list of 212 names the night before the meeting. Just before the meeting, he was given a shortlist of 6 names. He felt that he did not have time to properly evaluate the background or honesty of the candidates. He claims that PM Modi and Amit Shah appointed both the commissioners largely of their own free will.

New Election Commissioner

There are two newly appointed Election Commissioners:

Gyanesh Kumar: A retired IAS officer who worked under Amit Shah in the Home Ministry from 2016 to 2021.
Sukhbir Sandhu: A retired IAS officer who worked in the Human Resource Development Ministry and was the chairperson of NHAI and the chief secretary of Uttarakhand between 2014 and 2023.

The Supreme Court expressed concern that details were hidden during the appointment process. However, the court did not stay the appointments, saying it would create a lot of chaos. The question is whether these Election Commissioners will be able to conduct the Lok Sabha elections in a fair manner.

Concerns About The Judiciary

If other institutions fail, the judiciary is often seen as the last hope. But the courts are also under investigation.

Judges and politics

On 8 March, Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court resigned and soon formally joined the BJP. He admitted that he had contacted BJP before resigning. In an interview, he said that he finds it difficult to choose between Gandhi and Godse. Such connections between judges and political parties raise questions about judicial independence.

Bell is the rule, jail is the exception?

A common legal saying is “Bell is the rule, prison is the exception” This means that people generally have the right to bail. However, the Chief Justice of India recently said that in district courts, “prison is becoming the rule” Judges of lower courts hesitate in granting bail. Advocate Dushyant Dave claims that the judges are under pressure and scared about their families.

Is India Still A Democracy?

Some argue that if India were truly moving towards dictatorship, public criticism like this blog post would not have been possible. This is a common logical mistake, called false delay. It states that things are either black or white: either total democracy or total dictatorship, nothing in between.

India is not yet 100% dictatorial. But it is clearly moving in that direction. Democracy and dictatorship exist on a spectrum. Countries are graded based on their level of democracy, from “fully functioning liberal democracy” to “working democracy”, “defective democracy,” “weak democracy,” “electoral dictatorship,” “hybrid governance,” and finally, to “authoritarian rule” (real dictatorship).

The Democracy Report 2024 of Sweden’s V-Dem Institute has placed India in the category of electoral dictatorship. This means that multi-party elections are held, but there is no fair environment. People’s freedom is being suppressed. The report said the Modi government uses sedition, defamation and anti-terrorism laws to silence critics.

New IT rules and freedom of speech

Another law, the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill 2023, purports to introduce new IT regulations. Under these rules, anyone with a YouTube channel, Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp channel can be considered a “broadcaster”. Every broadcaster may have to register with the government. A Central Evaluation Committee will have a lot of power. Broadcasters will probably only be able to share videos or messages approved by this committee, “except for specific programs exempted by the government” The law could also allow the government to confiscate a YouTuber’s equipment without notice. This shows a major attempt to suppress voices on social media.

The price of remaining silent

Supporting the government in dictatorship does not guarantee security. Sonam Wangchuk, who at one point supported the government’s decision on Article 370, was silenced when she protested on local issues in Ladakh. They held a 21-day hunger strike, but the government did not respond.

Many farmers who supported the government later realized that they did not even have the right to protest for their demands. The media often called him a traitor. It shows what dictatorship can mean for ordinary citizens.

If you are a student and the paper leaks, you may have to remain silent.
If you want to raise your voice against rising inflation, your voice can be suppressed.
If you are wronged, you can have no option but to remain silent.

We are already seeing this happening on issues like unemployment and inflation. In August 2023, the government reported over 960,000 vacant government jobs. A hiring platform, Indeed saw a decline in fresher job postings from December 2021. Hiring has also reduced in the IT sector. The employment situation is so bad that the Haryana government advertised for more than 10,000 contract labor jobs in Israel, a war zone.

What about inflation? petrol prices are between ₹90 to ₹110. A January 2024 report showed global food inflation at -10.1%, which meant food prices were falling worldwide. Nevertheless, the inflation of food items in India was 9.5% as of December 2023. The government now distributes free food to more than 800 million people. This shows that many people do not even have money to eat.

Call To Action: Protecting Indian Democracy

Some people refer to Indira Gandhi’s dictatorship during the Emergency as a comparison. Although it was a dark day for democracy, pointing to past problems does not solve existing problems. What happened then was wrong, and what is happening now is also wrong.

Then democracy was saved by the brave efforts of some people. Who will save the country today? There is pressure on the media, institutions are under pressure, and opposition leaders are being arrested, so we, the people of India, are the last hope.

Just as large-scale protests and elections defeated Indira Gandhi after the Emergency, today we also need the same spirit. If you say “Bharat Mata ki Jai”, then be ready to save Bharat Mata. If you respect Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Netaji Bose, awaken their passion within you. It is our duty to protect the freedom they fought for. Every citizen should consider himself the protector of democracy. This is our responsibility now.

Here are four steps every Indian can take:

Raise your voice: Every voice matters. If you can’t speak, share this message as much as possible. Forward this information to your friends, family and all social media platforms. Our aim is to reach every voter of the country.
Don’t forget to vote: no excuses will do this year. Every vote is important. Check the election date in your area. If you are abroad, come back to vote. Everything is at stake. Go to the voter search page of the Election Commission of India and check whether you are registered to vote or not. If your name is not there, go to the voter portal and register to vote.
Talk to people around you: Did you know that 30-35% of eligible voters in India do not vote? Tell your family, friends, neighbors and everyone you meet about the dire situation in our country. Encourage them to vote. Don’t think that you are alone. If everyone reading this decides to tell 5 people every day for the next 20 days, we can reach out to a large number of voters.
Work with joy and love: Do it all with joy, laughter and love. Laugh so loudly that the arrogance of the oppressor sinks. Spread love to overcome hatred and distrust.

Remember these four things: raise your voice. Vote. Convince others to vote. Laugh and spread love. That’s all we have to do. We can protect our country. We will protect our country!

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