And this is billed as "world's largest democracy". Wtf is the bullshit we are made to believe? Why don't we just stop pretending and relabel most "democratic" countries as just "pro-Westnern"?
> And this is billed as "world's largest democracy". Wtf is the bullshit we are made to believe? Why don't we just stop pretending and relabel most "democratic" countries as just "pro-Westnern"?
India is not pro-Western, and none of those things upthread are inconsistent with democracy. They are illiberal, perhaps, but not all democracy is liberal democracy.
>none of those things upthread are inconsistent with democracy. They are illiberal, perhaps, but not all democracy is liberal democracy.
This line of reasoning feels like a motte and bailey to me. When that fact is being trotted out by supporters it's almost always a comparison to liberal democracies. I doubt when Indians say "we're the largest democracy" they're comparing themselves to russia.
> billed as "world's largest democracy". Wtf is the bullshit we are made to believe?
New York Times:
“India is valued the world over for a great many things, but for three over others: the Taj Mahal, Mahatma Gandhi and India’s electoral democracy.” It is the 17th general election in India, being held in seven phases over 38 days. Nine hundred million Indians are registered to vote! Around 70 percent are expected to vote. The voting age in India is 18, and 15 million are voting for the first time.
India has a very effective and fair electoral system, that's about it. The other branches and foundations of a liberal democracy are either a sham or crumbling in India.
Minorities are routinely targeted, court judgments are filled with personal opinions... i could go on.
The mere existence of a voting system does not a full democracy make. Remember, Russia also has "elections".
India is a "non-aligned" country, it's not "pro-Western". They have good relations with Russia, which is their main weapons supplier.
The West tends to cultivate them in relation to China, at which point calling them "the biggest democracy in the world" is simply a propaganda tool to sell them as the 'good guys' to public opinions (vs. China who are obviously the 'bad guys'). But the issues between India and China are independent of any "pro-Western" stance or political system, they are purely based on conflicts of interests between those two countries, including left-overs from the British Empire when it comes to border disputes.
This is what you are made to believe by the propaganda machine. As someone else mentioned here, India is "elected autocracy". And "first-past-the-post" election doesn't mean the government has support of the majority of Indians.
Sad to say as an Indian, India is going Russia way.
India is not pro-Western, and none of those things upthread are inconsistent with democracy. They are illiberal, perhaps, but not all democracy is liberal democracy.