How the West Misreads Modi’s Success

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent European tour, which included stopovers in Italy, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden as well as participation in the India-Nordic Summit, has revived platitudes about the world’s largest democracy. Almost every joint statement between India and a Western country acknowledges both countries’ common democratic heritage as the basis for deepening cooperation. India has long been seen as a counterweight to China in its material heft.

It is the world’s most populous country and on track to become the world’s third-largest economy by the end of this decade. But it is also seen as appealing because of its democratic values, which make it an alternative to China’s one-party techno-surveillance state. New Delhi is not averse to leveraging this status, referring to itself as the “ mother of democracy ” and promoting global governance initiatives through the prism of its democratic credentials. Take India’s role as host during the Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit earlier this year, where the “ democratization of AI ” was a key theme. India’s democratic credentials are also the basis of its claim to be a “voice” of the global south as well as its ongoing bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. There have, however, been growing concerns about the state of Indian democracy, with some observers making claims that it has become an illiberal democracy or electoral autocracy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, which assumed power in 2014. Western media outlets sometimes refer to Modi in the same breath as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, former Hungarian President Viktor Orban, and even Russian President Vladimir Putin, as leaders presiding over regimes that have a democratic veneer but are increasingly authoritarian in nature. The reality is that both narratives are false. Indian democracy is not dying under Modi, nor should it be considered the dhruv tara (or “ pole star ”) of the democratic world, as the BJP has referred to it. This has implications for how the West engages India and India’s role in the evolving international order. India’s democratic traditions predate the establishment of a Westminster-style democracy in 1947, with roots found in indigenous governance models such as the panchayati raj or village-level democracy. In a country of such diversity and with a culture of debate and dissent, it would be difficult for dictatorship to take hold.

Key points

• It is the world’s most populous country and on track to become the world’s third-largest economy by the end of this decade.
• But it is also seen as appealing because of its democratic values, which make it an alternative to China’s one-party techno-surveillance state.
• New Delhi is not averse to leveraging this status, referring to itself as the “ mother of democracy ” and promoting global governance initiatives through the prism of its democratic credentials.
• Take India’s role as host during the Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit earlier this year, where the “ democratization of AI ” was a key theme.
• India’s democratic credentials are also the basis of its claim to be a “voice” of the global south as well as its ongoing bid for a permanent seat on the U.N.