It is a matter of serious concern, shame rather, when a few citizens of a country don’t fight shy of targeting even their ‘motherland’ for settling petty scores with a competitor in the pursuit of upmanship. What’s worse, to achieve this end, they rely on and quote reports released by foreign establishments debasing the State without realising that the nation can easily see through their game plan: After all, we all live in the world’s oldest democracy and experience it every day! Why do we need foreign institutes to tell us the state of democracy in our very own country? However, this simple logic doesn’t cut with frustrated politicos like Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury who would seemingly go to any length in their attempts to embarrass the country’s incumbent leadership. Days after quoting a report by ‘Freedom House’ — a US-based organisation that conducts research and advocacy on democracy — that downgraded India’s status as a “free society” to “partly free”, Rahul has now said India is no longer a democratic country. The research institute had said India was descending into “authoritarianism”; a claim sharply rebutted by the Centre point by point.

This time round, he was citing a report by Sweden’s V-Dem Institute that has downgraded India from the “world’s largest democracy” to “electoral autocracy”. Earlier in February, AAP MP Sushil Kumar Gupta had tried to raise the matter of the Sweden-based institute’s report but Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu ticked him off, curtly asking Gupta what the concern of Sweden’s institute was in Indian democracy. But the simple point is this: Rather than citing foreign reports for gaining political mileage while simultaneously running down the democratic institutions of his own country, Rahul would be better advised to approach the judiciary if he has any just complaint or apprehension about any type of threat to our democracy. Better still, since he is a Member of Parliament and the erstwhile president of the country’s oldest political party, he had better raise the matter in the august House where he has several means available: the Question Hour, notice for discussion, special mention, calling attention notice et al. This will help convey his apprehensions across the length and breadth of the country and force the Government to responsibly respond to his critique.

It is a matter of serious concern, shame rather, when a few citizens of a country don’t fight shy of targeting even their ‘motherland’ for settling petty scores with a competitor in the pursuit of upmanship. What’s worse, to achieve this end, they rely on and quote reports released by foreign establishments debasing the State without realising that the nation can easily see through their game plan: After all, we all live in the world’s oldest democracy and experience it every day! Why do we need foreign institutes to tell us the state of democracy in our very own country? However, this simple logic doesn’t cut with frustrated politicos like Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury who would seemingly go to any length in their attempts to embarrass the country’s incumbent leadership. Days after quoting a report by ‘Freedom House’ — a US-based organisation that conducts research and advocacy on democracy — that downgraded India’s status as a “free society” to “partly free”, Rahul has now said India is no longer a democratic country. The research institute had said India was descending into “authoritarianism”; a claim sharply rebutted by the Centre point by point.

This time round, he was citing a report by Sweden’s V-Dem Institute that has downgraded India from the “world’s largest democracy” to “electoral autocracy”. Earlier in February, AAP MP Sushil Kumar Gupta had tried to raise the matter of the Sweden-based institute’s report but Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu ticked him off, curtly asking Gupta what the concern of Sweden’s institute was in Indian democracy. But the simple point is this: Rather than citing foreign reports for gaining political mileage while simultaneously running down the democratic institutions of his own country, Rahul would be better advised to approach the judiciary if he has any just complaint or apprehension about any type of threat to our democracy. Better still, since he is a Member of Parliament and the erstwhile president of the country’s oldest political party, he had better raise the matter in the august House where he has several means available: the Question Hour, notice for discussion, special mention, calling attention notice et al. This will help convey his apprehensions across the length and breadth of the country and force the Government to responsibly respond to his critique.