What makes democracy different from autocracy is the division of powers: legislative, executive and judicial. A king keeps all the powers with him -- legislative, executive and judicial.  In an autocratic government, all powers are concentrated in the hands of a single person or a few individuals. There may be a semblance of division of powers in an autocracy, but all the three powers in reality are exercised by one or two persons without any accountability to people or institutions. 

Many autocrats like Adolf Hitler and Mussolini usurped power by making use of the instruments of democracy. The Constitution of India has made provisions for division of powers and a mechanism to maintain balance of power among the three pillars of democracy: Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. 

“However good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad. However bad a constitution may be, if those implementing it are good, it will prove to be good, said Dr. B R Ambedkar, the architect of Indian Constitution. Since 2014 India has been ruled by a political party guided and controlled by an organization that did not accept the Indian Constitution when it was officially adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949. Three days after the Constituent Assembly passed the Constitution, the RSS’s English organ, Organizer on November 30, 1949, in an editorial, rejected it and demanded the archaic Manu Smriti, as the Constitution. It read: 

“But in our Constitution, there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s Laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day, his laws as enunciated in the Manu Smriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But for our constitutional pundits that means nothing”.

M.S. Golwalkar, whom RSS considers its Guru, has written in the “Bunch of Thoughts” the RSS view of the Indian Constitution in the following words. “Our Constitution too is just a cumbersome and heterogeneous piecing together of various articles from various constitutions of western countries. It has absolutely nothing which can be called our own. Is there a single word of reference in its guiding principles as to what our national mission is and what our keynote in life is?”

Hence it is quite natural for the BJP to adopt all possible means to get rid of the constraints imposed on the use of power by the Indian Constitution. Since the BJP does not have the required majority to change the Constitution in total, it has adopted various ways to tilt the balance in favour of the executive and convert India into an autocracy. The latest example of usurping the powers of the states by the central government is “The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023” passed by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and has become law after getting the assent of the President of India.

This law replaces the Delhi Ordinance brought on May 19, over-riding an order by the Supreme Court which ruled that only Delhi’s elected government has authority over civil servants. The apex court ruled that except for issues linked to land, police and public order, the Lieutenant Governor has “no independent decision-making powers”, under the constitution. The new law empowers the Central Government to make rules in connection with the affairs of the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, including the functions, terms, and other conditions of service of officers and employees. 

The Opposition parties and many constitutional experts are of the view that the law violates the principle of federalism, which is one of the basic structures of the Constitution. In the Kesavananda Bharati Case, the Supreme Court had enunciated the “Doctrine of Basic Structure”, according to which, the Parliament can amend any part of the Constitution subject to the condition that it does not affect its basic structure. 

Another example is the Bill introduced in Parliament to remove the Chief Justice of India from the panel to select Election Commissioners. Instead of the CJI, the three-member panel, when formed, would consist of a cabinet minister appointed by the Prime Minister, besides the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, and the Prime Minister, who would head it. In March 2023, the Supreme Court had ruled that the selection panel should comprise the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha and the CJI. The court had said the order would hold good until a law was made by Parliament. If the Bill is passed by the Parliament, it can result in ending the neutrality of the Election Commission, as the party in power can influence the decisions of the EC in favour of it.

Putting pressure on the Judiciary to fall in line with the views and ideology of the government is another sign of autocracy. One of the methods used by the BJP government is compelling the SC to appoint and transfer judges whom the government prefers in the High Courts and the Supreme Court. 

Approaching the SC for the third extension of the head of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is another example of putting pressure on the Judiciary. The Supreme Court on July 11 had quashed the Centre's order of granting a third extension to E D Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra, saying that the extension was "illegal". The apex court has also ordered Sanjay Kumar Mishra to demit office till July 31, 2023. But the Central government again approached the SC on July 27 seeking his extension up to October 15. Finally, the SC allowed Sanjay Kumar Mishra to continue as the director of the ED till September 15. Nobody knows whether the central government will pressurize once more the SC to extend the tenure of the ED director. 

Repeated extension of the tenure of the ED director is to be seen against the background of widespread criticism by the opposition parties that the ED is being used by the government to harass opposition political leaders. For example, ED had raided Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and filed cases against him. The result of this action was evident. One and half months ago, Ajit Pawar with a majority of the NCP MLAs formed a faction and became part of the alliance that rules Maharashtra. On July 2, Ajit Pawar joined the Eknath Shinde-led BJP government as Deputy Chief Minister. Once an opposition politician joins the BJP camp, the cases filed against him by the ED are put in cold storage. This devious process happened in the past in some other states also. 

