India’s democracy is in danger. There is no sound moral, political or economic case for President Joe Biden and other democratic leaders to pretend this isn’t happening.
Yet the red carpets keep being rolled out. This week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be welcomed for a lavish state dinner at the White House on Thursday aimed at fostering a “free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific” region.
On India’s current trajectory toward repression, this will be impossible to achieve, in the Indo-Pacific or in India itself. The country now ranks 161st on the World Press Freedom Index. Freedom House and the Economist Intelligence Unit say it is no longer a fully free democracy.
