How to kill a Democracy (without anyone noticing)
no glue no borax
There isn’t one exact point when one can point in the chronicles of the current India and say “that’s it, that’s where the downfall started”. many argue it was the Congress and Nehru. others blame the BJP and their fans. Some would even turn and say it is the youth of this nation and the CJP.
Chapter uno: The history.
Historically speaking, India has been getting fucked by one man, or another. At once instance a woman too. They say it started with Nehru—the same man who fought for our freedom mind you. They blame him for partition of India and Pakistan, yet turn around and say “Hindu khatre me hai kyuki muslim is desh me hai”. They put him under the bus for the border situation with China, and Kashmir related issues with Pakistan. They say he gave up the permanent seat at the UN security council, and that he sidelined the works of other freedom fighter to keep the “Nehru-Gandhi dynasty”. I’m not defending Nehru here, because let’s be real, he was human, and he was flawed. Corrupt or not, I don’t comment.
Then came his daughter—Indira Gandhi. Another late politician taking the heat while the youth that demands results suffers because how dare she. Again, I don’t defend her, but why are we wasting time crying over people and their works when said people aren’t even alive. Worse, these people want accountablity, yet haven’t had one unscripted press conference.
They say Congress was the catalyst in the downfall and that it takes time to rebuild a country. Fair, agreed. But how can a hypocrite build a home, and how can a liar preserve it? They say that Congress sided with the Muslim league. Yet when we had a Muslim president (APJ Abdul Kalam sir), surprisingly there were no religion related riots or cries about how the average Hindu man is in danger.
Speaking of religion, I still don’t understand what danger it is, so grave it affects the common man? I don’t deny that there aren’t crimes against people who believe in a certain religion. There’s love jihad, but let’s not forget the ethnic cleansing of an entire state.
In 2002 Gujarat, a local Muslim mob halted, and set on fire the Sabarmati Express Train. It is said that it was a pre-planned conspiracy against several Hindu pilgrims, who were returning from Ayodhya. This is also linked to the then dispute between the Ram Mandir - Babri Masjid. So in response to such atrocity, there was a three day riot where hundreds of muslims were killed, lakhs displaced and ofcourse many casualities. This is to the point where today it is a shocker to be a Muslim from Gujarat, all under the then Chief Minister—and you guessed it—Narendra Modi
In 2012, a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) cleared Narendra Modi and other senior state officials of criminal complicity, concluding there was insufficient evidence to prove a state-sponsored conspiracy. The Supreme Court subsequently upheld these findings.
To claim one religion is the root cause of decay is something beautifully orchestrated by our current leaders in their speeches and campaigns.
Chapter deux: Our Current Situation
Currently India ranks 6th globally in terms of GDP. The top 10% of earners capture 58% of the national income, while the bottom 50% survive on just 15%, which underlines the huge income disparity gap in India.
It ranks 130th when it comes to Human Development Index, and ranks 218th out of 237 countries and territories in terms of its overall female-to-male ratio. According to the ILO India Employment Report, youth comprise nearly 83% of the unemployed population, with graduate-level jobseekers facing an aspirational and skill-based mismatch. Then there’s people like Narayan Murthy who say we youth should work 70 hours a week. This is adopted from the post war German and Chinese 996 model, yet he is not willing to pay for the model he so appreciates.
These statistics explain that not only is there a crisis in the economy—not because the GDP is falling, but because it isn’t the true measure of its citizens standard of living. Besides, GDP is hardly an appropriate measure, it is merely the monetary value of goods and services produced within the country for a fiscal year. That being said, our currency keeps depreciating. And no matter what our finance minister might say (”the rupee is not depreciating, the dollar is simply appreciating” is one sentence said twice) it is a double edged sword for the country. A low rupee ensures our exports are cheap and competitive, but it also means endless inflation, given that India imports around 89% of its crude oil.
Speaking of crude oil, the E20 issue and public outrage at its peak. While ethnol mixed with petrol becomes a cleaner fuel, and reduces the pressure on the crude oil import, it causes multiple problems to vehicles. More so when the engine isn’t E20 compliant. The public outrage is not just that it is ruining our vehicles, but also that the prices aren’t falling, be it pure petrol, or ethnol mixed. Where is this extra money going? Certainly not on our roads because the condition is worse than of a non compliant engine. There’s potholes everywhere. Bridges collapsings and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra calls us “bhade ke tatte” (hired testicles) for critiquing the collapse of the Mumbai-Pune expressway. The easiest way to corruptly hide money is through road projects—overstate the labour charges, and who cares if the road is made of best quality material? I don’t claim this is what happens, I have no research about this whatsoever, but as someone who studies tax law and accounting—this is just an observation.
Chapter trois: bootlickers, no my bad—the fourth pillar of democracy.
Watch or read news they said, it’ll be informative they said. Informative my ass. The death of journalism as many like to call it is the slow decline of the press freedom over the last decade. Mainstream prime-time news frequently avoids pressing public issues like unemployment, inflation, public healthcare, or climate challenges. Instead, it prioritizes sensationalism, religious polarization, and aggressive nationalist debates. “Godi Media” as the current day media and journalism is called, helped India secure an amazing rank of 161 out of 180 countries, in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index.
This downfall is so terrible that the people who once laughed at Pakistan for relying on Instagram reels for news, now do the same. Not just that—influencers and journalists who do their job—journalism—are often rewarded with rape and murder threats, and systematic social banishment. People are punished to speak against the government, heck even comedians are put in jails just for pointing out the obvious hypocrisy.
