What an incredibly pessimistic definition of democracy. By your standards, even the People’s Republic of China could be considered very close to a functioning democracy, albeit with the caveat that they don’t allow multiple parties.

If free speech, independent media, lack of corruption, the right to privacy and the right to fair treatment by the law are not requirements to call something a democracy, then you are just making up your own definition of the word.

I’m not saying India isn't a democracy, but it’s not black and white, it’s a scale.

The Economists 2022 Democracy Index ranks India at #46 as a “flawed democracy”, together with countries like Poland and Italy. There’s no shame in that. Don’t let your own pride in your country blind you to the problems it has — no country is without them.