Hyderabad: Citing a 'democracy report' by V-Dem Institute in Sweden, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the country is no longer democratic.
"India is no longer a democratic country," he tweeted. A recent report by V-Dem said India turned into an Electoral Autocracy from an 'Electoral Democracy'.
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"Electoral autocracy remains most common regime type...The world's largest democracy turned into an electoral autocracy, that is India with 1.37 billion citizens. Liberal democracies diminished over the past decade from 41 countries to 32, with a population share of only 14 percent," the report said.
The report further added that the share of world population living in autocracies has increased to 68 percent from 48 percent. Several G20 nations such as Brazil, India, and Turkey are among the list of top 10 decliners. Poland takes a dubious first place and three new nations join this group: Benin, Bolivia, and Mauritius. Six of the top-10 decliners became autocracies. India is on seventh position.
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The report noted that the road to becoming an autocracy involves ruling governments attacking the media and civil society, polarizing societies by disrespecting opponents and spreading false information and setting irrational propaganda only to undermine formal institutions.
“The threat to freedom of expression and media intensifies. 32 countries are declining substantially, compared to only 19 just three years ago. Freedom of expression and the media make 8 of the 10 indicators declining in the greatest number of countries over the past 10 years. Suppression of civil society is also intensifying”, report said.
