The struggle between rule of law and authoritarianism is heating up in India as protests break out across the nation. The protests have been triggered by the arrests of prominent journalists and democracy activists, Teesta Seetalvad and Zubair Khan and whistleblower police officers SB Sreekumar and Sanjiv Bhatt.

The secular civil society is in outrage. It sees Teesta’s arrest as vengeance by the government for criticizing Narendra Modi and for seeking justice for the victims of government enabled violence in Gujarat 2002. Zubair Khan’s arrest is seen as state vendetta for exposing the insult to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing upon him) made by the ruling party’s national spokesperson. The news of the insult spread like wildfire and led to nationwide protests and international condemnations of India by Muslim nations.

Teesta Seetalvad is an internationally renowned human rights activist and journalist who played a major role in recording and reporting the violence and atrocities committed against Muslim minorities in Gujarat in 2002. She was particularly critical in helping the victims try and seek justice. For human rights activists everywhere and especially in India where human rights organizations are harassed and shutdown (Amnesty International is no longer able to operate in India), she is iconic and inspirational. Arresting her and holding her in police custody is a direct attack on the role of the media and civil society. These arrests and similar policies are chipping away at what little democracy is left in India.

Zubair Khan is the co-founder and editor of Altnews.in, a website that factchecks political statements in India and has often proved to be the bane of Hindutva politicians. His arrest has been condemned widely by opposition leaders in India. These arrests are not isolated. In BJP’s second term in office since 2019, many students, protesting farmers, critical scholars, political activists, and journalists have been arrested or have had charges filed against them to intimidate and silence them.

In recent weeks we saw two mass protests in India. One by Muslims after the BJP spokesperson insulted Prophet Muhammad. Some of them turned violent with mobs resorting to pelting stones at the police. The government in retaliation bulldozed the homes of alleged protesters and their leaders. These actions are clearly extrajudicial and unlawful. But subsequently there were even more widespread protests and more egregious acts of violence and vandalism (including burning of several trains) in opposition to a new policy of temporary military recruitment called Agneepath. No one’s home was bulldozed in retaliation. The reason for that is the religion of protesters. When Muslims protested, their homes were bulldozed, and when Hindus protested no homes were bulldozed. The state and its judicial and law enforcement have been captured in the service of communal politics. This sad reality is widely recognized and appreciated by Hindu nationalists who now attend political rallies with toy bulldozers.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is systematically targeting India’s civil society in an attempt to ensure that there is neither a record of nor any dissent against its undemocratic policies.

It has weaponized the police and law enforcement agencies and deploy them to file spurious charges, conduct intimidating arrests, trigger investigations to intimidate critics and dissenting voices. The Indian judicial system too is being used to prosecute its critics. This use of the state machinery in the service of Hindutva politics is a form of state capture. This phenomenon is eroding the legitimacy of the state and subverting the independence of the judiciary. There can be no democracy or good governance in any society when the state and the judiciary become subservient to a single party, movement, or ideology.

President Biden has characterized the current nature of global politics as a struggle between authoritarianism and democracy. He and many foreign policy elites in the US and in the West see the world devolving into a bipolar system with the US and its allies leading a democratic block against China and authoritarian states that are gravitating towards it. He also sees the decline of democracy itself as a major domestic challenge and thus the jihad for democracy is to be conducted both in the domestic arena as well as on the global stage.

It is in this context that US relations with India are evolving often anchored by the cliché -- a partnership between the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy. This is also a core idea that underpins the Indo-Pacific strategy – an alliance of democracies seeking to keep the Indo-pacific region open and prevent China from achieving hegemony in the region. This is a great opportunity for India to become a major player in maintaining the global order, develop a reputation for being a defender of democracy and in general be seen as a force for good in international relations.

But both, India’s dream of a glorious international status, and US’ goal to gain a major partner in its struggle against China and authoritarianism depend on India remaining a democracy. Unfortunately for the US, India under the BJP is determined to destroy India’s secularity and its democracy and will very soon end up in the dustbin of authoritarianism. Can it then still remain in the democracy camp?

PS. I wrote this article while on a short study tour of Gettysburg. I found myself saying Amen to the memorable words of President Abraham Lincoln. Today both India and the US need this prayer to come true – “that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

This article was originally published in The Diplomat.

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware. He is the author of the award-winning book Islam and Good Governance: Political Philosophy of Ihsan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). His essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The National Interest, The Conversation, The Diplomat, The Indian Express, Outlook India, The Wire, and many other publications worldwide. He hosts a YouTube show called Khanversations and his website is www.ijtihad.org. He Tweets @MuqtedarKhan.