The Democracy Index ranks countries based on five parameters: electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties.

In India, 2019 was a tumultuous year on all of those fronts.

The latter half of last year saw the country devolve into political turmoil as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government took several historic decisions that proved to be flashpoints. This includes revoking Jammu & Kashmir’s autonomous status by abolishing Article 370 of the Indian constitution and the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which is widely perceived to be discriminatory.

These came together to undercut both civil liberties and India’s global democratic standing in 2019.

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