Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a big fan of COSPLAY?
You bet, “Sikh” below is none other than Bharat’s Cosplay King Narendra Modi (who disguised as Sikh to avoid political arrest back in 1984)
Modi’s India plans its own democracy index, after global rankings downgrade
The index is being finalized ahead of elections, with the Modi government worried about global criticism hurting sovereign ratings.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has approached a major Indian think tank to develop a homegrown democracy ratings index that could help it counter recent downgrades in rankings issued by international groups that New Delhi fears could affect the country’s credit rating.
The Observer Research Foundation (ORF), which works closely with the Indian government on multiple initiatives, is preparing the ratings framework, according to two people closely involved in the discussions on the project. The index is expected to hew more closely to New Delhi’s narrative than Western-based rankings that Modi’s team has criticized.
“A review meeting was held by NITI Aayog in January, and it was decided that ORF will be releasing Democracy Rankings in a few weeks,” a top government official said, requesting anonymity.
The new rankings system could be released soon, the official said. How soon, though, is unclear – including whether the index might be unveiled before India’s upcoming national elections, announced last Saturday. India will vote in seven phases starting April 19, with votes counted on June 4. Modi is a strong favourite to return to power for a third term.
“The Democracy Index being prepared by ORF went through a peer review process and expert analysis on the methodology a few weeks ago … it is likely to be released soon,” a second source familiar with the development said.
The NITI Aayog, the government’s own public policy think tank that has been shepherding internal discussions within the Modi government on global rankings, said it was not preparing the index – but did not confirm nor deny whether it was involved in helping an external think tank prepare one.
“NITI is not developing any Democracy Index,” a spokesperson for the body told Al Jazeera. “The government of India monitors select global indices [by various global entities] to drive reforms and growth in the country.”
Yet emails and the minutes of meetings held between government agencies over the past three years, accessed and reviewed by Al Jazeera, point to a growing urgency within the Modi administration on challenging setbacks to India’s democracy credentials, including through a report prepared by India.
Modi Cosplayed As Khalistan Warrior
Current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi dressed as Sikh to avoid arrest during Political Emergency in 1984.
Khaalistanee Modi ji
‘Flawed democracy’ or ‘self-appointed custodians’?
This exercise began right after international indices such as US-based non-profit Freedom House downgraded India’s status from a free democracy to a “partially free democracy” in 2021. The V-Dem Institute, based in Sweden, classified India as an “electoral autocracy”. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked India 53rd in its 2020 Democracy Index, labelling it a “flawed democracy”, citing factors such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the revocation of special status in Indian-administered Kashmir.
The CAA, whose implementation was announced last week on the eve of elections – four years after it was passed by parliament – introduces what critics say is India’s first religion-based citizenship test. In effect, asylum seekers from neighbouring nations who were not Muslims can get an expedited path to Indian nationality. The NRC initiative, according to its opponents, threatens the expulsion of millions of people whose families have lived in eastern and northeastern India for generations, but who – like many Indians – do not have formal birth documents. In 2019, India ended a special constitutional provision that gave Jammu and Kashmir a semi-autonomous status.
India’s ranking in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index had fallen sharply between 2016 and 2020, though it has improved marginally since then: up to 41 (tied with Poland) in 2023, from 46 in 2022. However, it remains classified as a “flawed democracy”.
The Indian government has dismissed these international rankings, stating that India did not “need sermons”. Indian Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in March 2021 accused the institutions behind these rankings of “hypocrisy” and called them “self-appointed custodians of the world who find it very difficult to stomach that somebody in India is not looking for their approval”.
Modi’s Other Political Problems…
All Assam Students Union members take out a torch procession to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Guwahati, India, on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. India has implemented a controversial law that has been widely criticized for excluding Muslims from a mechanism that fast-tracks citizenship for asylum seekers from neighbouring countries
An Indian man makes formations with new currency notes of 500 Indian rupees in Ahmadabad, India, Wednesday, November 23, 2016. The Indian government is worried that downgrades in rankings by democracy indices could affect the country’s sovereign rating
Members of the media hold placards during a protest against the detention of journalists, in Mumbai, India, Thursday, October 5, 2023. India’s rankings in press freedom indices have fallen sharply under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar delivers a speech at the Nikkei Forum on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Tokyo. Jaishankar has criticized organizations behind global rankings that have downgraded India, calling them ‘self-appointed custodians of the world’
And on Tuesday, India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar referenced ancient Indian scriptures as proof of India’s long democratic traditions, in an address at the Summit of Democracy in South Korea. “India’s ancient civilisation, marked by profound philosophical traditions, and a deep respect for individual freedom, laid the groundwork for the democratic ideals that we cherish today,” he said.
How is Caste System a democratic pratice, folks all over the world wonder?
It is unclear what parameters an Indian-designed democracy ratings index might use. Al Jazeera sent detailed questionnaires to the Foreign Ministry, Law Ministry and ORF but has received no response. In response to an email seeking comments, Sanjeev Sanyal’s office declined to comment stating: “Shri Sanjeev Sanyal ji, Member EAC-PM has a hectic official schedule, hence request for comment is regretted.”… More @ Al Jazeera