Media and Judiciary are important pillars of democracy, but they are tightly controlled by the Government in India.
Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by President (Current Government) [1]:
A judge dies right before court case hearing of the top leader of the ruling party. [2]
An Indian Police Service officer [3] is known for his role in filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court of India against the then Chief Minister of the Government of Gujarat, Mr. Modi, concerning Modi's alleged role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. On 30 September 2011, he was arrested due to a case, the Supreme Court suspended the case in April 2012. On 20 June 2019, he was sentenced to life in relation to another case dating back to 1990.
A 27-year old pregnant lady has been lodged in Jail for participating in the anti-CAA protests and denied bail as the judge finds 'no merit' in her bail plea. [4]. She is accused of "planning to hold protests".
A gunman fired shots at protestors during the same anti-CAA protests [5] and gets bail within a month [6] by the court:
A ruling party leader who gave a hate speech during the same anti-CAA protests on camera while police officers standing with him on stage is free and still part of the ruling party. [7]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranjan_Gogoi#Member_of_Rajya_S...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brijgopal_Harkishan_Loya
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjiv_Bhatt
[4] https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2020/jun/04/ja...
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/30/gunman-injures...
[6] https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/shaheen-bagh-shooter-kapil-b...
[7] https://www.ndtv.com/delhi-news/bjp-leader-kapil-mishras-3-d...
Rest aside forming an opposition, I dont even feel safe to comment against government by using my real handle.
This article summarizes state of tv news media in India: http://www.nationalheraldindia.com/amp/story/india%252F14-de...
https://www.news18.com/news/india/140-cases-filed-against-aa...
Edited to add more content:
You can see the difference in how legal system treats you based on if you are from ruling party or opposition.
The prime minister of India is accused of using a fake degree.
See the difference when Indian PM Modi is accused of fake degree:
https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/the-curious-case-o...
Vs when a opposition member is also accused of same crime:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.hindustantimes.com/delhi/delh...
Actually they did filed cases against students for protesting against government.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2020/apr/21/de...
News media is a business and unfortunately favors the party with more money. There are news media that favor the communists and the main opposition party too. At any rate, please dont cite national herald. Democracy means people’s will, which may not be our personal will. People elected this government twice consecutively. They feel hopeful that there would be positive changes in the country.
Lastly, let’s try to overcome our pain body. We will have to do it some time for our own happiness.
You don't have a democracy when the state controls all the TV media.
> What is the basis for this
The basis for this is the level of grinding poverty in India, live in a Indian slum for a year and then come back to me, and spew the virtues of "democracy" vs economic freedom and rights.
Poverty is organic propaganda for extremism and communism.
Er, what? Democracy means people can choose the government. There were several political parties in those 60 years of Congress rule. They just weren't big enough to win elections. In any case, you just have to look at the last 20+ years to see how government has alternated between political parties.
> You don't have a democracy when the state controls all the TV media.
[citation needed]
> The basis for this is the level of grinding poverty in India
270 million lifted out of poverty just in a decade (2006-2016), second only to China. Existence of poverty means democracy is not the right form governing? You make no sense. What is the alternative?
> live in a Indian slum for a year and then come back to me, and spew the virtues of "democracy" vs economic freedom and rights
I have lived in India for better part of two decades. I don't need lessons from you on what poverty looks like, thanks.
Please share some data points when you make such tall claims. India sure does has Fox and Breitbart equivalent of its own. But that doesn't imply that the state controls 'all the media'.
Literally 0 discussion on anything that puts government in bad light. 0 discussion on issues like health, education, unemployment etc. Most of the discussion are on breaking communal harmony (which is in interest of ruling party) and bashing opposition parties.
https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/14-debates-on-ram-...
Attempts to bring a constitutional amendment (NRC, CAA) which discriminated against 1 religious community was vehemently opposed and stopped. People took to the streets.
How many political parties does the beacon of democracy in the world have ? How does such an example of democracy end up choosing between a tyrant and a senile ?
Authoritarianism and right wing leaders are on the rise around the world. India is also fighting the same challenges.
Poverty and lack of education are primary reasons of corruption, India is growing organically like a democracy of its size should, fighting the challenges it has.
The only reason India has a voice against China is because of its Nuclear capability, had it relied on the goodwill of the west, India would be bowing to China like other ASEAN countries.
China is at par with US today because of over dependence of the latter on the former. The US can continue to enable a authoritarian, non democratic power, or support a country which believes in its democratic values in becoming its ally against China and stabilize the world.
What do you think will happen to democratic values of the world when China reigns supreme ? (A Uyghur would like to say Hi!)
What is the basis for this? People have been predicting fall of democracy in India for decades (especially in the West), but nothing of that sort has happened. The closest incident was the state of emergency under Indira Gandhi in 1975-1977. India successfully recovered back then when the populace was far less educated and far less exposed to the outside world. It's not likely that anything like that is going to happen again.