India's Battle to Control the Democracy Narrative

How the Modi government moved from improving its global democracy rankings to redefining democracy itself—turning narrative control into a governance strategy. We will email you when we publish. No spam. Sign up. Subscribe I. In March 2021, at the India Today Conclave, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar openly dismissed international democracy rankings. You have a set of self-appointed custodians of the world, who find it very difficult to stomach that somebody in India is not looking for their approval...They invent their rules, their parameters, pass their judgements, and then make out as though this is some kind of global exercise. S. Jaishankar To Jaishankar, these rankings were not some neutral measure of governance. They were political tools wielded against countries that refused to follow Western-defined standards. His comments were a direct response to India’s democratic downgrade by international agencies. Freedom House, the U.S.-based watchdog monitoring global dem ... Read full article.