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India slowly joining China, Russia and Turkey as a dictatorship...

miohtama 3y ago
Here are two high quality The Economist pieces on India's state of democracy - https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/02/12/the-organs-of-indias-democracy-are-decaying https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/02/12/the-organs-of-indi... - https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/03/27/the-worlds-biggest-democracy-is-becoming-less-free https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/03/27/the-worlds-biggest...
squarefoot 3y ago
Italy silently following. Quietly and slowly, so that frogs won't notice the temperature difference. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/23/italy-government-giorgia-meloni-state-broadcaster-rai https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/23/italy-governme... The 1st step in turning a seemingly democratic country in a dictatorship is to control the media. Not the 1st time it happens, but this time it is way more serious. Of course the new dictatorship needs to be soft enough to be palatable for other EU members and NATO allies, therefore I don't expect black shirt patrols with batons attacking people unfriendly to the regime down the street or at their home, at least not in a systematic way like a century ago, yet things are going to suck badly over here if nobody stops those bastards in power ASAP.
sremani 3y ago
Hold your horses, this is false equivalence. India is no where near China or Russia, Turkey may be closest thing but that is also kind of false. State governments in India are powerful and that complicates many things.
- Utkarsh_Mood 3y ago
  Exactly this, The ruling party has literally lost elections in Karnataka, they're very far from exerting unilateral influence on the entire country, much less becoming a dictatorship
  - throwaway384629 3y ago
    1. BJP still control most of the mainstream media. 2. BJP has in past offered plum post retirement positions to judges after they delivered some controversial decisions in favour of BJP. 3. BJP has full control on Election commission, and the electronic voting machines. Despite multiple reposts of voting machines found in cars of BJP candidates, or videos of faulty machines showing votes in favour of BJP, and despite calls for letting opposition parties inspect machines, Election commission has never let them inspect the machines. 4. A large number of bigots are in various positions in various administrative services and in recent years they have started showing their hate in open.
- lagolinguini 3y ago
  India is very much like Turkey, though perhaps no where as close to China or Russia. State governments in India are not powerful, and they never have been! The constitution of India grants much more power to the Central Government than it does to the State Governments. The BJP government has pushed the boundary of federalism again and again. Here are some concrete examples: 1. Denial of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. 2. Using the Centre-appointed governor to take down the Govt. of Maharashtra. 3. Constant pushback on policies and appointments made by the Govt. of Delhi.
  - sremani 3y ago
    >> State governments in India are not powerful, and they never have been! Time to time center was able to disrupt state governments but the states have enormous latitude on taxation, duties and policies. For much of India's existence each state is its own parallel system. The whole GST is trying to harmonize the taxing in India across States and that came what 75 years after Independence.

Here are two high quality The Economist pieces on India's state of democracy - https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/02/12/the-organs-of-indias-democracy-are-decaying https://www.economist.com/asia/2022/02/12/the-organs-of-indi... - https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/03/27/the-worlds-biggest-democracy-is-becoming-less-free https://www.economist.com/asia/2023/03/27/the-worlds-biggest...

squarefoot 3y ago

Italy silently following. Quietly and slowly, so that frogs won't notice the temperature difference. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/23/italy-government-giorgia-meloni-state-broadcaster-rai https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/23/italy-governme... The 1st step in turning a seemingly democratic country in a dictatorship is to control the media. Not the 1st time it happens, but this time it is way more serious. Of course the new dictatorship needs to be soft enough to be palatable for other EU members and NATO allies, therefore I don't expect black shirt patrols with batons attacking people unfriendly to the regime down the street or at their home, at least not in a systematic way like a century ago, yet things are going to suck badly over here if nobody stops those bastards in power ASAP.

sremani 3y ago

Hold your horses, this is false equivalence. India is no where near China or Russia, Turkey may be closest thing but that is also kind of false. State governments in India are powerful and that complicates many things.

Utkarsh_Mood 3y ago
Exactly this, The ruling party has literally lost elections in Karnataka, they're very far from exerting unilateral influence on the entire country, much less becoming a dictatorship
- throwaway384629 3y ago
  1. BJP still control most of the mainstream media. 2. BJP has in past offered plum post retirement positions to judges after they delivered some controversial decisions in favour of BJP. 3. BJP has full control on Election commission, and the electronic voting machines. Despite multiple reposts of voting machines found in cars of BJP candidates, or videos of faulty machines showing votes in favour of BJP, and despite calls for letting opposition parties inspect machines, Election commission has never let them inspect the machines. 4. A large number of bigots are in various positions in various administrative services and in recent years they have started showing their hate in open.
lagolinguini 3y ago
India is very much like Turkey, though perhaps no where as close to China or Russia. State governments in India are not powerful, and they never have been! The constitution of India grants much more power to the Central Government than it does to the State Governments. The BJP government has pushed the boundary of federalism again and again. Here are some concrete examples: 1. Denial of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. 2. Using the Centre-appointed governor to take down the Govt. of Maharashtra. 3. Constant pushback on policies and appointments made by the Govt. of Delhi.
- sremani 3y ago
  >> State governments in India are not powerful, and they never have been! Time to time center was able to disrupt state governments but the states have enormous latitude on taxation, duties and policies. For much of India's existence each state is its own parallel system. The whole GST is trying to harmonize the taxing in India across States and that came what 75 years after Independence.