After Narendra Modi came to power, often the opposition parties are not allowed to raise critical questions about the failures and wrong policies of the government. In a parliamentary democracy the executive, especially the Prime Minister, is accountable to the parliament. The Prime Minister staunchly refused to make a statement in the Parliament on the violence, mayhem and killings in Manipur in spite of the persistence of the opposition parties. Finally, when a non-confidence motion was brought to the Lok Sabha, he was not present in the House to listen to the points raised by the opposition parties. Even when he spoke on the final day, he devoted less than ten minutes to Manipur in his two hour and thirteen minutes long speech. It clearly shows the arrogant approach of the executive to  parliamentary debates. 

Passing Bills by the Parliament without sufficient or any discussion with various stakeholders or referring them to the parliamentary committees for detailed studies is another sign of the government becoming autocratic. Suspending opposition leaders under the pretext of indiscipline, switching off the mic when the opposition leaders speak, not showing the opposition leaders sufficiently by the Lok Sabha TV when they speak in the Parliament, are some of the methods used by the government to silence the opposition voice, which is equal to silencing democracy. These are indicators of the government becoming autocratic. 

Some of the characteristics of a government becoming autocratic, according to V-Dem Democracy Report 2023 published by V-Dem Institute Sweeden, are increased media censorship and repression of civil society, a decrease in academic freedom, cultural freedom and freedom of discussion. The report states that media censorship and repression of civil society are “what rulers in autocratising countries engage in most frequently, and to the greatest degree”. The report also says that disinformation, polarization and autocratisation reinforce each other. V-Dem Democracy Report 2023 has classified Afghanistan, India, Brazil and Myanmar as autocratising countries that have seen the “most dramatic” increases in political polarisation. 

It is pertinent to mention how V-Dem Democracy Report 2023 assesses Indian democracy. According to the report, India ranks 108th in the Electoral Democracy Index, way below countries such as Tanzania, Bolivia, Mexico, Singapore and Nigeria. India has also been named in the top ten autocratising countries in the last 10 years. India’s ranking dipped from the 100th position in 2022 to 108th in 2023 in the report’s Electoral Democracy Index (EDI) and 97th in the Liberal Democracy Index (LDI).  

Ever since the BJP came to power in 2014 at the Centre, it has always been in an election mood to win elections in different states and at the Centre and remain in power. Wherever it could not win elections, it engineered defections in other parties and captured power, as happened in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. In the race for power, governance takes a backseat and the party conveniently forgets the promises it made to the people. While Manipur was burning, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister were busy with electioneering in Karnataka. 

The result of the transformation of Indian democracy into an electoral autocracy is increasing communalism and communal violence in view of polarizing the Hindu votes, caste discriminations, atrocities on women, minorities, Dalits and tribals, and ever widening gap between the rich and the poor. Violence unleashed by the mobs has been a characteristic of the Modi regime. The state is using these mobs as an extension of the state against minority communities. 

What can be done to stop the country from slipping into autocracy? Mass mobilization against the ruling dispensation is the most effective means as done by the Congress Party through Bharat Jodo Yatra. The yatra could revive the moribund Congress party to a great extent and mobilize people on the core issues affecting them like soaring price rise, increasing unemployment, growing divide between the rich and the poor, etc. One of the deciding factors for the credible victory of the Congress in the Assembly elections in Karnataka is attributed to Bharat Jodo Yatra. 

Opposition unity is another alternative. The coming together of 26 opposition parties under the name “Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance” (I.N.D.I.A) is a good start. But the alliance has to arrive at an alternative common programme appealing to people in order to win their confidence, and the parties should be prepared to face raids by the investigating agencies. The strident attack on the opposition alliance by the BJP shows that it is seeing the I.N.D.I.A alliance as a big challenge. 

The judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, has to resist the pressure from the government and has to reverse an executive take over. The Supreme Court has great responsibility to safeguard the Constitution and its basic structure from the onslaught of the executive. 

Analysing the trend during the last nine years, some political observers are of the view that Lok Sabha elections 2024 is the last chance for India to remain a democracy. The non-NDA political parties that are supporting the BJP have to realize that if India becomes an autocracy, their own existence will be in danger.