In 2003, Indo-American public intellectual Fareed Zakaria published an influential book titled "The Future of Freedom: Liberal Democracy at Home and Abroad." Democracy — the rule of and by the people — is not inherently good in and of itself, Zakaria argued, but needs to be tempered by liberalism. Liberty and economic freedom have to be anchored in the rule of law, a separation of powers and the protection of basic rights. Zakaria's thesis seems relevant both to the world's oldest democracy, the United States, and the biggest democracy, India.
India continues to be robustly, even chaotically, democratic. But its freedom is under growing threat.
Contrary to the critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the assault on Indians' liberties did not begin with his government. Successive Congress Party and Congress-majority governments whittled away at individual social, political and economic freedoms over decades and created an increasingly intrusive state. It is a Congress government after all that inserted the word "socialist" into India's constitution in 1976. The opening words of the Preamble are "We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic."