The Freedom House report is a hatchet job that reeks of prejudice; a compendium of half-truths, hyperbole and lies derived from dubious, bigoted sources.
On 7 March, in his popular news program GPS broadcast on CNN, Fareed Zakaria, the well-known TV anchor claimed that “India’s illiberal slide has been steady and swift under PM Narendra Modi”. In support of his assertion, he referred to the democracy rating of Freedom House, the think tank, that lowered India’s rating from “Free” to “Partly Free”.
How valid is this lowering of India’s status? Is it a conclusion based on objective, accurate data or is it the outcome of a shoddy, arbitrary and biased analysis; one that tweaks the responses to the questionaries in order to reach its preset agenda—namely the denigration of India under BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
These are the million-dollar questions that cry out for answers.
First, who or what is Freedom House?
Freedom House is a think tank based in the US which acts as a watchdog whose mandate is to promote democracy across the world. According to its website it is “founded on the core conviction that freedom flourishes in democratic nations where governments are accountable to their people; the rule of law prevails; and freedoms of expression, association, and belief, as well as respect for the rights of women, minority communities, and historically marginalized groups, are guaranteed”.
In order to attain its goal, the think tank claims, “We speak out against the main threats to democracy and empower citizens to exercise their fundamental rights through a unique combination of analysis, advocacy, and direct support to frontline defenders of freedom, especially those working in closed authoritarian societies.”
The validity of any study or rating system is dependent on its methodology or the process by which a specific conclusion is arrived at. A robust methodology that corrects for bias, is immune to doctoring and one that interprets accurate data appropriately produces sound results. Adopt a deficient approach or one that is more subjective than objective, and the results go awry; the responses to questions can be tweaked to obtain an outcome that one wants. In other words: a manufactured outcome not the truth. The Freedom House 2021 report unfortunately is an example of the latter.
Freedom House classifies nations into three categories: Free, Partly Free and Not Free.
India’s score in 2020 was 71, which placed it in the “Free” Category. In 2021, India’s score dropped to 67; a change of 4 points that saw it being labelled as “partly free” nation.
Let us focus on the changes in those indicators that Freedom House asserts were critical to the downgrade.
With regard to individual freedom the report states the “score declined from 3 to 2 due to an excessively harsh pandemic-related lockdown”. With a deadly pandemic overwhelming the world and closing in on the nation, the Modi government with all good intentions did what it thought was necessary to stem the spread and save human lives. To call this stern but salutary measure as a violation of civil liberties is not only nonsensical but ridiculous.
Commenting on the independence of the judiciary Freedom House claims that the “score declined from 3 to 2 because the unusual appointment of a recently retired chief justice to the upper house of Parliament, a pattern of more progovernment decisions by the Supreme Court, and the high-profile transfer of a judge after he ruled against the government’s political interests all suggested a closer alignment between the judicial leadership and the ruling party”.
The transfer of Justice Muralidhar had nothing to do with his pronouncements against the actions of the Delhi Police as Freedom House claims.
A report in the Hindu, which is by no stretch a Modi or BJP fan, clearly states that the decision to transfer Justice Muralidhar was recommended by the Supreme Court collegium on 12 February. This decision was communicated to Justice Muralidhar on 17 February, which he accepted. The final notification was issued by the President on 26 February, which accidentally happened to coincide with the day when a Bench headed by him censured the Delhi Police for failing to file an FIR against 3 BJP leaders allegedly involved in the Delhi riots
Amnesty International closed its shop in India after being found to be indulging in financial money laundering; a charge that had been brought against AI by the previous Congress government as well. I have written about this in a prior column. But yet the report makes it an issue involving freedom of NGOs.
In the section on religious freedom, the report cites data about cow vigilantism (sourced from Indiaspend: an entity which was forced to close down its “Hate Crime Watch” section after being found to have an anti-Hindu bias and faulty information) and the Supreme Court verdict exonerating BJP leaders for their role in the Babri-Masjid demolition as being reasons to drop the score. Additionally, the report indicates that legislation “in several states criminalizes religious conversions that take place as a result of ‘force’ or ‘allurement’.”
I am at loss to understand how these two issues have negatively impacted the Muslim community’s freedom to express their religious beliefs. Crowds of Muslims spilling out on to the streets on every Friday all across India is itself a testimony against this falsehood that is being floated.
Most honest and sensible people would also agree that conversion induced by force or allurement is immoral.
To justify its low score on the freedom of media the report refers to 5 journalists killed in India in 2018 citing the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). A review of the CPJ website reveals that the current government had no role in the killing of these 5 journalists: one was killed in crossfire, one was murdered by Maoists, 2 were killed for reporting on illegal sand mining and child marriage Another journalist Shujat Bukhari was killed by Kashmiri terrorists.
In conclusion, the Freedom House report is a hatchet job that reeks of prejudice; a compendium of half-truths, hyperbole and lies derived from dubious, bigoted sources well known for their Hindu phobia like Indiaspend; a diabolical presentation that falsely tries to malign a nation and a people. It is not valid; a trash bin narrative that must be relegated to where it belongs.
Finally, who gives this ethically challenged and deliberately ignorant think tank the right to pass judgement on the greatest moral story of mankind: the Indian nation that gave birth to Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Guru Nanak and Mahavira; a nation that lives by the Vedic principles of Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudha Vadanti (Truth is One, Sages call it by Many Names), and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The Whole Universe is one Family).
We need to have confidence in who we are and not seek approval or recognition from the West
India stands as the greatest demonstration of democracy in the world today or ever surpassing even the United States (after the Trump fiasco). Let nobody tell us otherwise.