Erosion of democracy under BJP has been cranked up to 11 but I feel like saying that India is not a democracy anymore ignores that India since independence has not been very democratic to begin with. Political power was then concentrated in the hands of high caste Hindus, the wealthy, the landowners, etc. and it’s the same now except worse.

The reason I bring this up is because it is important to understand how we ended up in this genocidal cesspit and harbouring delusions about a bygone “democracy” gets in the way of that. Every political and economic step taken since independence is what brings us to where we are now:

• Congress’ failed dirigistic setup under Nehru where the Indian capitalist class was protected against foreign competition to a ridiculous extent. Indian capitalists’ wealth was incubated at the cost of the Indian proletariat while the country was running deficit after deficit.
• Opening up of the economy to foreign investment by Congress under IMF auspices. It lead to an increase in total wealth but the level of inequality it created was insane.

This is how the country slid in fascism. The common denominator in all these eras is that the working people get shafted hard. The numbers for malnutrition and unemployment/underemployment have been shameful throughout. This is also why the clowns in the INDIA alliance have no answer to BJP. People like them are what created this mess in the first place.