The 2023 G20 Summit in New Delhi was inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who declared that the country’s G-20 president had” become a symbol of inclusion … it has become enlightened by the people.”
The notion that India is the largest democracy in the world and that it protects democratic independence from growing Chinese authoritarianism meshes well with this language.
In actuality, Modi’s authority has advanced an occlusionary politics by enacting broad-ranging measures that silence diversity advocates and erode political freedoms. One need only look at the eviction of beggars and the hiding of slums & nbsp that occurred in the lead-up to the G20 summit to see this politics of exclusion at work.
Additionally, under Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party’s( BJP ) campaign of Hindu nationalism, there has been a longer-standing style of property damage and forced foreclosures of Muslim populations.
The opening of a new parliament building in New Delhi, which Prime Minister Modi referred to as” evidence of] a] self-reliant India” and” a symbol of the people’s aspiration ,” is additional proof of his occlusionary politics. & nbsp,
Critics claim that the ceremonial opening was used as another expressive opportunity to advance divisive politics and that it is rather a symbol of additional democratic backsliding in India. This viewpoint is supported by the opposition parties’ refusal to attend the opening and Prime Minister Modi’s official opening of the structure without the cooperation of President Droupadi Murmu of India.
The decision to proceed with the opening despite fierce opposition shows the BJP’s growing repression of political discourse, even though the dedication of a developing does seem relatively unimportant to political processes and free speech.
Thousands of non-governmental organizations( NGOs ) in India have come under increasing scrutiny over alleged criticism of government policies since the BJP took office in 2014. State analytical agencies have raided organizations’ offices, and legislative changes andnbsp have strengthened state control over civil society.
Following numerous raids on its offices and the freezing of its & nbsp, bank accounts, Amnesty International was forced to shut down its operations in the nation in 2020. During assaults on its offices in 2022, Oxfam India had computers and staff cellular phones seized andnbsp on suspicion that it was using foreign interference as a tool in American politics.
This came after it was decided in 2021 not to renew Oxfam’s running license or the licenses of more than 6,000 different international and domestic NGOs. Even environmental groups like Greenpeace’s operating licenses have been revoked, and the government now refers to their restoration campaigning as” anti-development.”
Problems on political rights have become routine for local civil society organizations. India’s Centre for Policy Research, a renowned public policy think container, was andnbsp was raided on the same day that northern authorities did for Oxfam. Nearly 100 global researchers and scientists sent an open letter to Modi’s government when its operating license was revoked in March 2023. & nbsp,
They urged the government to reinstate the certificate and emphasized the perilous precedent this set for the pursuit of impartial judgment and research.
Mother Teresa, a Nobel laureate, founded the religious organization The Missionaries of Charity in 1950, but it was also denied its passport renewal in 2021. Despite the fact that this license was afterwards restored andnbsp in response to a global cry, 400 NGOs lost their certificates between the dates of August 12, 2022, and March 26, 2023. & nbsp,
This comes after about 20,000 NGOs lost their international funding certificates in 2016, and an additional 6, 000 did so on January 1, 2022. India’s total number of NGOs with valid licenses to receive foreign funding has decreased to only 16, 383, down from & nbsp, 33, 000 in 2016.
India’s position in international democracy and freedom indexes has also been significantly impacted by this persecution of the public realm. India was ranked 66 out of 100 countries and classified as partially completely in Freedom House’s most recent World Freedom Index, while V-Dem just referred to India as” one of the worst autocratisers” over the past ten years. Civicus added India to its & nbsp in 2022, keeping track of watchlists and classifying civic liberties as” repressed.”
India dropped to 161 of 180 countries & nbsp in the World Press Freedom Index in 2023. This comes after the BBC’s American offices were raided in response to the publication of a video essential of Prime Minister Modi and the passage of disaster laws that have shut down web services 420 times since 2019 across the nation.
Modi’s proponents of incorporation may cite India hosting a” C20″ forum for civil society organizations alongside the G20 summit as evidence. The C20 was designated as a platform for civil society organizations around the world to express people’s aspirations directly to world leaders as one of the & nbsp, official engagement groups ofthe G20. & nbsp,
However, before too much is said about the C20, thought must also be given to the police stationing and nbsp of the earlier” We20″ civil society community in 2023 and the alleged exclusion of hundreds of attendees.
Three UN Special Rapporteurs and nbsp on human right soldiers, freedom of expression, and the right to relationship issued a joint declaration in 2016 expressing their worries about increased position suppressing in India. These worries have proven to be true.
India’s political lovers have a lot of work to do in holding Modi responsible for his occlusionary government with the G20 then behind us.
Kearrin Sims holds the positions of Senior Lecturer in Development Studies at James Cook University and Research Fellow at the Cairns Institute.
This andnbsp, post, and was originally published by East Asia Forum and are being reprinted with a Creative Commons license.