The Ugly Face Of India's Democracy

Since the BJP came to power in 2014, thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) across India have faced increasing scrutiny over perceived criticism of government policies. Organizations have had their offices raided by state investigative agencies, while
legislative changes
have bolstered state power over civil society.

In 2020, Amnesty International was forced to close down its operations in the country following multiple raids on its offices and the freezing of its bank accounts . In 2022, Oxfam India had computers and staff mobile phones confiscated during raids on its offices based on accusations that it was acting as a vehicle for foreign interference in Indian politics.

This followed the 2021 decision not to renew Oxfam's operating license, along with the licenses of more than 6,000 other foreign and domestic NGOs. Even environmental organizations such as Greenpeace have had their operating licenses canceled, with the government labeling their conservation advocacy as“anti-development .”

For domestic civil society organizations, attacks on political freedoms have become commonplace. On the same day that central agencies raided Oxfam's offices, India's Centre for Policy Research, a leading public policy think tank, was
also raided . When its operating license was canceled in March 2023, almost 100 international researchers and scholars issued an
open letter
to Modi's government.

They highlighted the dangerous precedent this set for the pursuit of research and independent judgment and urged the government to restore the license.

The Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation founded by Nobel laureate Mother Teresa in 1950, was also denied a renewal of its license in 2021. While this license was later restored after an international outcry, nearly 400 NGOs lost their licenses between August 12, 2022 and March 26, 2023 .

This follows approximately 20,000 NGOs losing their licenses to receive foreign funds in 2016, and a further 6,000 NGOs losing theirs on January 1, 2022. This drastic reduction has diminished India's total number of NGOs with valid licenses to receive foreign funds to only 16,383, down from 33,000 in 2016 .

This repression of the public sphere has also had a notable impact on India's ranking in global democracy and freedom indexes. In Freedom House's latest World Freedom Index, India was rated
66 of 100 countries
and categorized as partly free, while V-Dem recently labeled India“one of the worst autocratisers” of the last 10 years. In 2022, Civicus added India to its
monitoring watchlist , categorizing civic liberties as“repressed.”

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2023 saw India drop to
161 of 180 countries
in the World Press Freedom Index. This comes after the BBC's Indian headquarters were raided following the release of a documentary that was
critical of Prime Minister Modi , and the enactment of emergency laws that have
shut down internet services
in different parts of the country 420 times since 2019.

Supporters of Modi's rhetoric of inclusion may point to India's parallel hosting of a“C20” forum for civil society organizations alongside the G20 summit. As one of the official engagement groups of the G20 , the C20 was designated as a platform for civil society organizations around the world to voice people's aspirations directly to world leaders.

But before too much is made of the C20, consideration must also be given to the
police blockading
of 2023's earlier“We20” civil society forum and the alleged prevention of hundreds of participants from attending.

As far back as 2016, three UN Special Rapporteurs on human rights defenders, freedom of expression and freedom of association issued a joint statement expressing their concerns over increased state silencing in India. These concerns have proved accurate.

With the G20 now behind us , India's diplomatic partners have much work to do in holding Modi accountable for his politics of occlusion.

Kearrin Sims is Research Fellow at the Cairns Institute and Senior Lecturer in Development Studies at James Cook University.

This article was originally published by East Asia Forum and is republished under a Creative Commons license.

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