According to a report by an analytical research project by Sweden-based Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem), India is now among the top 10 countries globally along with Brazil and Turkey where democracy has declined.  The research institute had said last year that the BJP now closely resembles a “typical governing party in an autocracy”.

In an electoral autocratic regime, "ruling governments first attack the media and civil society and polarise societies by disrespecting opponents and spreading false information," the report said. Currently, countries moving toward autocratization outnumber countries where democracy is advancing.

V-Dem's report showed that India's Liberal Democracy Index "declined from 0.57 in 2010 to 0.34 in 2020, following the government led by Prime Minister Modi placing restrictions on multiple facets of democracy such as civil society and free speech."

According to the report, a "striking pattern" has emerged within (former) democracies. After the attack on media and civil societies, there is "disrespect for political opponents to feed polarisation while using the machinery of the government to spread disinformation." Finally, there is an attack on core democratic foundations: elections and formal institutions.

In India, it is only after the election of the Bhartiya Janata Party and Narendra Modi in 2014 that led to India's 23-percentage point drop on the 0 to 1 LDI scale. 

According to V-Dem's report, India is at the same level of autocraticity as Pakistan and is worse than Nepal and Bangladesh. The Modi-led government repeatedly used "laws on sedition, defamation and counterterrorism to silence critics." 

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