Indian National Congress party has mocked Amit Shah on Sunday over India’s low ranking on democracy index which is contrary to Shah’s statement that BJP believes in democracy. Congress called Amit Shah The Shah of Lies over his statement that ‘BJP believes in Democracy.”
The party tweeted Shah’s statement and status quo of democracy in India as per the index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a UK based organisation that monitors level of democracy in 166 countries in the world.
The party tweeted “It’s a shame that under BJP rule, our rank in the democracy index has been slipping continuously since 2014. How much further down will they take us?”
It’s a shame that under BJP rule, our rank in the democracy index has been slipping continuously since 2014. How much further down will they take us?#SpeakUpForDemocracy pic.twitter.com/mCJX0mu4T4
— Congress (@INCIndia) July 26, 2020
What is this about?
Amit Shah in a virtual rally in Bihar had said that BJP believed in democracy. “This rally is not linked with the assembly elections. BJP believes in democracy. We can’t forget our culture of people outreach.” Shah had said on in a virtual rally organised in Bihar ahead of assembly elections there. The Opposition had criticised on the timing rally amid COVID19 pandemic. It was supposed to be a warm up rally for the elections due this year end in Bihar.
Congress quoted his statement and the current position of India in Democracy Index in the world since the BJP came to power. According to the data shown by Congress India’s democracy index in the world was 27 among 167 countries in 2014 when the 10 years regime of Dr. Manmohan Singh had ended and Narendra Modi ascended to the PM seat. India is now at 51. It means India has done worse than 50 countries in the world in these six years of Modi-Shah era in maintaining the democratic ethos what Dr Singh had left when parting with the position.
What is democracy index?
The Democracy Index is an index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a UK-based company. It intends to measure the state of democracy in 167 countries, of which 166 are sovereign states and 164 are UN member states.
The index was first published in 2006, with updates for 2008, 2010 and later years. The index is based on 60 indicators grouped in five different categories, measuring pluralism, civil liberties and political culture. In addition to a numeric score and a ranking, the index categories each country into one of four regime types: full democracies, flawed democracies, hybrid regimes and authoritarian regimes.
India is a flawed democracy today according to the report. Flawed democracies are nations where elections are fair and free and basic civil liberties are honoured but may have issues (e.g. media freedom infringement and minor suppression of political opposition and critics). These nations have significant faults in other democratic aspects, including underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics, and issues in the functioning of governance.
