India's Democracy Rankings: A Battle for Narrative Control
Faced with declining international democracy rankings, the Indian government displays a duality: publicly dismissing the rankings as unfair while privately working to mitigate their negative economic impact. The article reveals the government's strategic shift from initially trying to improve rankings to ultimately attempting to control the global narrative. This includes forming high-level committees to improve scores across various global indices, attempting communication with rating agencies to understand their methodologies, and employing media campaigns and suppression of dissent to shape a favorable public image. Ultimately, the Indian government even embarks on creating its own democracy index, aiming to challenge the Western-dominated evaluation system. This shift reflects a governance model of narrative control and intolerance of dissent, prompting deeper reflection on the state of Indian democracy.
