THE AMENDMENT IN CITIZENSHIP ACT AND THE RISE OF ILLIBERAL DEMOCRACY IN INDIA

Abstract

India of the past, enamored by its secular polity and democratic outlook has been embittered by Modi’s onslaught on Indian statecraft and the introduction of Hindutva in Indian polity. In a string of events, Modi began with curbing individual, judiciary and media freedom in his first term and capitalizing the ancient primordial impulse, ever existent in the common Hindu thought. This set the tone for his other syncretic changes that sought to change India’s secular polity and composite culture. First came the revocation of article 370 from the constitution which scrapped Kashmir’s special status. Afterwards it was the Citizen Amendment Act which was India’s first legal act on the basis of sectarianism. More such incidents including but not limited to the Babri Mosque verdict and acquittal of BJP members guilty of demolishing Babri mosque in 1991 has posed a grim question - has India has turned into an illiberal democracy?