Hyderabad: According to Freedom House report 2020, established democracies in the world are in decline and India, long viewed as a democratic counterweight to China in Indo-Pacific region, suffered alarming setbacks in political rights and civil liberties along with rapid departure from democratic norms.
"India has long been viewed as a potential democratic counterweight to authoritarian China in the Indo-Pacific region, but the current Indian government’s alarming departures from democratic norms are blurring the values-based distinction between Beijing and New Delhi," the report stated putting India's global ambitions at risk.
Kashmir experienced one of the five largest single-year declines of the past decade anywhere in the world, and the territory’s freedom status dropped from 'Partly Free' to 'Not Free', after the abrogation of Article 370.
The report highlights revocation of special status, massive troop deployment and arbitrary arrests of political leaders and activists, elimination of legislative elections and internet, mobile service shutdowns.
Freedom in the World 2020 is an annual country wise assessment of political rights and civil liberties, released by the Freedom house and the picture it paints shows democracies in dim light.
In Free, Partly Free, and Not Free countries and territories alike, people took to the streets to express discontent with existing political systems and demand changes that would lead to better, more democratic outcomes.
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The Citizenship Amendment Act, the anti-CAA protest and the crackdown which followed reduced India's freedom points. India which is ranked 'Free' dropped from 75/100 to 71/100 in 2020. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are ranked 38,39 and 58 respectively.
The report says that there is rising intimidation in the academic space and educational system, with government aiming to control the narrative of politically sensitive topics.
According to the reports, the year 2019 witnessed global erosion in government's commitment towards pluralism and state sponsored abuses against ethnic, religious minorities.
Meanwhile, freedom in US declined by eight points due to harsh asylum laws for refugees, new evidences of electoral interference and partisan impeachment trial against president Donald Trump.
“India and the United States are the largest and perhaps the most influential democracies in the world, and their drift from liberal democratic ideals is sending exactly the wrong message,” said Mike Abramowitz, president of Freedom House.
“If major democratic powers fail to set strong examples and provide constructive leadership, it will be impossible to reverse the global trends that threaten freedom for all societies. Without greater support and solidarity from established democracies, protest movements calling for freedom and reform are more likely to succumb to authoritarian reprisals,” the report read.