There is mass desensitisation using memes, or media flooding with multiple bot accounts constantly posting indubitable propoganda material. There’s movies that are so factually incorrect that celebrate work that isnt even done.
The opposition of this country is constantly bashed, called “Pappu” and what not. Allegations are made on the prime minister of vote chori, and what does our judiciary do? The Supreme Court of India rejects a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that requested a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the voter roll anomalies.The Madras High Court dismisses a plea demanding that the ECI clarify the opposition’s claims, calling the petition “completely misconceived” and lacking material facts. The court also fines the petitioner ₹1 lakh. Democracy. All while the EC demanded more proof from the opposition instead of clearing their name. The government still stands, so does the EC. Media goes back to calling Rahul Gandhi Pappu.
The propoganda is so widespread that we have children chanting Modi’s name, defending him blindly. And listen, I do agree he has done work. I have never denied that, yet there are so many setbacks. There is no accountability, and worse anyone who says anything remotely negative about him suddenly becomes anti-national. Demanding an unscripted presser is anti national. Demanding actual development is anti national. And no I don’t disregard that under him there was a spurge in airports, and highway miles, but let’s not forget that even with 163 airports (from 74 before 2014) women are still molested, children are still robbed of their safety, teens are still committing suicide over paper leaks, youth still remains unemployed, and the country is in perpetual low standard of living.
Chapter quatre: Paper leaks, and the education system.
In a country where around 22 lakh students give an exam, one would expect the highest level of security. Or perhaps the website of a board that controls thousands of schools would be more secure. Or that of an exam that determines whether a teen has a future as an engineer. You’d expect a peaceful protest to be... Peaceful.
Unfortunately for the youth of this nation—me included—this isn’t true. Neet paper leaks isn’t a breaking news, nor is the hacking of the CBSE or JEE portals. I’m also pretty sure you know that the peaceful protest at Jantar mantar, on July 20th—the reason why I write this essay—was deeply humiliating for all of us as Indians.
Protestors were not given “permission” to protest as per circulars—the irony. And when they still came to support the man who straves himself for accountablity, they were trapped, with no way out. People who were sitting, or walking peacefully, were beaten up. Tear gas was thrown—worse, expired tear gas. Mind you, such is not just dangerous, it is almost deadly. Arms and ammunition was aimed at students who walked for justice. Girls were detained, and molested, pregnant women were hit. They were grabbing girls—teens by their breasts, spewing nonsense and giving rape threats. A day before, trucks full of rocks were parked at Jantar mantar allegedly, and there was stone pelting.
What does the youth—the future of a country do when it is wronged? When papers are leaked and their future is gambled on how many papers one can buy? They get on the streets with memes, and slogans. They support the man who stands by them, they demand accountablity. And what do they get in return? Abuse, and harrasment. They are called brainless, and they are called cockroaches. Too unserious, too unambitious, too this too that, yet no accountablity from those that point fingers. When does this end? And when do we get justice?
Chapter cinq: why the man is not going to resign.
The education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan is not going to resign. Why you may ask—because he’s the crown jewel of odisha. Back when BJP kept losing to the party in power, and the influence of Naveen Patnaik, and his right hand man— V.K. Pandian, they used the state card on VK Pandian, said he’s a Tamil man leading the state. They used Dharmendra Pradhan to win the elections, and then went on to put another man—Mohan Charan Majhi—in power because Dharmendra Pradhan was a threat has he lead the state. He was strategically placed in his ministry, and even if he does resign, he will be shifted among the cabinets. Another reason I reckon is that they don’t want to accept that they’re at wrong, and with his resignation, it will prove to the country that Modi is not as invincible a leader he’s portrayed. Hence the silence, they don’t care if Sonam Wangchuk dies, they don’t care how many casualities, how many bodies they lay at Jantar mantar, they just want the power. MJ was right, they don’t really care about us.
Chapter sies: Cockroach Janta Party, and Abhjieet Dipke.
Cockroach Janta Party started off as a satirical account, and has now surpassed the instagram handles of both BJP and Congress in terms of followers. The party listed a five point manifesto, and was started in response to the infamous comparison of youth with cockroaches. From its actions, manifesto and other stuff I saw online it seemed that they were opposing BJP. Which is fair, however how can a political party have only one stance and that is opposing another party? Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of politics for a political party by definition is a group of like minded people formed to contest elections for the welfare of the people.
I have been quite outspoken when it comes to CJP. Their manifesto had good issues agreed, but with no real solutions offered. I wouldn’t support them, because then again I don’t support political parties, I support people who do the work, and as of today it seems they are doing something. They have also removed their spokesperson—vijeya Dahiya due to his insensitive words against the trans community, and other actions. Which is funny because a satirical party takes more accountablity than our ruling party.
One thing I would like all my readers to note is that this isn’t a failure and this doesn’t end here. Just like jalianwala bagh, we will stand back on our feet and we will have justice. Every right we have today is because of relentless and tireless protest and struggles. So do what we must and get what we deserve. Fall of a government is not the end, and it certainly won’t be today! INQALAB JINDABAD
Note: Thanks for reading so much of me yapping, this was researched to the best of my abilities and I’m open to criticism. Unfortunately, I am aware I have missed issued like the crime rates, political landscape, and ofcourse the trans bill, however due to the length and my ability or rather disability to sound cold and detached was a concern. That being said, if the shoe fits, wear it cinderella.
this article made me feel educated and jealous(in a good way) at the same time