India first became a democratic country over 70 years ago, when they gained independence from the British colonial rule. However, in 2014 is when the country started to face heightened fear of democratic erosion. In 2014 Narendra Modi gained power as the prime minister. Modi was a part of the Bjaratiya Janata Party which was a party that had rarely experienced an electoral victory. Muslim citizens were in fear of what would come to them because this party believes that Hindu is the more superior religion. Many people believed the party only ran because citizens were tired of all the corruption and lack of true government that they were experiencing.  Corruption and lack of fairness is what starts the process of democratic erosion. Is it leaders who start and/or contribute to the democratic erosion in some countries?

            One of the biggest contributors to causing erosion would be the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.     This act limits the freedoms of speech from Indian citizens. They can face penalties, jail-time and in extreme circumstances death. This is how the government silences the people from speaking out about certain things that are occurring without regards for the people. The only people who can somewhat shed light on what’s going on and getting it across the world would be reporters, However, they are often tortured and silenced by the government. In a democracy there is supposed to be freedom of speech and right to press. Journalists Samriddhi Sakunia and Swarna Jha had recently visited some mosques that were attacked and posted the footage of what happened and they were jailed for doing so. That simple action just shows you that there is no democracy because you’re taking away the key components as to what a democracy is. You can’t allow certain journalist to put out information that may or may not be false but jail others for doing the same thing. It’s simply not fair.

            Next, would be the separation of religions. It’s no secret that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are in support of attacking certain groups. In India, high class Hindus in support of the BJP attack lower class Hindus and Muslims. When you start to isolate religions, this leads to democratic erosion.  Muslims are the targeted group to a lot of violent attacks, and this is just not in India but all over the world. The Indian government has interjected by getting in the media and sharing that those attacks are “fake news.” A Hindu community was recently terrorized destroyed and many people spoke up about what was going on. “India has a history of promoting tolerance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also positioned himself as the champion of Hindus against a history of victimhood.” Several pro-Indian groups, the government has not acted in a timely manner to investigate certain claims of violence.  Behaviors like this affect democracy because everyone should be viewed the same no matter what race, gender, sexual orientation or any other classification. Laws in a democracy serve to protect everyone. As seen in other countries when behaviors like this start to prevail it often leads to democracy failing.

In today’s world, typically when one leader has power for too long it is often abused because they have no fear of being replaced, but when a country is sick and tired of experiencing certain things that’s when change starts to happen. The former prime minister had been in control since 2004. There are many factors behind democratic erosion such as money, protection, power, and the list goes on.Over the past few years India’s democracy has gradually eroded into one of the scariest and if certain issues aren’t rectified there may not be any democracy. India has to allow their citizens to have freedom of speech, right to press and make the attempt to intervene with certain issues they have been letting sldie by. Another main issue is to let journalist do their jobs without being beaten or killed