There has been no evidence of BJP rigging National or state elections until now. In fact parties like TMC which progressive media often hail for opposing BJP have been found to indulge in electoral violence and rigging [1]. These parties run unhindered in what english media essentially calls the Nazi regime of Modi.
Where is the evidence for BJP winning due to suppressing political parties? A political party or politician who you don't like being elected (in free and fair elections) does not qualify.
[1] https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/tmc-accused...
EDIT: sidenote: Electoral violence seems to mainly be an issue in West Bengal. Other states have a lot of issues but the scale of gratuitous bloodshed that follows elections is a unique characteristic of the state. That no Indian government past or current has tackled this issue, only speaks for the inability of the Indian state to effectively project hard power.
This is basically the state in Russia. I would not call Russia a democracy therefore your argument does not convince me India is one either.
The parent is correct. Control over media, and jailing witness who implicates top government employees is exactly what happened in Russia just before the invasion.
Your statement does not jibe well with the lived reality of most Indians. We have plenty of access to critical coverage of the ruling party and its leader. Plenty of journalists are living their lives, paying rent and venting out their frustrations against the government on twitter without being arrested.
A sample of Indian publications that are critical of BJP:
https://www.deccanherald.com/national/national-politics/govt...
https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/hindutva-pop-hate
https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/12/24/aaj-tak-and-india-tv-...
https://thewire.in/politics/twitter-amit-malviya-bjp-it-cell...
https://thewire.in/politics/if-rahul-gandhi-were-really-irre...
https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/bjp-accused-of-using-app-tek-fo... and https://restofworld.org/2022/the-wire-vs-meta-india/ - This bit of critical journalism was found to be outright creative writing. But since you Anglos don't trust Indians on how their own country works maybe check out Alex Stamos of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center on this piece of news. I couldn't care less about the guy but maybe you will give his words weight. The reason I am giving this example is because this is a clear cut example of journalists publishing literal fake news critical of the governement and going about their lives without imprisonment and consequences.
Time to time a corrupt politician tries to throw around their weight and gets people arrested, but our legal system typically strikes down the case. This is a problem with every political party in India but we don't have mass imprisonment of journalists critical of BJP as some publications may want you to think.
Still matches Russia until about 2019 (btw 5 years after initial invasion) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/06/russian-parlia... , which coincidentally was 9 years after it became clear to me personally it was a totalitarian state.
> But since you Anglos don't trust Indians
Laughable to hear, considering I am from Russia, and have hands-on experience, that is very relatable with the treatment of student-led protests. Also considering, that you are coming from a state, that requests videos to be removed from YouTube for political reasons (BTW also 100% same as Russia), toward the state that does not.
> The reason I am giving this example is because this is a clear cut example of journalists publishing literal fake news critical of the government and going about their lives without imprisonment and consequences.
I hope you understand, that this argument has no logical bearing on the issue. E.g. from `P(A)`, `P(B)`, and `not B` it does not follow, than `not A`. I hope I don't need to explain what P, A and B in this case.
In regards for the video, it does not even present a one-sided story. E.g. it mentions the absolution of Modi by Supreme Court on the lack of evidence ground. But the rest of the video makes a compelling case why that absolution is hard to trust.
Pick up any 24x7 Indian news channels, and you can find govt being disrespected by half of the panel. Sure that doesn't justify certain action by the govt but I too think, one needs to be in India to understand India.
Modi or no Modi, things have been same as far I recall. Only new we have now is free internet which has amplified everything.